V-Power fuel?

Matthew_S3

Matthew_S3

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Hi all... I see a lot of people mentioning that they use Shell V-Power + and I am just wondering why really?

I just use standard petrol from ASDA/Tesco etc, should I switch to V-Power +? If so, how much more expensive is it per litre? £1.05pl near me for standard unleaded.

Thanks
 
I have always used it in my cars. I don't do many miles so don't mind the extra costs.

I suppose I believe the hype that it makes you car run a little better. I think 5th gear did some tests years ago and it do show a bhp improvement over standard fuel.

I generally use tesco momentum which I think has been tested as the best fuel
 
Fifth Gear did a test (with R-Tech based in Hinkley) and they proved it does impact the power, and I think fuel economy, of the car.

I'm running my S3 on Tesco Momentum.
 
Standard? You cheap b*stard ;) I use Tesco 99 or whatever it's called now, best give her some quality fuel imho.

TX.
 
MatthewA94 said:
Oh ok, do you know how much roughly it is per litre? Cheers!
Click to expand...

I never check the difference to be honest, I just know it never costs more than £55 to brim my s3. I never let the range drop below 40
 
Ideally you should be using Super at the least, but you'll find most of us with S3s are on the hard stuff - V-Power or Momentum...
 
If anyone trusts Which Magazine, or cares about their opinion...I've copied some relevant bits out of their 2008 article about premium fuels...


  • Shell V-Power, one of the unleaded super fuels tested, gave a 1.6-litre Ford Focus a marginal power increase.
  • But filling the car on this petrol for 12,000 miles would cost £115 more than using Shell’s standard petrol.
  • And Tesco’s Super Unleaded – another of the super fuels on test – actually decreased the Focus’s power.

  • Which? Car also looked at the impact of super fuels on turbo- and supercharged engines:
  • The VW Golf’s hi-tech 1.4TSI engine responded well to Shell V-Power, but there was little to choose between super fuels and ordinary petrol when it came to economy and emissions.
  • BP Ultimate diesel – the only diesel super fuel on test – actually made the fuel economy and performance of a Renault Mégane 1.5 slightly worse.

So I'd say it clearly does something to power. So surely that's the point - if you want that something and are willing to pay extra, then go for it. But the argument that premium fuels make no difference and are a "waste of money" is false and also completely subjective.
 
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Are you seriously suggesting that 99 Ron will make no or little difference vs 95?! I'm staggered if that is the case.

TX.
 
Based on the TopGear testing 98RON offered a 2.1% increase in BHP vs. Asda fuel in the Golf GTI they used for testing.

The marketing works though. Hence the reason 4k curved TVs are so popular despite the fact there is very limited 4k native content.
 
As I understand the higher octane fuel is necessary to utilise the full BHP of the S3 engine which is why the output is rated lower in countries with lower octane fuel supply. I agree with those who say why spend this much on a car only to then skimp on the fuel? For the comparatively small difference i'll stick to V-Power. Think it's about 8p/litre more than standard unleaded near me, just over £3 per tank (so less than £10 per month for me).
 
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MoodyMan said:
Based on the TopGear testing 98RON offered a 2.1% increase in BHP vs. Asda fuel in the Golf GTI they used for testing.

The marketing works though. Hence the reason 4k curved TVs are so popular despite the fact there is very limited 4k native content.
Click to expand...

4k and VPower are superior to their lesser specced rivals.
Even if only a minor benefit is to be realised, it's a benefit nonetheless, so it's all down to whether the benefit is worth the expense.
In both cases, yes it is.
 
CraigI said:
4k and VPower are superior to their lesser specced rivals.
Even if only a minor benefit is to be realised, it's a benefit nonetheless, so it's all down to whether the benefit is worth the expense.
In both cases, yes it is.
Click to expand...

That's subjective of course.

I don't notice the extra pixels, nor do I notice the extra 5 Bhp I might get. So I don't see a reason to pay more for it, even if it's just a little more.

However like you say there is a proven minor benefit, and that's enough to say premium fuel is not just about marketing.
 
Here we go again...
 
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Unless your car has a PR Code 0U0/L/KRQ

Your car's ECU won't be on a map that takes advantage of the higher RON.



Uk9t1UQ.jpg
 
veeeight said:
Unless your car has a PR Code 0U0/L/KRQ

Your car's ECU won't be on a map that takes advantage of the higher RON.



Uk9t1UQ.jpg
Click to expand...

Interesting - is the PR code on the big ol' sticker in the Service book?
 
I always use Shell V-Power in our S3 and i have seen 51.3mpg on the fuel computer. I wouldn't use supermarket fuel even if it was 10p a litre cheaper. I mean have you ever seen a Morrisons oil refinery?
 
Audimad said:
I mean have you ever seen a Morrisons oil refinery?
Click to expand...

I live near Southampton, and the BP oil terminal at Hamble supplies petrol to numerous non-BP garages, including supermarkets, all over the South so, IMHO, I don't think the fuel supplied by Shell or any other of the major oil companies is exclusive to that company, so I wouldn't knock supermarket fuel just because that supermarket doesn't have its own road tankers! :whistle2:
 
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Supermarket fuels are like wetherspoons beer. They both buy the cheapest from the supplier when it is nearing the end of its life.
 
Wow this question has never been asked on the internet before.

