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I think the price differential has increased far more than if you take into account the relative prices of their standard UK fuel at the time and tax changes. I can't believe that it costs them about 8p - 10p per litre for the additives than say, the cheapest SUL petrol at the supermarket filling stations.
I'll still use it once in a while as a treat for my car, but unless I do lots of urban driving or my car stipulates it must run on SUL, then nope - at most I'll use the supermarket SUL, which is only about 6p max more expensive than their own UL, which in itself is 4-5p a litre cheaper than branded filling stations like Shell & Co.
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Like Velo I reckon its getting pricier. I am seriously questioning the benefit on terms of mpg at least.
My average consumption according to the onboard computer hasn't been reset for about 10k miles and had settled at 44.7 to 45.0 for months. It has had vpower petrol all that time.
Last week I pulled up at the wrong pump with a low tank and just took standard Shell unleaded. Within a hundred miles the readng went up to 45.1 and has stayed there for the following hundred and fifty miles.
Not scientific of course but it does suggest that I am not getting a mpg benefit to cover the excess cost. Maybe the effect of vpower persists for a while and will wear off but meanwhile I amnot seeing the expected drop in mpg.
I will stick with the standard fuel for a while and see what happens. Maybe I will do an occasional vpower fill for its alleged cleaning properties.
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Honesty guys, I think you must be mad spending upwards of £5 EXTRA or more per tank of fuel for you snake oil additives.
I don't do massive mileages (~15,000 PA), but I cannot see that spending the extra £200 a year would make any difference?
I buy Costco diesel if I'm near their warehouse (i.e. seldomly), and this is supposed to be "super", but I don't see any increase in mpg or performance and I always run my tank full to empty, so it's getting 95%+ of the fuel when I do buy it.
When I was an apprentice we did a project at college on the construction and manufacture of LED's., (which were little more than single discrete indicators in the 70's). Our lecturer discovered that the lastest "super bright" type were manufactured from a cheaper material than "standard brightness" ones. He actually got one of the manufacturers to admit that although they were cheaper to manufacture, they could sell them at a premium because they were able to!
Edited by nick62 on 15/04/2018 at 22:54
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If you have a single EGR failure on (for example) a VAG 1.6 diesel engine, where the EGR valve is buried in the engine and requires major work to change (along with being an expensive part), leading to a bill of £700+ (VW dealers have been known to hit 4 figures for the cost), along with the hassle, inconvenience, etc. then you might look at the cost of the more expensive diesel as a form of insurance policy.
You have (I assume) buildings and contents insurance at home, you take out travel insurance if going abroard - or do you think of those as madness too ?
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Fair point, but can you please link me to irrefutible evidence of this?
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Fair point, but can you please link me to irrefutible evidence of this?
No, because an EGR failure isn't going to happen to every person who fills up with the cheapest diesel possible, or even a majority of them.
Just as I can't provide 'irrefutable proof' that travel insurance is a good idea. I, for example, have never had to claim on it - so it could reasonably be said that I've wasted thousands of pounds (we also get insurance for SCUBA diving to our qualified depths of 40m on our worldwide annual policies, which bumps up the price, as you can imagine). However, one diving incident could see a bill hitting 6 figures, so not having insurance would be, to my mind, idiocy.
It's all to do with YOUR attitude to risk, and can YOU afford (or do you have a warranty that will cover) the fault IF it does occur, along with having to get your car recovered to a garage, possibly arranging a hire car, etc, etc. Myself, I prefer to reduce the risk of it happening in the first place, use premium diesel, have a good warranty, and have breakdown cover.
Imagine it this way. Checking your tyres (pressure and depth), oil, coolant, screenwash are all advisable before a long journey. Lots of people don't do those checks, and nothing bad happens in 99 % of cases. So does that mean (in your words) that it is madness to carry out those checks, as they're a waste of time ?
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as i said i started using v-power in 2013.average fuel prices then were higher than today.v-power then was 7pence more,a quick check online says average petrol fuel prices were about £1.30p so v-power was about 5.5% more..today normal petrol was £1.19p and v-power was £1.30p making it 9% more..
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as i said i started using v-power in 2013.average fuel prices then were higher than today.v-power then was 7pence more,a quick check online says average petrol fuel prices were about £1.30p so v-power was about 5.5% more..today normal petrol was £1.19p and v-power was £1.30p making it 9% more..
The extra cost of higher-octane petrol and high-cetane diesel has always been a smaller percentage when general fuel prices are higher ... probably because the fuel companies and forecourt owners know they'd hardly sell any if they tried to maintain the same price differential.
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From 1996 to 2015 we filled mostly with the cheapest Asda (the closest) or Tesco (when shopping) diesel, sometimes we filled with Sainsburys or Morrisons if they had an offer on which made it cheaper to shop there. 2 fill ups a year had to be done at a BP or Esso station in Aviemore, only fuel available without travelling probably 20 miles into Inverness.
In that time we ran 6 diesels between us and did over 1/4 million miles. We never had a single issue with any car and our mpg figures were always very good (in recent times we either matched or beat HJ's real figures).
Based on our experience I would suggest that anyone buying super diesel or only using branded fuel is simply wasting their money.
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Imagine it this way. Checking your tyres (pressure and depth), oil, coolant, screenwash are all advisable before a long journey. Lots of people don't do those checks, and nothing bad happens in 99 % of cases. So does that mean (in your words) that it is madness to carry out those checks, as they're a waste of time ?
Now you really are taking the Michael. Sorry, but I think you are trying to justify to yourself why you chose to spend more than is otherwise necessary on FUEL.
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Imagine it this way. Checking your tyres (pressure and depth), oil, coolant, screenwash are all advisable before a long journey. Lots of people don't do those checks, and nothing bad happens in 99 % of cases. So does that mean (in your words) that it is madness to carry out those checks, as they're a waste of time ?
Now you really are taking the Michael. Sorry, but I think you are trying to justify to yourself why you chose to spend more than is otherwise necessary on FUEL.
Well, I own my car. It was expensive, and I like to keep it in the best condition possible. I choose to spend a bit extra on fuel, on the basis that I think it may help to mitigate EGR or other problems.
Just because I don't agree with your opinion (and that's all it is, an opinion) doesn't mean you are right, or that I am wrong. Or that I am right and that you are wrong.
I don't need to justify it to myself. I do it. I don't think, every 2-3 weeks when I fill up "Oh, I've got to justify this extra £5 I'm putting in the tank". I've got more important things on my mind.
Maybe you're the one with the issues, trying to justify to yourself spending the minimum possible, skimping and saving every penny to run a car that'd be otherwise too expensive for you ?
Or maybe that's be just ridiculous speculation on my part. Just as your post was.
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Super diesel is an interesting debate. HJ has been routinely recommending it for years and saying that he hasn't had any fuel system problems....but then nor have many of us who have never used it.
I've always found that the price differential between the regular and super stuff is quite significant here in the North East, and the odd time I have "treated" my cars to it have noticed no difference in performance or mpg. HJ is always claiming you'll get better mpg because you will have more torque from lower revs and therefore be able to change up early. I definitely haven't noticed this. He also says manufaturers say their vehicles are calibrated with it- this may well be the case, who knows?
We've run diesels to nearly 90k miles and not had any DPF/EGR problems so I'll stick with the regular stuff...and probably curse when I now have a problem! It's all very subjective isn't it!
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