Do Not Sell My Personal Information Jump to content


Petrol Advice


GaryG
 Share

Recommended Posts

i've been doing some investigation regarding supermarket and branded fuel. Apparently it all comes from the same suppliers. When the tanker picks up the fuel from them the operater adds in the additives for whoever is taking the delivery be it Shell,BP,Esso Tesco etc. So it's all the same fuel apart from the additives.

I just came here to see which fuel most Lexus drivers are using. I go with the majority Shell is the way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 54
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Mine runs a bit lumpy unless i go for optimax and then it seems to sort it out. It may be another technical issue that it smooths over.

I do get lousy mpg...i do mainly motorway driving..and only sem to get around 350 mile to a full tank of £60......ive been trying to keep the foot of the pedal too.

Is this a common expereience? or do you all get better mpg....?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine runs a bit lumpy unless i go for optimax and then it seems to sort it out. It may be another technical issue that it smooths over.

I do get lousy mpg...i do mainly motorway driving..and only sem to get around 350 mile to a full tank of £60......ive been trying to keep the foot of the pedal too.

Is this a common expereience? or do you all get better mpg....?

I've today just worked out my MPG for my last tankful.

I get 20 mpg :D

310 miles for a £60 tank full, thats about half a tank of motorway driving, then the rest is town/a-roads

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I sometimes get about 300 to a tank..thought i had tuning issues....sometimes smells rich on tickover.......maybe thats the norm!

I look at the mpg needle on motorways and its sat at 20 and im barely touching the throttle!

Whats the reason for the low mpg...? car weight? 6 cylinders?

Would oil type or spark plug choice affect MPG?

Mine runs a bit lumpy unless i go for optimax and then it seems to sort it out. It may be another technical issue that it smooths over.

I do get lousy mpg...i do mainly motorway driving..and only sem to get around 350 mile to a full tank of £60......ive been trying to keep the foot of the pedal too.

Is this a common expereience? or do you all get better mpg....?

I've today just worked out my MPG for my last tankful.

I get 20 mpg :D

310 miles for a £60 tank full, thats about half a tank of motorway driving, then the rest is town/a-roads

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Hi guys, I am not sure if you know this but Fifth Gear did test the different petrol types available (filled up each time with different fuel and reset ECU). In all cases Shell Optimax outperformed the other types of fuel (BP Ultimate, Supermarket stuff). The difference was about 5-8 hp and also provided more torque as well... not sure how accurate they were though...

As for mpg..I usually get about 350 -380 miles per full tank and i generally use just plain Shell unleaded.. I do have a heavy right foot as well and hardly stick to speed limits esp. on motorways... (tsk tsk)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi guys, I am not sure if you know this but Fifth Gear did test the different petrol types available (filled up each time with different fuel and reset ECU).  In all cases Shell Optimax outperformed the other types of fuel (BP Ultimate, Supermarket stuff).  The difference was about 5-8 hp and also provided more torque as well...  not sure how accurate they were though...

I saw that too, although there's no mention of it on the Fifth Gear website. The difference was more marked on the Scooby (or was it an Evo) though, over 10bhp increase I think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I sometimes get about 300 to a tank..thought i had tuning issues....sometimes smells rich on tickover.......maybe thats the norm!

I look at the mpg needle on motorways and its sat at 20 and im barely touching the throttle!

Whats the reason for the low mpg...? car weight? 6 cylinders?

Would oil type or spark plug choice affect MPG?

I test drove an IS200 once, and whilst it was fun to drive, I couldn't believe how thirsty compared to the performance it was offering. When GS300 folks are getting 27mpg on A roads, and the massive engined LS400/430 drivers getting 23-25 with easy driving on A roads, the bigger engined Lexi are not so bad on fuel for their size.

Hope they improve it on the new IS..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Currently I am seeing only a 1 mpg difference between normal Sainsburrys UL and Optimax. This is over a test of >250 litres of each fuel.

BHP wise. At Janspeed my car showed more RWBHP on optimax than a car with normal supermarket fuel. We are only talking 5 - 7 more BHP though.

The above relates to the IS300, I also have figures for the IS200 but not at work.

