General Petrol

[bedbug]

Always worth bearing in mind that panda tank only holds 7.69 gallons 'ish'....so losing 1.4mpg is about 11 miles 'ish' over a tankful...mine does about 11 miles per litre (for me, that is only half way to where I work)...so if your figures are similar to mine you are £1.15 down 'ish'...

so a bag of sugar or a loaf, or a mars and a can of pop....

i.e. not very much

I have had best results with Texaco for mpg.

 

[gareth111278]

Anywhere West of East Anglia Please

Good one, yes we'll draw the line at the M1
Loads of people I work with are from the West Midlands so I say they're all Brummies just to wind them up!

Just taken me 50 mins to do my 25 min journey home from work, 35 MPh all the way :bang:
Alston and Weardale? where abouts are they? Yorkshire? I'd love to tour the Dales etc. One year we'll get round to it.

 

[FullMetalPanda]

It always surprises me that people only think of the higher octane and possible MPG benefits of the more expensive fuels but thats not the full story. No Panda can take advantage of higher octane fuels so you wont see any benefits there. And as for better MPG the results will be very slight and negligible. The main advantage to some of these fuels is the cleaning properties of the additives and keeping your engine clean and running better for longer.

You can find a demontration video on YouTube by typing in Shell V-Power. I dont work for Shell and it may be BS but I do believe in that prevention is better than the cure. So I dont mind paying a few pounds more to fill a car up that I have invested thousands of pounds in.

 

[KozmoNaut]

Bog-standard 92/95 octane unleaded have had EU-standardised additive packages for years now, and cars are designed to run with these fuels for their entire service life. Engines don't gum up because of using the wrong fuel, they gum up and collect deposits because people lug the hell out of them and never rev above 3000rpm.

Coincidentally, people who insist on using V-power etc. also tend to have a heavier right foot, which means the engine gets to use all of its rev range. The smoother running and lack of deposits is seen as due to the "higher-quality" fuel, when in fact it's just a results of a good old-fashioned Italian Tuneup.

EDIT: And "cleaning properties" of the additives? You do know that petrol is one of the most potent solvents available to the public, right?

 

[FullMetalPanda]

Well I do very small mileage (about 4k a year) although I do use the full rev range. If I did have problems with a build of deposits on my engine and it needed some work doing would you pay the bill for me? Doubtfull, so if using V-Power gave me a better chance of keeping the engine deposits down (no matter how slim) I will use it. Its not like its mega expensive anyway and as I said I do very limited mileage so it doesnt effect me that much.

And if standard petrol is so good at cleaning why do some engines (even those that havent been used with full revs) have such large desposits on them?

 

[LeanMeanRacing]

Well I do very small mileage (about 4k a year) although I do use the full rev range. If I did have problems with a build of deposits on my engine and it needed some work doing would you pay the bill for me?

At 4k PA, the car will be a museum piece by the time the engine needs a rebuild!

For my 'toys' I have always used SU fuel as the additional expenditure per tank is negligable. My Panda does around 25k PA, so it's 95 RON all the way. I use Shell more often than not and I've not really seen any benefit from their new fuel - hardly surprising as the 'save up to 1 litre' is based upon a 50 litre refill.

 

[FullMetalPanda]

the car will be a museum piece

Well thats what I am hoping for as I keep every car I own (regardless of age) in pristine condition. I have it valeted once a week and I also have it polished with Diamond Brite every couple of months. I dont allow any smoking, food, children, animals or muddy shoes in the car and I use seat covers. Obviously I cant guarantee the quality of the servicing or parts used though. I used to do it myself but I cant anymore.

Anyway back on topic.

 

[tarbyonline]

Personally I always prefered Texaco. I feel the car runs better and my mate has confirmed this with his highly tuned bike recently - its the only standard octane it can use without having problems. Unfortunately Texaco stations are becoming few and far between round these parts and so I usually use "Star" which have taken over some of the Texaco forecourts (and just happen to be owned by Texacos Northern Ireland distributor) which to all intents and purposes seems to be the same stuff. I find the car runs rough on Tesco's stuff (though this is probably different to what is supplied on the mainland). Sometimes put in Sainsburys super as I feel it does have a slight effect on power, and the car runs better on it than on their standard (engine feels a bit less eager). As for the Italian tune up, I drive that way all the time lol