V Power Petrol Prices

[Fastcar155]

I suggest you don't repeat your comments to this chap, though.

Hi , customer complaint department

 

[Will]

I’ve been driving my 911 quite a bit recently and for a few reasons I’ve been running it down low on fuel and topping up little and often - £30/40 worth each time.

Interesting as I haven’t been using Shell much recently, but today I stopped at one for fuel and V-power was 173.9p/litre.

Later on was out in the GL and needed fuel on the way back, stopped at Tesco filling station less than 1 mile away from the same Shell filling station - 148.9p/litre.

That’s an insane difference - 25p a litre more?

I did almost 100L in the GL (97.x litres, fuel light was on a few miles before) - would have cost £24 extra at Shell.

But that’s okay, as Shell gave me a £1.00 off coupon after ten visits recently!

It was wet and windy today, pumping in 97L of fuel isn’t enjoyable either - even with pay at pump you have to put your card in twice as there’s a £120 limit - would’ve been nice if I could have set off from home with a full charge if it was an EV…

 

[markjay]

I’ve been driving my 911 quite a bit recently and for a few reasons I’ve been running it down low on fuel and topping up little and often - £30/40 worth each time.

Interesting as I haven’t been using Shell much recently, but today I stopped at one for fuel and V-power was 173.9p/litre.

Later on was out in the GL and needed fuel on the way back, stopped at Tesco filling station less than 1 mile away from the same Shell filling station - 148.9p/litre.

That’s an insane difference - 25p a litre more?

I did almost 100L in the GL (97.x litres, fuel light was on a few miles before) - would have cost £24 extra at Shell.

But that’s okay, as Shell gave me a £1.00 off coupon after ten visits recently!

It was wet and windy today, pumping in 97L of fuel isn’t enjoyable either - even with pay at pump you have to put your card in twice as there’s a £120 limit - would’ve been nice if I could have set off from home with a full charge if it was an EV…

You should really be comparing the Shell V-Power price with Tesco Momentum 99, not with Tesco 95 Octane, the Shell V-Power will still be more expensive, but not by that much.

 

[Will]

You should really be comparing the Shell V-Power price with Tesco Momentum 99, not with Tesco 95 Octane, the Shell V-Power will still be more expensive, but not by that much.

That was for Momentum 99!

 

[Will]

Petrol Prices today at Tesco, Barnes Wallace Drive, Weybridge, KT13 0XF

Check out today's fuel prices at Tesco Petrol Station on Barnes Wallace Drive. Experience top-quality service and unbeatable prices at Tesco today"

www.petrolprices.com

 

[Will]

Petrol Prices today at Shell, Brooklands Road, Weybridge, KT13 0RP

Check out today's fuel prices at Shell Petrol Station on Brooklands Road. Experience top-quality service and unbeatable prices at Shell today"

www.petrolprices.com

Showing 172.9p/litre on there - I can check in the app, but if it was its 24p a litre difference still, and 173.9p might have been last week nearby

 

[E55BOF]

There's a Shell station near me, with an Esso/Tesco Extra just opposite to keep 'em honest. The V-power is only 14p/litre more than 95, doubtless purely coincidentally the same difference as between 99+ and 95 at the Esso station...

 

[markjay]

You should really be comparing the Shell V-Power price with Tesco Momentum 99, not with Tesco 95 Octane, the Shell V-Power will still be more expensive, but not by that much.

Well, if you paid 148.9p/litre for Tesco Momentum 99, then that's a real bargain.

 

[Will]

There's a Shell station near me, with an Esso/Tesco Extra just opposite to keep 'em honest. The V-power is only 14p/litre more than 95, doubtless purely coincidentally the same difference as between 99+ and 95 at the Esso station...

Momentum 99 is 5p/litre less than the ‘cooking 95’ unleaded at the Shell garage nearby in my links above

Crazy!

 

[Will]

Well, if you paid 148.9p/litre for Tesco Momentum 99, then that's a real bargain.

I did - not sure it’s so much a bargain but it’s clear to me that the Shell fuel is vastly overpriced.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I’ve been driving my 911 quite a bit recently and for a few reasons I’ve been running it down low on fuel and topping up little and often - £30/40 worth each time.

Interesting as I haven’t been using Shell much recently, but today I stopped at one for fuel and V-power was 173.9p/litre.

Later on was out in the GL and needed fuel on the way back, stopped at Tesco filling station less than 1 mile away from the same Shell filling station - 148.9p/litre.

That’s an insane difference - 25p a litre more?

I did almost 100L in the GL (97.x litres, fuel light was on a few miles before) - would have cost £24 extra at Shell.

But that’s okay, as Shell gave me a £1.00 off coupon after ten visits recently!

It was wet and windy today, pumping in 97L of fuel isn’t enjoyable either - even with pay at pump you have to put your card in twice as there’s a £120 limit - would’ve been nice if I could have set off from home with a full charge if it was an EV…

This is remarkable, as I was bending Mrs D’a ear on this exact topic.

