Costco Fuel

[liamt]

Went to my local Costco today (Gateshead) to get a few bits and pieces and noted that they have just opened the new Costco Petrol Station and are selling Premium Diesel at £1.09 a litre. As I also needed Diesel I decided to give it a go and tanked the A Class up which came to £43.74 which is currently cheaper than my local station (Morrisons). A quick drive back up the A1 and I noticed that the car felt a lot less sluggish which I had previously put down to driving in comfort mode. Time will tell to see what I get MPG wise but my experience so far is somewhat positive. Not sure what specific brand of fuel they used (Costco have it branded as their Kirkland label) but whilst I was there a Greenergy tanker was present and I believe they supply Esso branded fuel.

I was wondering whether there are other Costco members on here tried their fuel?

Liam

 

[BTB 500]

Not sure what specific brand of fuel they used (Costco have it branded as their Kirkland label) but whilst I was there a Greenergy tanker was present and I believe they supply Esso branded fuel.

FWIW Greenergy was involved in the last major fuel contamination incident in the UK, where silicone (a diesel additive) ended up in unleaded petrol supplied to Tesco (who own 25% of Greenergy), Morrisons and Asda:

Rogue fuel 'cover up' could cost stores up to £10m | London Evening Standard

 

[liamt]

FWIW Greenergy was involved in the last major fuel contamination incident in the UK, where silicone (a diesel additive) ended up in unleaded petrol supplied to Tesco (who own 25% of Greenergy), Morrisons and Asda:

Rogue fuel 'cover up' could cost stores up to £10m | London Evening Standard

Interesting, I do remember back in 2013 filling my Pegueot 208 up at a Morrisons in Winter and the fuel filter clogging as they hadn't put enough winter additive in the Diesel causing it to congeal around the fuel filter. Haven't had any problems since on any of my cars (touch wood).

Liam

 

[bob6600]

The Costco premium diesel is supposed to be the equivalent of V power, Bp ultimate etc so at 20p per litre cheaper, that is a bargain!

 

[erdnase]

I try and avoid supermarket petrol as noticed years ago my 190E did not seem start as quickly with supermarket petrol. Not a huge difference but I noticed it .

 

[saff]

I use Costco diesel and petrol when I visit the store. Haven't noticed any difference to be honest but it is a bit cheaper than my usual Asda stuff.

 

[liamt]

I try and avoid supermarket petrol as noticed years ago my 190E did not seem start as quickly with supermarket petrol. Not a huge difference but I noticed it .

I tend to use Morrisons out of pure conveinience as the petrol station is not even half a mile from my house. To use my nearest non-supermarket petrol station (Esso) I'd have to go out of my way to fill up. Having tried the Costco fuel today and noticed the car was a little less sluggish in comparison with Morrisons fuel I think I'll keep my eye on the price at Costco as I do pop in regularly. They have it capped at £1.09 a litre until the 15th however I'm unlikely to need another fuel up until after then.

 

[GeeJayW]

The Costco premium diesel is supposed to be the equivalent of V power, Bp ultimate etc.

Says who? Can you share a link?

Personally, I prefer to buy my groceries from a grocer and my fuel from an oil company. But then having spent more than 25-yrs in fuels and lubricants R&D for a major oil company, I am biased.

 

[bob6600]

Says who? Can you share a link?

Personally, I prefer to buy my groceries from a grocer and my fuel from an oil company. But then having spent more than 25-yrs in fuels and lubricants R&D for a major oil company, I am biased.

Perhaps you could correct me then.

From what I have read, definitely some of their stations provide 99RON fuel so isn't that 'super unleaded' equivalent to the Shell and BP variants? The diesel I would assume is the same (premium).

Again, I am happy to be corrected by an expert.

FWIW I also use V Power Nitro+ rather than add additives into the tank seperately

This is their blurb

Costco UK - Join the Millions who are already saving!

 

[geraldrobins]

Says who? Can you share a link?

