Styling Shell V power

[antonio1960]

Don`t think ive mentioned this before but i bought a Renault Captur my wife use that for work i use my panda,


So we i was allowed !!!!! to drive the captur i was perplexed at what i called a slight lag when pulling off


To cut a long story short LOL..... i read about Shell V power so i put some in the Captur and iT did help , the other day due to a diversion i went past the Shell garage and did need to fill up so i treated my panda to a tank full of Shell .......


my panda is running so smooth now it made a difference ,although its a few more pence per i think im gonna use shell now


just thought i share that with you ...... and hopefully my garage is opening on the 11th may so i will get the belts done:slayer:

 

[jimboy]

Lots of information on here about the subject & other forums as well.

 

[antonio1960]

Yes there is lots and lots of very , very good info but i`d never put any in my panda before the other day . Just thought i put a thread on the forum about it .

 

[koalar]

I can only comment on petrol. Driven with an eco style and tried over 10s of thousands of miles on cheap and over 500 miles on premium

I get 61-64 mpg on cheap supermarket petrol. And the same on premium petrol. I do admit it seems smoother. Although it could just be in my head as its not measurable and certainly not an extra 5% that you pay.


I do see a measurable difference in other cars though.


I do see a measurable decrease at some small garages with a small turnover.

 

[chris3234]

I've run several tanks of this in a row and noticed no difference whatsoever in economy or how the engine runs

 

[jimboy]

Indeed, that's why I said there is quite a lot of information out there. Whether you feel it's worth it or not is obviously up to the driver. Drivers use the fuel for difference reasons as well. Personally & it's only my view, it's not worth using v power in a daily driver. On larger engine tuned cars is where I see it, but again that's only my view again.

 

[koalar]

personally I suspect it depends on the ECU used but have no proof


My gut feeling is that cars that where the ECU can adjust the advance of the ignition on the fly will see an increase and cars that use a fixed MAP will not.


Also my gut feeling will be that cars that can adjust the advance will get more by going from RON 95 to 98 rather than any fancy name


My biggest surprise is that Shell rebrand there 95 Premium Unleaded as V-Power in New Zealand

 

[DaveMcT]

An engine with fixed ignition timing will perform exactly the same on 95 RON as on 99 RON. It would perform better if retimed with a more ignition advance, but advanced timing with lower RON fuel would cause nasty pre-ignition aka engine knock.

Our 1.2 Dynamic is definitely better on 99 RON than it is with 95 RON (Tesco). Motorways really expose the difference as the car goes from a reluctant slug that struggles with any sort of hill to something nice to use. At Tesco prices, the cost difference does make their 99 RON a little cheaper per mile over all speed ranges. It's not a big thing around town but I can always detect when Mrs Dave has bought cheap plonk.

Posh Shell does perform better but the significantly higher costs probably negate the benefits. Saying that, I will use posh Shell in 100HP in preference to plain 95 as there is an appreciable difference. I much prefer the Tesco version as it saves 10p per litre.

 

[chris3234]

personally I suspect it depends on the ECU used but have no proof


My gut feeling is that cars that where the ECU can adjust the advance of the ignition on the fly will see an increase and cars that use a fixed MAP will not.


Also my gut feeling will be that cars that can adjust the advance will get more by going from RON 95 to 98 rather than any fancy name


My biggest surprise is that Shell rebrand there 95 Premium Unleaded as V-Power in New Zealand

Most cars these days have knock sensors and can adjust the timing a few degrees

 

[AndyRKett]

I’m sure I remember many many years ago the old cinquecento had a little ‘chip’ for want of a better word which you unplugged and turned round depending if you put higher octane fuel in the car, maybe someone who still owns a cinq could confirm this ?

Either way unless your car is fitted with a sensor for the fuel type/ composition then putting different fuel in won’t make a massive difference

 

[koalar]

I’m sure I remember many many years ago the old cinquecento had a little ‘chip’ for want of a better word which you unplugged and turned round depending if you put higher octane fuel in the car, maybe someone who still owns a cinq could confirm this ?