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

To add to the comment by Mr Morse

Judging by the fact that all the distributors tend to share storage depots ( eg statements on Hemel Hempstead) across the country and pipelines, there is little or no difference in what they all have for a particular grade.

There are some additives, most of which are developed and supplied by 3rd party companies such as Lubrizol.

Based on this there is no benefit, other than a higher RON rating.

Im trying out Optimax which is higher rated, to see if the quoted additional miles are true or not. If not Ill go back to standard 95.

As for cheap petrol, Sainsburys is often beaten by BP who also do the nectar points. Another reason they are losing to Tesco.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • 4 weeks later...
I always find BP are the most expensive by far!

I think local conditions/competition often dictates which petrol station/make is cheaper.

Near me there is a BP station with very cheap petrol,but that is because there is an ASDA right next door!

Of course,if there is no local competition,the buggers just charge virtually what they like :angry:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I have taken an interest in findong out what is the best petrol so I tried them all out and this is what I thought!

Shell Optimax - Feels smooth, car is more responsive and feels slightly quicker

Shell Unleaded - cheaper than optimax but drove fine

BP Ultimate - Didnt notice any difference and did not get up to 25 miles extra as BP have claimed!

BP Unleaded - No difference to BP Ultimate just cheaper

Total Super Unleaded - Felt and drove the same as Total Unleaded

Esso - Noticed no difference

Tesco Super Unleaded - Felt a little rough to begin with then it was fine

Tesco Unleaded - drove normally

Jet Unleaded - notice nothing different

So after a few weeks of trialing after filling up 60 litres each time i got approx 400 miles which is approx 30MPG both motorway and in and around town driving. The only difference i felt was in my wallet to be honest and OPTIMAX did feel better then all of the rest but is expensive.

So from now on I will use Tesco unleaded and get more points on my card instead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been a very interesting read. I found the normal IS very thirsty indeed and can understand the annoyance of lack of power to its very gas guzzling characteristics. Being supercharged now i find it better probably because i dont have to drive it as hard. Gonna stop using BP ultimate because i cant warrant its cost and find some optimax.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:duh: Can anybody who uses Optimax or BP Ultimate actually say without doubt that the differnce in cost Vs the extra(supposed) MPG actually mean it's cheaper in the long run :question: and if I was to switch to one of these would the ECU definately need manually reseting before the extra MPG became apparent ?

Thanks

:blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is an excellent artical on different fuels , supermarket unleaded 95ron, tesco 99ron, bp ultimate 97ron, shell optimax 98ron, in the jap mag Banzai , march, page 94. ive used them all and will be sticking with shell optimax . :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:duh: Can anybody who uses Optimax or BP Ultimate actually say without doubt that the differnce in cost Vs the extra(supposed) MPG actually mean it's cheaper in the long run :question: and if I was to switch to one of these would the ECU definately need manually reseting before the extra MPG became apparent ?

Thanks

:blink:

I used normal unleaded from whereever I was passing when I neaded fuel, then I read a report in EVO where they had compared the fuels, to be fair on cars with turbos, BP Ultimate was proved to give the most increase in power. So I swapped to it. It did for certain and a better sound.

Problem is there aint so many BP's in Leeds, or at least on my route.

So I have just strated using Optimax, which IMO is just the same, if there is a difference between the two I can not tell from the drivers seat.

As far as fuel consumption, I think Fargo did a comprehensive report on it, and it showed that whilst Ultimate was around 10% more expensive than normal UL, he got just over 11% more miles.

It will obviously depend on Urban/motorway miles and how heavy your foot is.

With the IS being slow, its worth the money to have a bit more umph.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's probably a bit ironic to mention ecology and the planet when I drive a 4 litre car, but......BP are making a big noise over how their fuel is somehow more environmentally friendly! THIS I have to see! B)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Opinions differ regarding whether the MPG figure improves with Optimax and I do not want to get into that arguement, but one thing to remember is that Optimax has two benefits, one is the octane improvement which could improve MPG, the other is the fact that it has the additives to clean the engine continually to a degree never achieved before. If you have ever seen the build up on the exhaust valve stems of an old (non Lexus !) high mileage engine you will want some petrol which cleans as you drive !

This is the major reason why Shell push Optimax. I think the extra 100 pounds a year is worth it for the clean(er) engine !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share




×
×
  • Create New...