On my 8P A3 V6 I ran 98 for a few weeks then 95, noticed ever so slightly less power but in real world performance it did not make much difference.

Sticking to 98 on this one as a lot more "goes into it" than a normal A3.

In terms of figures on 60k miles and 30mpg:

£1.20/litre = £10,910.62
£1.35/litre = £12,274.45

£1,363.83 worse off or £227.31 per year over 6 years.

EM I ENTELLIGENT NUF NW 4 U V8??? Y WNT U LUV ME?:wub::bye:

*Ahem* sorry about that :)
 
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It's interesting that folks quote 6p or 8p more for the premium stuff.
Around here, normal petrol can vary almost as much as that from garage to garage in quite a small area. It all depends on how near you are to a Tesco's, Morrison's or Asda (selling fuel of course). Sadly our Tesco doesn't sell fuel so BP and Shell are more expensive than 5 or 6 miles away!
 
Higher octane making a difference or not, in V-Power, BP Ultimate etc, you do get additional detergents which help keep the engine cleaner which you don't get in the cheaper fuel which aid engine efficiency.

So the "better" fuel goes in all my cars and bikes, whether it's needed, recommended or not (actually it's only recommended for the S3). I've found on my bikes (at least) that they are running a tad more efficiently than running on normal fuel, also had the head off one (the MV) recently for some porting work, and the carbon deposits were a lot less than expected.

Maybe I'm a sucker for listening to the marketing hype, but for me, if only because they make the engine run cleaner, is why I use them.

It's all personal choice at the end, would you notice 5 BHP difference in day to day running? No. I just like to keep the insides of my S3 as clean (as I can) like the outside, so it gets what it needs. My choice.
 
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Pretty sure a blind test would result in no noticeable difference - it did for me.

I always used to put V-Power in, then drive around thinking I was in a Shell advert and my engine was working like a slick, well-oiled machine...bursting with more power. Definitely felt like it had more power.

What completely changed me was when I asked the other half to put Tesco Momentum in. There was I thinking my car was running super-efficiently etc. She told me a week later that she had put normal fuel in and my world was turned upside down.

Felt like I had a been punched in the heart. I went through the 5 stages of grief - Denial (how can premium fuel not make a difference?!), Anger (****** Shell!!!), Bargaining (maybe I still had 99 octane in the tank still so it didn't feel different?), Depression (all that money wasted...) and Acceptance (I'm happy with normal fuel).

Also, I have a 1.4 - it probably couldn't use premium fuel anyways (as V8 said above - depends on the ECU). Perhaps if I had a GTR, big AMG or an R8 then I'd probably put premium in as I think it would make a difference.
 
I think that even if you leave aside all the things like detergent additives,the real benefit is in terms of higher RON rating,and again,whilst this may not be important much of the time,it is important on high power/high boost engines,in enabling you to run those levels of boost etc without the ECU pulling back to avoid knock with lower RON fuels.
 
Ignition1 said:
Pretty sure a blind test would result in no noticeable difference - it did for me.

I always used to put V-Power in, then drive around thinking I was in a Shell advert and my engine was working like a slick, well-oiled machine...bursting with more power. Definitely felt like it had more power.

What completely changed me was when I asked the other half to put Tesco Momentum in. There was I thinking my car was running super-efficiently etc. She told me a week later that she had put normal fuel in and my world was turned upside down.

Felt like I had a been punched in the heart. I went through the 5 stages of grief - Denial (how can premium fuel not make a difference?!), Anger (****** Shell!!!), Bargaining (maybe I still had 99 octane in the tank still so it didn't feel different?), Depression (all that money wasted...) and Acceptance (I'm happy with normal fuel).

Also, I have a 1.4 - it probably couldn't use premium fuel anyways (as V8 said above - depends on the ECU). Perhaps if I had a GTR, big AMG or an R8 then I'd probably put premium in as I think it would make a difference.
Click to expand...

You would not notice the difference on one tank full, you would have to run a few tanksful for the change to be noticeable.
 
That's not quite 100%. In terms of dilution, it may take several tanks to get only 95 or only 98 in the tank, but the ECU adapts pretty quickly to ****** ignition, and not much longer to advance it.
 
audi upgrades
I use V-Power because a higher RON is recommended. I don't pretend I'll notice the difference but it's higher quality so that's good enough for me.
I probably wouldn't notice if someone replaced my engine oil for cheap Asda lube (certainly not until the engine eats itself from the inside) but it doesn't mean I'd be happy using it.
 
I think the key thing is you don't HAVE to use it. So it's purely down to choice. If placebo effect is true then i see no problem in that either in any case.
 
We are talking about 8p per litre....we all have new cars worth at least £30,000 are we going to skimp for 8p lmao :D

For me it's like Fosters vs Peroni, which do i put in my body :D
 
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S32B said:
We are talking about 8p per litre....we all have new cars worth at least £30,000 are we going to skimp for 8p lmao :D

For me it's like Fosters vs Peroni, which do i put in my body :D
Click to expand...

Neither.
Dead Pony Club.
 
Fosters! you can get more in your body for less hahaha.
 
Hawkeye I think you have it spot on.

I used to race and we never skimped on fluids. I had strip the engines dozens of times a season and there is no doubt in my mind as to the value of quality products used in your vehicle.
When my S3 arrives it will be pampered :)
 
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