Fuel - Supermarket or Branded?
 

A topic that people seem to think has been done to death but upon searching, I can't find anything recent.

I've used supermarket fuel for the last 10 years and haven't attributed any maintenance costs directly as a result of using it.

I also can't see them watering it down - seriously, mixing water and fuel together? But happy to be corrected.

Pick the option that is closest to your situation.

Never ever!!!!:confused_smile:

I've gone supermarket but basically it's whatever is cheapest in my local area without going miles out of the way to get it.Never had any problems.Did try for a period that super duper unleaded stuff and all that happened there was I got less fuel for my money.

Supermarket for both daily drives, with the odd tankful of premium, but I always use branded superdoop stuff in the JZR as it’s a high revving 40+ year-old engine.

Exactly what I was going to post!

The poll needs a 'whatever is cheapest in my local area' option!

I use whatever is cheaper for the Volvo cos is doesn't matter much, for the Audi though, tried about all of it and surprisingly enough my best results seem to indicate it likes plain, vanilla Esso best of all. Slightly smoother, slightly better throttle response, slightly quieter, better economy. Go figure. Tried bells n whistles super fuels and no better than Sainsbury's diesel.
Marketing huh.

I think you’ll find the fuel all comes from the same depot’s anyway. There’s Fawley refinery near us in Southampton, and you see loads of different tankers going in. They may have slightly different cocktails maybe?
The other thing I remember reading about is the quality of equipment and cleaning at the forecourt. Some tanks underground are not as good as others. There was a case at Tesco’s in Bournemouth with a contaminated tank. Not sure if there are requirements for cleaning or testing every so often.
We have never seen any issues or differences in either to be honest. I’ve used premium and budget in both my old Volvo T5s and apart from maybe an Irish though of “hmmm maybe it seems a bit better...” after that I don’t think there was to be honest. But with an engine that’s over 100,000 and 20 years old not sure if you would feel much difference.

I read somewhere that the main difference is in the additives - the branded fuels apparently have additional cleaning agents that the supermarket fuels don't tend to use as they're more cost orientated (and often use fuel as a loss-leader to bring customers into the supermarket).

They all have to meet minimum octane levels to be classed as 95/99 etc. so I'd imagine they all perform pretty much the same.

Having said that... I found that my old V70R ran better on BP petrol, and my neighbour swears that his Freelander runs better on Esso diesel. (Better being a noticeably better mpg).

Yeah, I thought about this but no way to edit it (even just after posting before any votes).

But then that is likely to be the leader in results as I should think most people would go for the cheapest.
Although to be fair, it is rare branded stations are cheaper than supermarkets :P

I'm currently doing so few miles I'm currently running on unicorns tears, getting through a tank every 3 - 4 months so cost hardly matters.