Quizzes & Puzzles7 mins ago
Super Diesel.
Is it worth spending a few extra pence/litre on this fuel, or is it a rip-off?
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If you mean the equivalent of BP's "Ultimate" Diesel.....
It depends very much on your car and its usage. They say it will increase performance, promote a cleaner engine and create less pollution.
I am assuming this is if you use it all the time, it would be pointless putting the odd bit in now and then.
It depends very much on your car and its usage. They say it will increase performance, promote a cleaner engine and create less pollution.
I am assuming this is if you use it all the time, it would be pointless putting the odd bit in now and then.
Honest John, in the Telegraph, seems to favour the "super" diesels, both BP and Shell, for regular use. Assuming "bog" diesel was £1.40 per litre, and your normal fuel produced 40 mpg, at £1.50 per litre you would need to get 43 mpg+ to break even. There could, of course, be other advantages, in terms of wear and tear, servicing costs, etc.
"Super Diesel" probably isn't a rip off. It contains a higher proportion of synthetic diesel and has a higher Cetane Rating ( simply put a measure of how well the droplets burn under compression). The fuel produces less soot which should result in fewer carbon deposits in the engine thus improving "breathing".
The fuel is less dense than normal diesel and has less energy per unit volume.
Modern diesel engines have particulate filters which can prove troublesome if the engine is never worked hard. These fuels may help.
Better mpg ? This is difficult to compare as there are so many variables but if it is significantly better it should be obvious.
The fuel is less dense than normal diesel and has less energy per unit volume.
Modern diesel engines have particulate filters which can prove troublesome if the engine is never worked hard. These fuels may help.
Better mpg ? This is difficult to compare as there are so many variables but if it is significantly better it should be obvious.
Oddly enough I am on the last tankful of an experiment.
3 tank fulls of ordinary diesel returned 51.6 mpg in my VW Touran blue motion. I have just filled up with the third tank of Shell V Power.
Approximately 6% dearer than ordinary fuel, I need to get at least a 6% increase in mpg for the V Power.
Watch this space, I'll report my results on here once this tank has emptied.
3 tank fulls of ordinary diesel returned 51.6 mpg in my VW Touran blue motion. I have just filled up with the third tank of Shell V Power.
Approximately 6% dearer than ordinary fuel, I need to get at least a 6% increase in mpg for the V Power.
Watch this space, I'll report my results on here once this tank has emptied.
pdq - that can bugger up the chemistry of the fuel that you have been running on to clean the engine. Use a Shell or BP, claims in the States indicate >5% mileage improvement...and having seen early results, this is very much the low end. IMO, I would work tfrom 7.5 to 10 per cent depending on age and set up of the vehicle.
I have done a long running experiment with super diesel against normal and have found (that driving in exactly the same way) that the super gives 5 - 6 miles extra per gallon which represents 15.60% -18.75% increase in mileage. However, using super and cruising under 65mph on motorways produced an increase in mileage per gallon of nearly 25%. I do not know what the super does to the engine but if you want to save on fuel bills you can achieve 20% - 25% more mileage just by driving under 65mph.
I use Shell regular fuel save diesel and find it gives me better mpg than supermarket fuels - VW Passat Estate 1.6 Blue Motion 70+ mpg on a run and 65 over 20k miles and Isuzu Trooper 3.0 diesel Auto around 32mpg, down to 28 when towing. I have not been able to detect any significant benefit when I have tried premium fuels but I do appreciate that independent testing shows some marginal improvement in MPG and but only Shell appears to burn cleaner - I therefore try to run around 500 miles on Shell V Power prior to taking a car for an MOT
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