Either way unless your car is fitted with a sensor for the fuel type/ composition then putting different fuel in won’t make a massive difference

Corsa B was like this

I believe it was only set lower for countries where the petrol was of poor quality. But my memory might be wrong

 

[GeorgeDamper]

I always use V Power or BP Ultimate to keep the injectors clean.

53 reg 1.2 Panda Dynamic on 154k

 

[koalar]

I use to do over 40K miles a year for 10 years. Who knows how many in the other 30 years I have been driving. But 5 of those years was over 20K the

Thats 500,000 miles


Only ever use cheapest fuel. And took one car from 18k to nearly 200K


I have yet had an injector fail. It is just pot luck. I don't want to work out how much I have spent on fuel. But the 5% saving would buy me a replacement car
let alone fix an injector.

 

[chris3234]

I'd really don't think you need to clean petrol injectors they rarely fail diesel's ones do have issues due to the high pressure they run

 

[GeorgeDamper]

I keep the injectors clean for the MOT emission test. It always goes straight through.

 

[koalar]

Most cars these days have knock sensors and can adjust the timing a few degrees

Got me wondering now

1.2 has a compression ratio of 11.1

maybe this is the answer

Kinda fits with it feeling smoother.

but I would take it with a pinch of salt

all I know is I tried it. It does feel different. But MPG isn't any better and you get less for your money.

I have eco tyres on at the moment. There is a benefit. But only below 30mph. For my type of driving in the real word its hardly measurably.

https://wuling.id/autotips-en/choosing-proper-fuel-for-your-car

 

[DaveMcT]

If you do more than school runs and shopping tips then the driving difference makes the Tesco Momentum worth having. I dont think the additional cost of posh Shell adds up but their ordinary stuff is not exactly cheap.

I first came across all this in the 1980s when I had a Citroen BX "adapted" for unleaded. 4 Star the leaded stuff was 97 octane unleaded is 95. In reality they retarded the spark timing to avoid pre-ignition from the lower spec petrol. The effect was horrible, fuel consumption shot up and performance was like the brakes were binding.

I had the car put back to standard and accepted it could not use the less toxic fuel.

Retarded spark ignition puts more heat down the exhaust and less into the crankshaft = less performance. Today cars have knock sensors so they can run the best timing advance for the fuel in use. Many the ignition retarded on cold start to heat the catalyst more quickly.

 

[koalar]

If you do more than school runs and shopping tips then the driving difference makes the Tesco Momentum worth having. I dont think the additional cost of posh Shell adds up but their ordinary stuff is not exactly cheap.

I first came across all this in the 1980s when I had a Citroen BX "adapted" for unleaded. 4 Star the leaded stuff was 97 octane unleaded is 95. In reality they retarded the spark timing to avoid pre-ignition from the lower spec petrol. The effect was horrible, fuel consumption shot up and performance was like the brakes were binding.

I had the car put back to standard and accepted it could not use the less toxic fuel.

Retarded spark ignition puts more heat down the exhaust and less into the crankshaft = less performance. Today cars have knock sensors so they can run the best timing advance for the fuel in use. Many the ignition retarded on cold start to heat the catalyst more quickly.

it will depend on how many miles you do.

using the above example


to make the maths easy I have used 50mpg and £1 a litre and those 15 years above would add an extra £2,500 The car cost 1/4 of that at £600.


that doesn't include the other 15 years of driving

 

[jimboy]

As I remarked earlier, people will choose to use v power or not for different reasons. There is a plethora of comments/information out there, some making sense & some baffling to say the least. Threads like this tend to drag on with peoples take on v power, whether it's right or wrong in others eyes will not matter. Then again that's just my observation on the subject...

 

[antonio1960]

As I remarked earlier, people will choose to use v power or not for different reasons. There is a plethora of comments/information out there, some making sense & some baffling to say the least. Threads like this tend to drag on with peoples take on v power, whether it's right or wrong in others eyes will not matter. Then again that's just my observation on the subject...

Yep hit the nail on the head there , its like the old saying

"ya pays ya money and takes ya choice"