I don't know how many of you run your cars on High octane fuel like Shell V-Power but for those that do, have any of you ever taken note of the price?

I'm sure that in 2012-13 when the fuel price peaked there was only a couple of pence difference between normal 95RON and the higher octane stuff.

Since the end of 2014 and the start of 2015 when the fuel price has been dropping I've started to notice more and more the difference between the normal fuel and high octane fuel. I am convinced that garages aren't dropping the price of the high octane stuff as quickly as the normal.

Yesterday for instance I filled up the GT at a Shell garage local to me, the regular petrol price was £1.11.9 and the V-Power was at £1.22.9. That is a difference of 11pence per litre or £4.40 a tank!

I'd done some internet searching but cant see a record of price differences over the years, so maybe we could use this thread to keep an eye on things? Or just slag me off for being a tight Scot...

It was definitely about 2 pence difference per litre you are right, I used to fill my golf gti with the premium all the time and watched the prices pretty avidly.

I haven't looked at the difference now as I'm in a diesel and not driving the bready

EDIT: everyone is tight it's just us northerners who admit it lol since I moved to London I realised people here would like to think they aren't tight when indeed they are lol

EDIT AGAIN: did you know you can save pence per litre with your Tesco clubcard? although I'm not sure if they do premium fuel or if It is good

Edited 8 September, 201511 yr by wizardmanjm

I don't have a Tesco club card but the missus does and I have used that before and they do let you save on their 99RON stuff, but you must need to have a certain amount of points to do it as after that first use it hasn't said it is available to use again.

I don't have a Tesco club card but the missus does and I have used that before and they do let you save on their 99RON stuff, but you must need to have a certain amount of points to do it as after that first use it hasn't said it is available to use again.

How it works is it saves up for the month and if you have saved roughly 20p per litre but do not use it before the next month it will expire, also you need a good few weekly shops to see a substantial saving. As well as getting one point per pound spent in store you also get 1 point per two pound spent on fuel so that is my go to place for diesel atm. Also once it is used you start from scratch again

I never use Tesco fuel. Remember when Tesco had to replace everyone's lambda sensors because they were using cheap additives?

The Tesco fuel saving scheme has finished now, but you've got till the end of this month to claim the discount

I don't personally use higher octane fuel, but if I did I'd be staying well away from supermarket fuel, as I do now with regular unleaded.

I'd rather pay a few pence extra and sleep at night. Regular unleaded at one of the garages near me is 108.9 at the moment.

Edit; Think their premiem is 118.9. Always seems to be around 10p difference for me.

Edited 8 September, 201511 yr by mbusby993

I've heard alot of good things about tesco 99 on various forums and i only run tesco 99 or v power, pointless using it in if your engine isnt modified, youll loose power if anything as 97/99 burns slower than 95.

Edited 8 September, 201511 yr by Buxton

I've run tesco 99 Ron in a few cars, my mk2 polo loved it, my current 20vt golf seems to run much better on it than 'normal' fuels too, although both are modified

I was always under the impression that EFI/ignition was required to make the most of higher octane fuel due to its ability to modify timing to account for the higher RON value.

I hope this doesn't turn into a 'should I run my car on V-Power?' Thread.

I just want to know what the average difference is between normal and premium fuels. As I suspect those of us who do use premium are getting a bit ripped off just now.

Sorry, I didn't mean to rail road the thread

I was 5p more per litre for tesco 99 earlier today (£1.15.9).

Seem to get around 10 miles further per tenner than tesco 95, dunno if that makes it cheaper overall though.

Don't often use Shell as there's none near me.

There are historical fuel price figures on The AA's website somewhere. I'm sure that splits regular and premium unleaded. If not I've seen it somewhere.

Mine's not a daily so I don't fuss too much about costs per litre any more, and I'm filling up at Shell near my house which isn't cheap anyway. But I think you might be right on the price separation.

I was always under the impression that EFI/ignition was required to make the most of higher octane fuel due to its ability to modify timing to account for the higher RON value.

A car with an ECU should sort itself out accordingly. Might need a while to get to it's absolute best state on it though.

I always think a carb'd car is a pretty good barometer when it comes to fuel quality. My last mk2 was set up on Shell 95RON, it didn't mind Sainsbury's, but idled rough on Texaco and wasn't at all happy with Tesco.

Shell normal 111.9p

Shell V-Power+ 121.9p

By me when I filled up with v-power+ yesterday. Don't bother looking at the price any more otherwise I'd cry at how much more my TT costs to run than my 1.0 polo.

Took me ages to find this...For the first time in a long long time petrol cost is lower than the litres at the local tesco 99.9p per litre and diesel 104.9 :)

Haven't had to fill up in a few weeks. The joys of doing next to no miles these days. But last time I did fill the Polo V-Power was still 119.9 at the Shell in Aberdeen.

I put Tesco 99 in the BMW last, that was 104.9 I think so at least they have given that a bit of a slash.

Possibly its to do with the petrol company to local outlet buying process. high ooctane sells more slowly overall, so thay may be holding the prioce as long as possibel for profit and accounting reasons. (if the centre sells it at X to the local 'store' then the price drops they will get chewed buy the press if they dont drop it if the oil price drops but no one looks at high octane. Therefore the comapny tries to balance the books for the local outlet Vs the centre as otherwise the local outlet are selling it at a loss Vs the price they bought it for from their distribution hub.)

I know what I mean anyway, but its too late to articulate.

Errm another way to put it - companies track their stock through the business buy selling it internally from point to point on the system. Obviously that process is subject to price fluctuations over time. Keeping the slow selling high octane longer at the price they bought it for gives more profit and less accounting discrepancies without bad PR.

Round these parts, 95 was fluctuating up and down a little bit from 104 to 108 and the 97 stayed at 117, until 95 dropped to 100-103 and 97 is now 114, Texaco btw

95 Ron is 99p a Litre atm, while I'll use Tesco 99 which is 104p a Litre. Car certainly run rougher with 95, but the manual says to use 98 in the vRS so I guess that's why. On the trip I can hit anywhere near 47mpg way down to 30mpg. Round where I am though I generally sit at 38mpg.

95 Ron is 99p a Litre atm, while I'll use Tesco 99 which is 104p a Litre. Car certainly run rougher with 95, but the manual says to use 98 in the vRS so I guess that's why. On the trip I can hit anywhere near 47mpg way down to 30mpg. Round where I am though I generally sit at 38mpg.

What sort of driving is that Dean? and is that an Octavia or a Fabia?

certainly run rougher with 95, but the manual says to use 98 in the vRS so I guess that's why. On the trip I can hit anywhere near 47mpg way down to 30mpg. Round where I am though I generally sit at 38mpg.

What sort of driving is that Dean? and is that an Octavia or a Fabia?

Mk1 Octavia vRS mate. Got a topic on it somewhere.

My boss has a dirty diesel megane and insists on using Shell Nitro+ or whatever the higher cetane rated diesel is and normal diesel at my local is 102.9 and the super squirt one is 127.9???!! How's that justified 25p a litre more!

My boss has a dirty diesel megane and insists on using Shell Nitro+ or whatever the higher cetane rated diesel is and normal diesel at my local is 102.9 and the super squirt one is 127.9???!! How's that justified 25p a litre more!

Yeah same at my local shell. Screw that I've used normal diesel in the bluemotion since I had it. At the end if the day it's designed to be able to run on rubbish quality fuels all over the world where their best fuels aren't even as good as our standard diesel and still be reliable etc.

I'm sure the more expensive fuels are much better for your car but at an extra 25p a litre I won't bother...maybe if I was minted and had a very nice car I wanted to keep tip top