Personally, I prefer to buy my groceries from a grocer and my fuel from an oil company. But then having spent more than 25-yrs in fuels and lubricants R&D for a major oil company, I am biased.

Of course most garages also sell groceries.

 

[GeeJayW]

Of course most garages also sell groceries.

Doesn't mean I buy them from there though...

 

[geraldrobins]

Doesn't mean I buy them from there though...

It irritates me a bit waiting for fuel when customers have their cars at the pumps while choosing their groceries, but thats a minor problem

 

[markjay]

It irritates me a bit waiting for fuel when customers have their cars at the pumps while choosing their groceries, but thats a minor problem

Works both ways really... it can also be equally irritating when you queue to pay for your fuel behind a line of shoppers with trolley-ful of groceries....

 

[GeeJayW]

Perhaps you could correct me then.

From what I have read, definitely some of their stations provide 99RON fuel so isn't that 'super unleaded' equivalent to the Shell and BP variants? The diesel I would assume is the same (premium).

Again, I am happy to be corrected by an expert.

FWIW I also use V Power Nitro+ rather than add additives into the tank seperately

This is their blurb

Costco UK - Join the Millions who are already saving!

Thanks for the link, interesting to see what they have to say.

I do know that the premium base fuel and additive packages used by at least one of the major oil companies are uniquely developed and formulated, and only available through their network. That's not always the case.

Some companies buy their base fuel from the spot market and buy off the shelf additive packages and/or rely on third parties to formulate their products. I don't know of a supermarket chain that employs fuels scientists to develop their own fuel products.

99 octane (RON) can be achieved in a number of ways. Some high octane fuels contain high proportions of oxygenate (e.g. ethanol), this isn't as useful as a performance fuel as other components that could be used to give high octane, but it's cheap.

There are a number of fuels that can provide 'keep clean' performance, but not many that can provide 'clean up'.

FWIW

In our SLK we always used Shell V-Power Nitro+ and it definitely improved the way it drove.

In our VW Golf TDI we tend to use Shell Fuelsave Diesel, having initially used V-Power Nitro+ Diesel for a couple of thousand miles to be sure the injectors were cleaned up.

In our C250d, we are currently using V-Power Nitro+ Diesel until happy the injectors are clean, then we'll continue with Fuelsave Diesel most of the time to keep them clean.

It's not likely that we'll be using Costco fuels.

Others are of course free to decide for themselves and are in fact unlikely to have any significant problems with their vehicles whichever they choose. Though I would recommend sticking to fuels from the major fuel manufacturers.

 

[GeeJayW]

It irritates me a bit waiting for fuel when customers have their cars at the pumps while choosing their groceries, but thats a minor problem

Me too.

 

[David404]

Was at Costco Birmingham today and they have started to dig sections of the car park up, fuel station opening there in 4 months.

Currently running exclusively on Shell Nitro+ but will be watching this thread and seeing what other sources say about Costco premium Derv.

Rational for Shell Nitro+ my previous car (Saab 95 1.7TiD) genuinely ran better on it + the extra cleaning additive pack as protection for injectors and pump.

 

[BTB 500]

Just as an aside, Shell launched a new version of V-Power (both petrol and diesel) recently (last week?). Basically a different friction reducer and modified cleaning package:

Fuels Help | Shell United Kingdom

 

[Rory]

Was at Costco Birmingham today and they have started to dig sections of the car park up, fuel station opening there in 4 months.

That's interesting - thanks. I was only looking at their locations the other day as I had a trip down South and reckoned I wouldn't make it back without refueling (tank wasn't full). I hadn't realised how thin on the ground their stations are.

Having said that, I avoid the elevated section on the M6 - the thump over those metal joints drives me mad!

 

[BTB 500]

Looks like Costco only have nine fuel forecourts across the UK at the moment. None near us.

 

[SL300-24]

There is one at Lakeside near the Dartford Crossing