PCFormat Forum Archive

Hi there i dont know if this is stupid to ask but if you like me then you probably never even considered this.

Everytime i need to put petrol in my car i just drive up to a garage and tell them to fill the tank without a second thought. Today though after driving to so many garages to fill cause of the price increase i wondered are all the petrols supplied at the pumps the same? i think it isnt

So the next thing is from all our garages shell BP engen sasol ect which of them offers the best petrol?

I think it depends on the car. Mine doesn't like Caltex too much but BP and Shell give me good mileage. Trek and Engen are not as bad as Caltex but I really get the best on the two worst environmental companies. I hate BP but had to fill up today as it was beeping at me. I am not a very good human. I give my car what she wants.

well I haven't done an empirical study but there are general restrictions on petrol that has to be adhered to so I would guess the only things that could make a difference to the petrol is the additives that gets added which I'm not privy to so can't really compare them to one another. Oh and btw a lot of petrol that gets sold here as BP or Shell or what ever were actually made by Sasol they just ad their own additives as mentioned.

And that is saying a lot without actually saying much

Sasol Diesel for me. seem to run smoother with it... Engen also an option though.

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Ok, so my educated guess would be that no-one really knows why they chose their respective fuel company, except for maybe habit?

Ok, so some say there is a performance increase. By how much? Can I have your dyno graphs where you compared your car with all the fuels on the dyno? If you say it feels like it, then that is not an answer.

Better mileage? Can I see some records where you filled up say 5 times with one fuel, drove the EXACT same distance and in the EXACT same manner to get a average and then do the rest of the fuels the same way?

You cannot say: "Oh Shell gives me more performance" or "Engen gives me more mileage." That is just your opinion.

I fill up where ever I see those signs that says "Petrol". Pull up to the pump, the attendant puts this nozzle in my bike and liquid propellant comes out. I pay and ride away for say 300km.

IcePick is right, all petrol companies buy exactly the same crude oil, and the refining process used by the different companies is almost identical, if not so.

I use BP out of convenience - garage is 200 m from my flat...

I like the Shell Diesel, gives me almost 200km extra on a tank

Tribble wrote:Mine doesn't like Caltex too much

Yeah all those tiny men inside my engine is NOT helping.

As for the topic. You should always try and fill up at the same place. The oil may come from the same place but the companies do add their own chemicals etc.
I also prefer to use Sasol seeing as they are local.

Disrupter wrote:I like the Shell Diesel, gives me almost 200km extra on a tank

Seriously?

200km extra on a tank by just adding Shell Diesel? I don't believe!

IcePick88 wrote:

Disrupter wrote:I like the Shell Diesel, gives me almost 200km extra on a tank

Seriously?

200km extra on a tank by just adding Shell Diesel? I don't believe!

Wish i could show you the prove. but I am deadly serious dude. Tried Sasol, Engen, Zenex and BP

Disrupter wrote:I like the Shell Diesel, gives me almost 200km extra on a tank

Do you work for Shell?

Disrupter wrote:I like the Shell Diesel, gives me almost 200km extra on a tank

Some garages will fill your tank to the very top, while others will stop filling at the auto stop. in my tank you can fill it with like an extra 25 liters of diesel to the top. (for those who don't know, you shouldn't fill it to the top... the space is there for air expansion when the car gets hot)

garp wrote:

Disrupter wrote:I like the Shell Diesel, gives me almost 200km extra on a tank

Some garages will fill your tank to the very top, while others will stop filling at the auto stop. in my tank you can fill it with like an extra 25 liters of diesel to the top. (for those who don't know, you shouldn't fill it to the top... the space is there for air expansion when the car gets hot)

Precisely.

There are plenty more variables that will increase or decrease fuel oncsumption and by adding a certain fuel might give you 50km extra, 200km is just not true.

But are you telling me then, if I gooi shell diesel into my dads bakkie, he will get 200km extra from it?

i use the closest one to my current location at the time of needing to fill my tank.

I mostly use Shell but it's because the BP down the road is shocking and the Shell in Parkhurst has good oil prices and service.

so then why are they allowed to advertise like that, total claims better mileage and caltex claims to clean your engine while you drive and shell claims better performance. How we the consumer are suppose to validate these claims and choose the right petrol for ourselves?

RiaX wrote:so then why are they allowed to advertise like that, total claims better mileage and caltex claims to clean your engine while you drive and shell claims better performance. How we the consumer are suppose to validate these claims and choose the right petrol for ourselves?

There are way too much variables that can influence fuel consumption, it's hardly worth calculating me thinks. Driving style, airon usage, traffic conditions ect ect. Not one drive to and from work is the same, so measuring accurate fuel consumption can only be done at a closed track where the conditions remain the same. That's probably how they tested it. Although certain fuels claim it might give better consumption, that certain brand definitely did not test their fuel with every car on the SA market.

Take two identical BRAND new cars, use the same fuel in it over say a period of a month with two different drivers and the fuel consumption WILL vary. Use the same driver in both cars and the fuel consumption WILL vary.

Fuel is fuel. Don't rely on a certain fuel for better fuel economy. Adjust your driving style, take a better route, check your tyres, don't use the aircon too much and don't brake unnecessarily. Those are the best ways of getter better fuel economy.

I'll always try for 95 octane, then only 93 if they don't have 95 and I won't make it to another garage- don't ask why, it's just habit.

Which leads me to ask the following:
What exactly does this mean? I know the higher the altitude, the lower the octane rating you need. Then again, higher octane ratings combat detonation... Right?
So, living in Pta, where does this leave me? Does 95 octane give better performance? How much?

Then I heard another interesting thing from a friend of mine, and I'm tempted to call based on my own limited knowledge. He claims his bike (with a full system and auto tuning module and lambda sensors, etc.) gives him better performance on 93 octane than 95. Surely this is wrong. Right? The way I have it, it should be the other way around. He's quite adamant though. Then again, I'm thinking he increase is probably negligible at best.

Anyone mind explaining these concepts?

http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/archiv ... 05026.html
check post made by Kev_XR

93 inland and 95 at the coast.

We don't even get 93 here. Only 95 UL and LRP.

I heard from a friend that works in Secunda that all those funny Techron and little guys they gooi in your engen is just de-foaming agents and coloring. Nothing more as they are not allowed to add anything else as per government regulations.

So Engen, Shell, Caltex, Sasol.....they are all the SAME! Stop worrying about which fuel is "better" as there is nothing like that. Jungle juice is jungle juice.

If you have an Engen refinery in your are, then all the pumps use Engen, never mind what the pump says, in Durban you also have SAPREF, they also deliver anywhere, no matter the pump brand. In Cape Town we have Chevron (Caltex) so all our pumps spout Caltex.
The only difference is in Gauteng where Sasol deliver petrol and diesel, you can smell a Sasol product miles away.
When you have some time, park outside any refinery and take note of the tankers coming out the gate.

The additives are pure advertising bumf.

Disrupter wrote:

IcePick88 wrote:

Disrupter wrote:I like the Shell Diesel, gives me almost 200km extra on a tank

Seriously?

200km extra on a tank by just adding Shell Diesel? I don't believe!

Wish i could show you the prove. but I am deadly serious dude. Tried Sasol, Engen, Zenex and BP

Do you keep a logbook? No offence but this sounds like a serious miscalculation on your part. If not, I'm sure Shell'd love to hear from you.
They could probably placate all the Karoo farmers by telling them of this benefit of their product!

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