Is it worth paying more for premium diesel/petrol?
- Thread starter claspknife
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Maybe just worth adding that the Shell drivers Club points are doubled on V Power so that gives a 1p or 2p discount once vouchers are received back. That's the clincher for me: paying 9p extra after vouchers seems an ok deal (assuming the engine cleaning stuff is true...)
I wonder what people's thoughts are on this topic?
I have a brand new mb and want to know based on people's experiences and also the science aspect of the argument for and against using premium fuels.
Really appreciate any advice on this. Thanks in advance.
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Depends on the car : my 190 runs just fine on two star , no difference putting super unleaded in . The SL on the other hand idles a tad unevenly with two star , and definitely goes better with four star .
Its hilarious that you even think about the price difference on a half tank of fuel when driving an SL500
Super is on average 11p per litre more expensive than standard, thats £3 for your half tank and £6-7 for a full tank.
Everywhere around here ( Glasgow ) is around 110 for ordinary unleaded , and 114/115 for super .
Its hilarious that you even think about the price difference on a half tank of fuel when driving an SL500
Super is on average 11p per litre more expensive than standard, thats £3 for your half tank and £6-7 for a full tank.
Assuming say 7000miles a year and 25mpg the additional cost of running super is an additional £127 which pales into insignificance when you consider the depreciation costs and additional running costs of any higher end Mercedes.
If you're cruising around in a frugal C220D doing 50mpg the cost of premium diesel becomes even more irrelevant.
Not hilarious at all as at the time I didn't think about the cost, otherwise I would have moved to another pump. What's hilarious is you felt the need to do the calculation at all!
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If you follow manufacturers' service recommendations, you will be replacing these items before their performance deteriorates to any noticeable extent.
I would say that if your car drives better after a service, then you have probably left it for too long...
Premium fuels do make a difference. I used to be part of a team that not only developed premium fuels (diesel and gasoline), but also demonstrated the benefits using vehicles on either a dyno or on a track.
With diesel fuels, the main benefits are enhanced cleaning with some formulations being able to clean up existing deposits. Regular well formulated fuels offer keep-clean performance.
With gasoline fuels, the benefits can include enhanced octane (though there is much than octane (RON) in play for performance), cleaning performance and friction modification. Again, regular fuels in the U.K. typically offer keep-clean performance.
Some manufacturers claim fuel economy benefits for their premium fuels, some don't. In general terms, one can either take advantage of performance benefits or fuel economy benefits not both.
Our SLK 200 (R171) was noticeably a better drive on Shell V-Power, this even though the handbook says ULG95 is OK.
Our current car was an approved used when we got it. So it's had a few tankfuls of premium diesel to clean up any potential injector deposits, but now is mainly fuelled using regular diesel.
Are any of the benefits worth it? That comes down to the individual driver/owner.
Are the benefits real? In my experience, yes they are.
With diesel fuels, the main benefits are enhanced cleaning with some formulations being able to clean up existing deposits. Regular well formulated fuels offer keep-clean performance.
With gasoline fuels, the benefits can include enhanced octane (though there is much than octane (RON) in play for performance), cleaning performance and friction modification. Again, regular fuels in the U.K. typically offer keep-clean performance.
Some manufacturers claim fuel economy benefits for their premium fuels, some don't. In general terms, one can either take advantage of performance benefits or fuel economy benefits not both.
Our SLK 200 (R171) was noticeably a better drive on Shell V-Power, this even though the handbook says ULG95 is OK.
Our current car was an approved used when we got it. So it's had a few tankfuls of premium diesel to clean up any potential injector deposits, but now is mainly fuelled using regular diesel.
Are any of the benefits worth it? That comes down to the individual driver/owner.
Are the benefits real? In my experience, yes they are.
D
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Thanks for the nostalgia trip!
grober
MB Master
IRRC the early 190's had a rotary switch to manually adjust the engine timing for different fuel octane ratings?
MancMike
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99 RON makes a big difference to my power delivery over 95. It's no placebo. I've had the car over 3 years now and switch between the fuels regularly whenever I'm on fumes.
On 95, the engine really needs to be wound up to really start flying, and runs out of puff above 5k. On 99, it pulls harder from low down, mid-range torque gets a very noticeable boost and it pulls all the way to the redline when it shifts. On 95, you feel the power fade and revs are still climbing, you're hoping it'd grab a new gear a bit sooner. Not the same on 99.
It's a 3L V6 Petrol btw.
On 95, the engine really needs to be wound up to really start flying, and runs out of puff above 5k. On 99, it pulls harder from low down, mid-range torque gets a very noticeable boost and it pulls all the way to the redline when it shifts. On 95, you feel the power fade and revs are still climbing, you're hoping it'd grab a new gear a bit sooner. Not the same on 99.
It's a 3L V6 Petrol btw.
Doodle
MB Enthusiast
Nobody likes getting shafted without even the courtesy of a reacharound
Even my late one has this , as does my SL , W124's , W126's ... pretty much any car running EZL ignition .
My current 190 , though , being a b'stard isation of an older 230CE running the earlier TSZ ignition , grafted into my later car with bits of the later system , is a bit of an oddity - still runs fine on basic fuel though .
Going back further , my Ponton had a manual control on the dash , which used a Bowden cable to retard the distributor if using inferior fuel .
And with five star ...
I'd forgotten all about the star ratings
I can just remember filling up with 5 star in the 70's - it was phased out not long after I started driving . I still think of modern stuff as two star and four star .
If you want a proper octane boost , try to get a tankful of AVGAS , which I think is around 130 octane !
grober
MB Master
With the advent of self adaptation in engine ECU's I would imagine most modern petrol Mercedes would be capable of taking advantage of fuels with a higher octane rating by small changes to fueling and ignition. With diesel its perhaps not so clear cut performance wise more maybe in the area of fuel additives detergents keeping the injection system clean. My experience is that Merc diesels run just a bit quieter on the better diesel. How that translates into better economy/power I don't know.
A not insignificant issue for modern diesels, is formation of deposits in the tiny (c. 70 microns in diameter) injector nozzle holes. Any blockage at all compromises the spray pattern, droplet size and fuel distribution. Which in turn affects combustion efficiency and emission, plus with injectors at £1000 a set, keeping them clean by using decent fuel makes sense to me.
As used by RAF types in their cars during WW2 (allegedly)!
Pretty sure Avgas is still leaded though, so not a good idea if you have cats!
You would need to watch out for that , fortunately none of my cars do .
Those RAF chaps , of course , all drove blower Bentleys and the like
Allegedly .
Palfrem
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I run two old '90s MBs
One of them needs the good stuff or it runs like a pig.
The other one, without "super" is so ponderous, it's a bit of an embarrassment
One of them needs the good stuff or it runs like a pig.
The other one, without "super" is so ponderous, it's a bit of an embarrassment