We had just done the same fill in (almost) the same car and it was 150.9p for the same Momentum super unleaded. Yesterday I filled out rear-engined car with V-Power and it was 175.9p, so it was the same 25p per litre more.

And then I said the same thing about EVs afters I had just plugged in our new EV.

Bizarre in so many ways!

 

[Will]

This is remarkable, as I was bending Mrs D’a ear on this exact topic.

We had just done the same fill in (almost) the same car and it was 150.9p for the same Momentum super unleaded. Yesterday I filled out rear-engined car with V-Power and it was 175.9p, so it was the same 25p per litre more.

And then I said the same thing about EVs afters I had just plugged in our new EV.

Bizarre in so many ways!

Only reason I’ve used Shell a few times recently is I’ve been using the 911 after a period of it being in long term storage, and have just been buzzing around locally over the last few weeks with lots of £30/40 fill ups so when passing a Shell I wasn’t really worried about the cost.

I guess it should be better at cleaning and whatever but I’m not convinced it’s necessarily any better than Momentum 99.

Just adding to Markjay’s comment about the price difference between Tesco and Shell - it’s actually 31p a litre if comparing V-power to regular unleaded at Shell, but interestingly Momentum 99 is 5p a litre less than 95 RON at Shell.

It’s like they’ve doubled down on the price gap in the fuel market - maybe there’s something here that I’m missing (I’m sure there is…!)

 

[Will]

As the transport market moves away from fossil fuels to EV and other energy sources, lubricants will continue to get more expensive.

Any further thoughts on this in 2024?

 

[markjay]

I did - not sure it’s so much a bargain but it’s clear to me that the Shell fuel is vastly overpriced.

Well, it's one or the other... or a little bit of both

 

[markjay]

Only reason I’ve used Shell a few times recently is I’ve been using the 911 after a period of it being in long term storage, and have just been buzzing around locally over the last few weeks with lots of £30/40 fill ups so when passing a Shell I wasn’t really worried about the cost.

I guess it should be better at cleaning and whatever but I’m not convinced it’s necessarily any better than Momentum 99.

Just adding to Markjay’s comment about the price difference between Tesco and Shell - it’s actually 31p a litre if comparing V-power to regular unleaded at Shell, but interestingly Momentum 99 is 5p a litre less than 95 RON at Shell.

It’s like they’ve doubled down on the price gap in the fuel market - maybe there’s something here that I’m missing (I’m sure there is…!)

As has been mentioned many times before, the issue isn't the Octane number, instead it's the base fuel and the additives pack - Shell claims theirs is better - but there's no way of proving it, unless you have access to a lab.

The vast majority of 'testing' seems to be done by amateurs on YouTube using various layman's methods, none of which is helpful if you really want to know whether Shell V-Power is indeed any better than the competition.

In the meantime, people will spend their money based on their beliefs... which may or may not be true.

 

[GeeJayW]

Any further thoughts on this in 2024?

Only that some continued presence of oil & gas production is IMHO likely to be needed for quite some time to come. Scaling the industry back as energy production is decarbonised will inevitably push oil/gas derived product prices up.

And that as long as we have machines, there will be a demand for lubricants. It is possible to make hydrocarbon based lubricants and fuels from biomass (BTL). However it’s an energy intensive process and it’s a challenge to get equivalent lubricating performance to mineral oil derived products.

Biomass to liquid - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[GeeJayW]

As has been mentioned many times before, the issue isn't the Octane number, instead it's the base fuel and the additives pack - Shell claims theirs is better - but there's no way of proving it, unless you have access to a lab.

The vast majority of 'testing' seems to be done by amateurs on YouTube using various layman's methods, none of which is helpful if you really want to know whether Shell V-Power is indeed any better than the competition.

In the meantime, people will spend their money based on their beliefs... which may or may not be true.

Unless things have changed, Shell V-Power gasoline is not an exchange product, ie is proprietary to Shell. The additive package formulation is also proprietary to Shell.

 

[markjay]

Unless things have changed, Shell V-Power gasoline is not an exchange product, ie is proprietary to Shell. The additive package formulation is also proprietary to Shell.

The questions are, though: (a) Is it actually better, or just different? And (b) if it's better, is it worth the higher price?

 

[GeeJayW]

The questions are, though: (a) Is it actually better, or just different? And (b) if it's better, is it worth the higher price?

In the tests I was involved with it was demonstrably different from and better* than Regular fuels. Compared to other premium fuels that have differing formulations but share similar headline figures, the gap was much closer and harder to discern.

The question on whether the difference is worth it, is up to the individual. As long as people buy it, Shell will charge the higher price.

*the definition of ‘better’ is also up for discussion. In our SLK and Mazda MX-5; the most notable benefit of V-Power over Regular from the drivers seat was driveability/responsiveness, especially gear changes (manual box). I could never tell much difference between premium fuels from the drivers seat.

 

[E55BOF]

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