V Power Petrol Prices

[Bobby Dazzler]

Shell is practicing the art of ripping off around where I live with a price difference of 25p/l compared to Tesco Momentum

It’s much the same here too. Shell regular unleaded is more expensive than Tesco to begin with and the cost premium for VPower is close to 3x more than Momenum.

I wouldn’t say that Shell are ripping people off though, as there is a choice - either use regular unleaded or use a different brand of fuel. Almost all do a super unleaded option, and Esso and Tesco are 99 RON

 

[NickW205C63]

Spotted that the esso on the start of my commute now offers supreme unleaded and nectar points, so another option.

I didn't spot the price however.

 

[ALFAitalia]

And Esso Synergy Supreme+ 99 is the only one now that is ethanol free in most places. Even though its labeled E5 for legal reasons, it isn't.

EDIT....apparently this changed from Aug 23.....its now UP TO 5% ethanol....boo.

 

[NickW205C63]

And Esso Synergy Supreme+ 99 is the only one now that is ethanol free in most places. Even though its labeled E5 for legal reasons, it isn't.

EDIT....apparently this changed from Aug 23.....its now UP TO 5% ethanol....boo.

Yeah, I knew I'd read somewhere they'd now added ethanol.

 

[Skd884]

Shell and Esso 99 are both 165.9 local to me, Tesco 153.9 which is over 5 miles away.

 

[TC350]

For the last couple of years I’ve been filling up almost exclusively with Tesco Momentum. It’s my nearest petrol station, it’s where I do the vast majority of my grocery shopping, and I get Tesco points that I convert to Virgin Atlantic points. So a win, win, win for me.

It’s also possible that I’m getting an additional benefit (or two?). The car’s overall fuel consumption has improved since I switched to Momentum for every fill instead of just a couple of times a year to clean things up a bit. Whether or not the increased fuel price is balanced out by the improved consumption, I don’t know. But if I was all that bothered by fuel costs I wouldn’t have bought a 3.5 litre petrol car.

The other possible benefit is that the NOx sensors don’t appear to clog up as often as they used to - the EML isn’t illuminating as often. This MAY be due to a cleaner engine or it MAY be coincidence. Just as the improved fuel consumption MAY be nothing to do with using Momentum.

My overall point is that I’m more than happy to pay the extra for Momentum over regular fuel, even though it’s not a manufacturer’s requirement. My 12 year old Mercedes runs like a dream, so there’s no more I need.

 

[NickW205C63]

Filled up with Esso 99 yesterday at 159.9.... quite a difference vs the 174.9 of my top up before.

So this tank is an intoxicating mix of half V Power half Esso 99 lol

 

[Will]

Shell and Esso 99 are both 165.9 local to me, Tesco 153.9 which is over 5 miles away.

Do you only fill up at home though? I just top up when passing by and under 1/4 tank or whatever

 

[NickW205C63]

Do you only fill up at home though? I just top up when passing by and under 1/4 tank or whatever

I pretty much do as by the time I get home ill be needing to refill (270 ish miles).

 

[Will]

So couldn’t you fill up on the way back 5 miles from home just for example? Or anywhere else convenient eg 10/20 miles away or whatever

Unless you live at a petrol station and park there it’s not going to make a huge amount of difference is it?

 

[NickW205C63]

So couldn’t you fill up on the way back 5 miles from home just for example? Or anywhere else convenient eg 10/20 miles away or whatever

Unless you live at a petrol station and park there it’s not going to make a huge amount of difference is it?

Set route to motorway passing the same stations. Creature of habit.

 

[Skd884]

Tesco 99 154.9

Shell V 164.9

 

[gIzzE]

My overall point is that I’m more than happy to pay the extra for Momentum over regular fuel, even though it’s not a manufacturer’s requirement. My 12 year old Mercedes runs like a dream, so there’s no more I need.

The M276?

I probably posted about me E350 estate on this thread a few years back.

It definitely makes a difference, and it does retard the timing on 95ron.

