Supermarket fuel price cut con

Alex M Grieve

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We need some proper scientific tests. Till then I'm with Alex Grieve and others who say it is all much of a muchness.

we know there has not yet been a shred of hard evidence to show that one brand is better than others.

Such a dearth of evidence.

Sorry for being a bit selective in editing your quote Hawk, but we are entirely agreed, and it saves space.

One point which this debate has not considered so far is to "look how far we have come". If we go back to the 1940s and 50s, top end decokes were the order of the day. US Services trucks involved in the long logistic trail from Normandy into the low countries in the latter stages of WW2 apparently had a top end overhaul (decoke, regrind) every 5,000 miles, and these were vehicles used at working temperature almost continuously, so optimum conditions. This is now history. It just doesn't happen any more.

The point is that all gasoline (and diesel) these days is highly developed and engineered to match exacting criteria. But no one manufacturer has managed to pull away from the rest of the pack and make their superiority tell. ;););)
 

hawk20

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OK so all retailers pick up from a small number of refineries, however there is without question a lot of first hand evidence that the product dispensed at the refinery is not the same.
I keep making this point Hawk and you like a wiley politician conveniently ignore it when justifying your personal preferences????

Another factor that has not been touched on is the gas flow characteristics of any particular head design. That effects gas volume for any given throttle opening and would make injector performance more or less critical dependant on gas flow???:-x

Wonderful news. So where is this scientifically sound 'first hand evidence'?

You say I ignore it when 'justifying my personal preferences'. That is not fair because a) I've never seen the evidence and b) I have no personal preferences. As I have made clear all along, until we get some hard evidence that one brand has a magic ingredient that improves economy and longevity, I shall assume the differences, if any, are small.

Every brand of women's face cream claims some magic anti-ageing ingredient from pentapeptides, to aloe vera, to extracts of a tea-tree plant, to distilled African cat's pee. What we need is not wild claims but hard evidence that someone has found some magic ingredient to add to petrol and/or diesel to give significantly better economy or performance and no harm to the engine's long life- and evidence that it works. I expect it to be front page news when it comes.
 
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truthfindergeneral

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I think you mean £1.08.9 a LITRE !

Changing fuel over to litres instead of gallons was part of the great con. remember budgets when they used to announce 2 pence on a gallon ? Now its 2 pence on a litre which of course is around 9 pence in total.
 

hawk20

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ASDA seems to be cheap on Petrol.

We should all support companies with the cheapest fuels so that the others follow suit.

Not if it means the supermarkets drive all the real garages bankrupt and can then charge us far too much.
 

100%Bitch

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hawk20

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From my experience it's pretty cr@p too, it caused my engine management light to come on. Stopped using it and it went off. I certainly will not use it in the AMG.

See this thread: -

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=38753&highlight=asda+petrol

So if any warning light comes on in my car while I've just shaved with Gillette foam, and goes off later when I am using a different brand of shaving foam, I should assume it was the gillette foam that caused it? Interesting approach to science:cool:
 

coxyhog

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From today's Honest John column in the Telegraph:

I own a 2003 Mercedes SLK 320 and have recently contacted a couple of firms that offer remapping services. I asked whether I would need to change to superunleaded to get the full benefit of the remap. I've always run perfectly satisfactorily on standard unleaded and both tuning companies suggested I could continue to do so. I don't mind the one-off payment for the work but am not keen to take on the additional expense of higher octane fuel.
P.B., via email


I suggest you try Shell V-Power without having the engine chipped. You'll gain horsepower (and benefit from improved torque response at lower revs) without having to tell your insurer and pay a loaded premium. It will take about three refills for the full effect to be felt.
 

hawk20

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From today's Honest John column in the Telegraph:

I own a 2003 Mercedes SLK 320 and have recently contacted a couple of firms that offer remapping services. I asked whether I would need to change to superunleaded to get the full benefit of the remap. I've always run perfectly satisfactorily on standard unleaded and both tuning companies suggested I could continue to do so. I don't mind the one-off payment for the work but am not keen to take on the additional expense of higher octane fuel.
P.B., via email


I suggest you try Shell V-Power without having the engine chipped. You'll gain horsepower (and benefit from improved torque response at lower revs) without having to tell your insurer and pay a loaded premium. It will take about three refills for the full effect to be felt.

