Premium Diesel fuels

[robfly]

Are the premium Diesel fuels worth paying
the extra money for ?.

Do they give any performance increases and
if so , what brand do other members use or swear
by ??

Rob

 

[ThinkPad]

When I drove petrol performance cars, I always swore by Shell V Power. And my car would respond differently if I used a cheaper fuel.

I would also be interested to know if diesel premium is worth it. I have never tried it, just assumed with diesel it wouldn't make a difference.

 

[st4]

Put it this way, I'd rather not run cheap supermarket sludge fuel through a modern diesel.

There are addatives put into branded diesel fuel and even more wizardry in high performance diesel fuel. Whether its worth paying for is another matter. Personally, I run some Forte fuel though the fuel every now and then and run millers diesel eco max.

 

[robfly]

Thanks for replies so far guys .
I have dabbled in the past , and am sure it ran better , but that
could of been all in the mind , although by using standard fuel
from shell etc , I'm sure it smokes less , I do put in some additive
every other tank full .

My W210 has now covered over 215,000 miles and the engine is
in good condition and pulls really well , at that mileage I would
expect some smoke , and I'm not looking for a super performance
increase . Just if at this mileage , would a better fuel keep keep
her running well or a standard fuel and a good additive .

 

[tode]

Apart from the question of which additives are in the fuel, I think that 'dedicated' suppliers such as Esso use their own transporters, so the fuel is much cleaner. They also have stricter routines for cleaning the storage tanks. In 20 years I have never seen our local supermarket clean out their tanks - I hate to think what is slopping about in the bottom of them.

 

[daveyjp]

5th gear did a rolling road test on a Renault diesel. On BP premium diesel BHP output increased by about 10%.

 

[robfly]

That's a good point Tode , I can't recall ever seeing that either !!

 

[b1g1an]

From my experience a most definite yes, the cars ran much smoother, quieter at tickover and much better throttle response...some people seem insensitive to these differences though, the sort of people who can't tell they've got a flat tyre for instance!

On top of that if you have a dpf or any other parts that get clogged over time don't think twice. Even with tons of town mileage and infrequent long runs mine was very clean after seven years from new using nothing else.

In the grand scheme of things it's not a great cost difference given all the other running costs and especially depreciation.

 

[antijam]

The premium diesel fuels have a higher cetane (the diesel equivalent of octane in petrol) rating than standard. In theory this allows more efficient combustion so you get a bigger bang for your buck. Whether this is detectable is debatable.

The comparison tests I've read show mixed results. Some cars do show improved economy and/or performance, others don't.

A few years ago when these fuels first hit the market I did a subjective test using my then Alfa-Romeo 156 2.4JTD. Maintaining a consistent driving style, none of the premium fuels I tried gave any improvement in economy.

Only one - BP Ultimate diesel - gave a detectable difference in performance. On this fuel the engine was quite noticeably smoother and more responsive.

Whether an individual car will show any improvement I suspect depends on a number of factors - such as engine condition and mileage, the original state of tune and the sophistication of the engine management system in detecting changes in fuel quality.

I came to the conclusion the premium wasn't worth it, but try it for yourself and see whether either any improved economy or better performance is worth the cost. You'll need several tanks-full (and therefore quite a few miles) to get a valid quantification.

 

[Some guy on the internet]

Add your own cetane. Don't know when it gets to the point of diminishing returns but biodiesel brewers reckon about 1 -1.5 ml per litre does the job on BD100.

I'm told it's 100% - http://www.freewebstore.org/Vegetableoildiesel/Additives/cat1651761_1515363.aspx

 

[Triv]

Anyone who can't tell the difference when they fill the tank with v-power probably needs to service their car!
It makes a big difference.
Also Millers diesel max really surprised me when I bought my first bottle after recommendations on this forum. It makes quite a difference too.
I tried adding some to wvo. The car started easier, sooner and went better.

 

[robfly]

Ok , some very good posts here about this subject , so my next
question would be what is best Ultimate or v Power ??.

As Harry Enfield would say , "Fight "

Rob

 

[Richard Hinds]

I'll probably get banned from the Forum for writing about Nissans,but we have two diesel Nissans in the family, as well as the SL.

My work truck is a Nissan Navara, (had from new, now over 110,000 miles )and the more expensive diesels make a noticeable difference to its performance. In my opinion, and for this vehicle, the Shell V Power diesel is marginally better than the B.P. "Ultimate".

The other Nissan is a 2 litre diesel X Trail, ( 37,000) and with this vehicle, there is no discernable difference between the cooking diesels and the expensive ones.

So, my conclusions, based on lots of miles, are (i) it depends on the vehicle, and (ii) if the vehicle responds to a premium diesel, Shell V Power is marginally better than B.P. Ulitimate.

Hope this helps someone

 

[b1g1an]

I didn't find Ultimate to be much different from decent standard diesel, in fact, before moving over to V-Power, the best standard diesel for me was Jet, far better than Shell's standard offering at the time.

 

[Corned]

Premium fuels (unless your car has a specific requirement to run on them) are right alongside any other of the widely available placebos such as religion, homeopathic medicine and Father Christmas. They are fine if you feel you need them and you need to believe in something.

 

[Developer]

As Harry Enfield would say , "Fight "

Rob

I feel I must add my technical input here........


It's Harry Hill .

ps - I always use premium diesels as I think the extra cost is money well spent.

 

[roop_the_loop]

Reality vs. perception?

Sorry to be so thick about it, but... when people say that premium fuels make a difference, what exactly do they mean, and how do they know?

I mean, every tankful I burn, I drive different trips, in different traffic and weather conditions, with different loads, etc. So if one day I fill up with a premium fuel and spend the week driving up and down motorways by myself; and the next week I buy standard fuel and do short trips in city traffic with a couple of passengers onboard, how am I supposed to work out whether some difference (real or imaginary) in the car's performance is due to the fuel or the way I drive? Even when I buy the same fuel each time, one day my car seems to purr like a kitten and the next day growl like a b!tch. ;-)

From the little I know about scientific experiments, I would have to keep detailed records of my driving and all the numerous external variables, over a huge number of carefully planned trips, and then run some fairly serious statistical analyses on the results, before I could say anything meaningful and reliable. Otherwise, it seems to me, it's all little more than gut-feel...

Don't get me wrong, I would be quite happy to pay an extra fiver per tankful for the premiums if they really do make a difference, but I'm just wondering how much of the 'benefit' some people are claiming is real vs. imaginary (and how exactly can they tell)?

 

[dobermann]

BG 244 Pro Diesel Injector & Engine Cleaner

New to the forum purchased my 2005 C220 CDI last week. I used BG 244 Pro Diesel Injector & Engine Cleaner on my 2003 530d Tourer and owned the car from 112000-154400 miles.Never had any problems and running on original injectors with 40+mpg so did this help.Has anybody used this BG244 in their car.

 

[Ricardo_e220]

I drive a diesel for a reason, cheaper running costs as I do 35k miles per year, my 'wheezy' e220 as some on here would put it returns 45-49 mpg now the air filter is clean, have tried it on millers and it helped a little but really its still a diesel....so will be clattery etc.

So morrisons or asda fuel it is currently with the discount I get at 134ppl....which drops my running costs dramatically.....

Ban me now :lol:

 

[rich599]

when i was doing european courier work if my route could take me through luxembourg where fuel was cheaper i always filled up at the last shell service station, as the fuel was so much cheaper in lux to everywhere else i tried v power diesel in my sprinter,and from there to home is 556miles on normal shell i could just make it home with the fuel light coming on at sheffield,but with v power i could get home with a quarter of a tank remaining, about 80 miles extra per tank full