I did loads of tests back when I had mine.


Also, the weird thing was all UK literature said 95ron, but all the German literature said all consumption and power figures were based on using super unleaded.

 

[markjay]

The M276?

I probably posted about me E350 estate on this thread a few years back.

It definitely makes a difference, and it does retard the timing on 95ron.

I did loads of tests back when I had mine.


Also, the weird thing was all UK literature said 95ron, but all the German literature said all consumption and power figures were based on using super unleaded.

Isn't 'Super' 95 RON?

 

[Skd884]

Isn't 'Super' 95 RON?

Hello mate

 

[gIzzE]

They call it Superplus Benzin, that is what was listed in Germany for the E350 M276 engines, where as we just had 95 ron listed for some reason.

It was the same with some of the 4 cyl turbos that came out after as well.



Sorry, just reread what I put, that was a confusing as I switched back to UK terminology when discussing German fuel.
I meant they were saying it needed what we call Super Unleaded in the UK, you're right they do call it Super for 95 and Superplus for 97,98 and 99.

 

[markjay]

They call it Superplus Benzin, that is what was listed in Germany for the E350 M276 engines, where as we just had 95 ron listed for some reason.

It was the same with some of the 4 cyl turbos that came out after as well.



Sorry, just reread what I put, that was a confusing as I switched back to UK terminology when discussing German fuel.
I meant they were saying it needed what we call Super Unleaded in the UK, you're right they do call it Super for 95 and Superplus for 97,98 and 99.

That's how it's called in Germany:

The German term for RON is ROZ (Research Oktan Zahl)

 

[ALFAitalia]

Isn't 'Super' 95 RON?

That's usually "Premium" in the UK...."Super" is the 97 or 98 ron plus fuel.

 

[Fastcar155]

The M276?

I probably posted about me E350 estate on this thread a few years back.

It definitely makes a difference, and it does retard the timing on 95ron.

I did loads of tests back when I had mine.


Also, the weird thing was all UK literature said 95ron, but all the German literature said all consumption and power figures were based on using super unleaded.

On my C207E400 the electronic owners manual stated 99 Octane petrol

 

[gIzzE]

I noticed that too, the E450 was the same, but the estate never reached here, just got the E43 which only offered black interior at the time and too over damped for what I wanted.



Whatever the terminology was, Super, Super Plus, Germany said to use 99ron, where as the UK just said 95.

I made a few posts about it with screengrabs from the Mercedes UK and DE websites.


It also hated Sainsburys fuel too, If I filled up with Sainbury's fuel I would drive from Norfolk into Cavendish Square, back of Oxford Street, and on the way home as soon as I got onto the M11 and put my foot down it would throw an engine management light. When scanned it would show an o2 sensor pre cat error and an error saying that the car had unknown additives or been misfueled.

It took me a few months to realise it was only when the Sainsbury's fuel was used.

Because of this I did some testing with this, Shell Super and Tesco 99, put the car on a rolling road, first with the Sainsbury's fuel as that was already in it, then with Shell and then the Tesco 99, all had at least 3 tanks and looked at the difference.

I can't remember the exact figures, but I think it was 304hp for the Shell and 306hp for the Tesco 99, so almost identical, where as the Sainsbury's super was 280 something.

I never used the Sainsbury's fuel again and over the next 18 months or so never got the EML come up. The guy who bought the car from me drove back to Wales and messaged me a few days later saying the EML had come on, and Merc said it needed new o2 sensors, I asked if he had used Sainsbuy's fuel and he had. I explained the above and you could just tell he thought I was trying to fob him off. Never found out if he ditched that fuel or paid Mercedes £900 for two new sensors.

I even spoke to techs at Mercedes as this was a pain, in Germany they had a software upgrade to adjust NOX sensor sensitivity. Mercedes said that loads of NOX sensors fail and they have to replace them weekly. I tried to explain they are not failing they are just too sensitive, but, as always, fell on deaf ears.