Are some petrols better than others?

Braded petrol is likely to have a higher spec than its cheaper supermarket alternatives, my motorcycle runs like a bag of nails if i put tesco or morrison fuel in it , if i use shell or bp it runs sweet as a nut

Some people can feel the difference. Some people claim they are all the same. I find that branded petrol runs better and cleaner and a tiny bit more economical. In the past I have had vehicles that pink excesively on supermarket stuff yet are fine on Esso or a known brand (modern cars prevent knock in almost all circumstances). The worst petrol I ever had was Q8.

Very often, the base fuel is the same, and comes from the same refinery. The only difference is in the additives that are added at delivery. Whether that makes any significant difference is a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question.

Chris

A lot of fuels are delivered from the same terminals in the same tankers. What differs is the additives pack each brand adds to the mix before delivery to the site and unlike in the past, supermarket brands do add an additive package.

Speaking personally I have run my VW for over 100,000 miles on Tesco diesel (apart from when I've been abroad with it). On Wednesday it passed an MOT with a smoke reading of 0.28 which I understand is brilliant for that mileage, especially as it has no particulate filter. Never had a problem with it and can't tell the difference when I've had to fill it with a "premium" fuel.

Desiels a slightly different kettle of fish

WTF?!

I've played with all kinds of petrol and octane levels in my track day cars, but never found anything that makes a significant difference.

If you have some fancy bit of kit that has been factory tuned (or is running an aftermarket chip / map) for 'super', then you'd notice if you put lower octane fuel in it - but other than that, the only reason for noticing a difference is if you've bought contaminated fuel, which can happen anywhere.

So what bike is that? Scott Squirrel, Fireblade? Someone might even have an explanation.

Fireblade, it just does not like pikey petrol

They add fish to it!?

I've noticed the on-board computer tally of my petrol consumption was showing a drop from about 38 to 35 while I'd been using supermarket fuel

- last few thousand miles.

The last couple of tanks have been Shell expensive petrol, and it's been going up by about 0.1 mpg per 75 miles. At about 36 at the moment, perhaps it'll keep on like this? :-)

Rob

Some folk do talk utter crap at times, dont thye?

What he said.

It's all the effing same.

Some people *claim* they can feel the difference. Without double blind trials, they're deluding themselves.

Yep you do don't you Nige?

Mong.

higher ROM will give better results not the brand.

What's the matter Nige, did the truth hurt then?

Now as regards to your statement "Some folk do talk utter crap at times", give your technical reasons as to why the post you were replyng to is 'crap' - without using you normal bullshit please.

Y usally find supermarket petrol is as basic as it comes

It will improve, all through the summer, then it will start dropping again. Many might disagree but personal experience has shown that Shell is universally shit fuel not even fit for a strimmer. I'd sooner walk in bare feet over broken glass for fifty miles to get a can of non Shell fuel.

At say 134p per litre for unleaded a differential of around 5p per litre for super unleaded might be worthwhile in terms of better MPG in some cars, with a regular pattern of use I know it is for one of my vehicles.

Otherwise its supermarket fuel for me, if not a supermarket then its BP, or Esso and choice of where I fuel is also determined by places that I suspect have cloned my credit card.