If the engine is not designed for super unleaded, and if MB don't suggest you use it, the effect will be far more psychological than real.

Re-chipping older engines can lead to higher repair bills due to higher loadings etc. You don't get owt for nowt.

And higher insurance costs. If you don't tell them you are not insured. With cameras and speed limits everywhere I'm baffled where you will find much use for even more power. Round here it is mainly 'follow the traffic'. And speed limits everywhere of course. Even a Mini does 70.
 

Ryann

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I always thought it was a marketing thing. I am quiet surprised that a fuel did that?

Maybe it's me being naive.

Anyway, what fuel do you use on your AMG?
 

Xtractorfan

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From today's Honest John column in the Telegraph:

I own a 2003 Mercedes SLK 320 and have recently contacted a couple of firms that offer remapping services. I asked whether I would need to change to superunleaded to get the full benefit of the remap. I've always run perfectly satisfactorily on standard unleaded and both tuning companies suggested I could continue to do so. I don't mind the one-off payment for the work but am not keen to take on the additional expense of higher octane fuel.
P.B., via email


I suggest you try Shell V-Power without having the engine chipped. You'll gain horsepower (and benefit from improved torque response at lower revs) without having to tell your insurer and pay a loaded premium. It will take about three refills for the full effect to be felt.

Chipping or remapping an engine to increase horsepower and then having to use a higher octane fuel would kinda be defeating the purpose, surely remapping is improving on what is already there including the fuel in the tank..
 

100%Bitch

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So if any warning light comes on in my car while I've just shaved with Gillette foam, and goes off later when I am using a different brand of shaving foam, I should assume it was the gillette foam that caused it? Interesting approach to science:cool:


It's not quite that glib Hawk. I filled up with ASDA and the light kept appearing and I used it a couple of timesbefore I linked the light with ASDA petrol. I stopped using it and it stopped illuminating. I think that's quite conclusive really, don't you?

Actually, I wonder what would have happened if I had been using Gillette foam in the tank.
 

coxyhog

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It's not quite that glib Hawk. I filled up with ASDA and the light kept appearing and I used it a couple of timesbefore I linked the light with ASDA petrol. I stopped using it and it stopped illuminating. I think that's quite conclusive really, don't you?

Actually, I wonder what would have happened if I had been using Gillette foam in the tank.

It'd be frothy man!
 

Xtractorfan

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And maybe you could have shaved a few miles off the journey......
 

hawk20

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It's not quite that glib Hawk. I filled up with ASDA and the light kept appearing and I used it a couple of timesbefore I linked the light with ASDA petrol. I stopped using it and it stopped illuminating. I think that's quite conclusive really, don't you?

.

No I don't. It could easily be coincidence. I know a man who had a puncture the first time he used Tesco fuel. He got it mended;switched to Shell and the puncture has never come back. Amazing what good fuel can do!

Millions of others use ASDA fuel and Tesco's and Morrison's and none of us have the warning light coming on. I think that is quite conclusive: don't you?
 

Alex M Grieve

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Actually, I wonder what would have happened if I had been using Gillette foam in the tank.

Probably would not have caused a problem, but you never know, you might have just have had a close shave?

I would be astonished if any of the fuels available in the UK would cause an engine management light to come on. If the light comes on, I think of 2 possibilities, a spurious warning (defective light), or some more significant problem - if it is intermittent, it does not incriminate the provider of the most recent refuel, but it could be a more subtle fault, which could be difficult to diagnose.

When I put petrol in my diesel (but that is in a different thread), the engine management light came on and stayed on for several days until I had diluted out the petrol by numerous diesel refills. But then it went off again and stayed off.

If an engine management light comes on when you don't want it to, unless the light is defective, it warrants further study.
 

100%Bitch

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No I don't. It could easily be coincidence. I know a man who had a puncture the first time he used Tesco fuel. He got it mended;switched to Shell and the puncture has never come back. Amazing what good fuel can do!

Millions of others use ASDA fuel and Tesco's and Morrison's and none of us have the warning light coming on. I think that is quite conclusive: don't you?

But that's exactly the stance people took when their cars were being screwed up by Tesco petrol.


All I can say is that I will never use ASDA petrol in a Mercedes again - the Micra yes, but not a Mercedes.
 


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