v-power diesel vs BP ultimate diesel

Jan 31, 2011
511
1
ipswich/banbury
Having my pd140 mapped ive decided that ill put the higher quality fuel in. But who uses what and what do you find? So far ive noticed that under full throttle acceleration the v-power seems a bit more smokey and the bp seems to have a bit more low down shove (dunno if im imagining this though) I know the companies make a lot of claims about what they can do but what are people experiences?
 
Jun 7, 2006
2,983
0
Norfolk, Norwich
i only ever used bp ultimate in my cupra tdi. car use to run like a dream. would start and tick over correctly. its was so much cleaner than the standard stuff also.

infact i put in some standard total and i thought it was going to break down lol

although at todays costs im not sure its really worth it anymore

lee
 

GrahamFR

Now AMG Powered
Dec 10, 2008
4,239
6
Barnsley or Burton
i find local shell garages to be cheaper than bp so i use v power. car feels a lot better to run on the stuff. i did put a tank of excellium from total the other day, noticed it was penny cheaper but i go through a tank a week and didnt concentrate on if it to see if it felt any different. dont remember it feeling any worse mind
 

FR_Flavoured

Guest
I use Shell V-Power diesel, car pulls nicely, feels responsive and decent performance.
Only ever put the "performance" fuels in my cars anyway, out of habit/for consistency.

Comparing the Shell to Texaco diesel IS night and day.
The car felt DEAD on the Texaco diesel (when the dealer gave me a full tank to take the car away), infact I had to call the dealer the next day as I thought something was wrong with the car (it felt that poorly).

With a previous petrol car I've owned - again, found the Shell fuels to be better than the BP alternative.
So Shell works great for me.
 
I don't believe the premium diesels are worth the extra over the quality normal ones. I wouldn't use supermarket/generic diesel but I'm happy with Shell FuelSave rather than V-Power Diesel.

According to Shell themselves, V-Power Diesel is better because:

1) it's produced using gas-to-liquid/GTL tech,
2) it is produced at "selected refineries" and
3) it contains cleaning additives to keep your engine "fit and strong".

Now, GTL really just results in nicer looking and less coloured fuel - there's little proven benefit otherwise. "Selected refineries" sounds very much like marketing bullshit to me. And FuelSave contains cleaning additives anyway (hence the supposed fuel savings, because a clean engine is more efficient).
ISTR a thread somewhere where somebody actually emailed Shell re: the difference between FuelSave and V-Power, and posted the response, which was basically that V-Power contains the same amount of biodiesel and actually has a *lower* cetane rating that FuelSave. :rolleyes:

For what it's worth, I hold the opposite view for unleaded fuels: I believe it's worth paying the extra for V-Power petrol over regular (or FuelSave) unleaded. The smoother acceleration and idling are worthwhile benefits and the improved mpg compensates somewhat for the extra cost. :)
 

Deleted member 53697

Guest
you are entirely imagining any kind of tangible, let alone observable, difference between BP ultimate and Shell V-power diesel.
this is a tectbook example of the placebo effect.
 
Sep 5, 2009
569
0
Midlands
For what it's worth, I hold the opposite view for unleaded fuels: I believe it's worth paying the extra for V-Power petrol over regular (or FuelSave) unleaded. The smoother acceleration and idling are worthwhile benefits and the improved mpg compensates somewhat for the extra cost. :)

I ain't never noticed any mpg difference, and I've been running on V-power unleaded now for a year, the only thing I have noticed is it pulls a little better on the higher octane stuff.
 
It's not a huge difference but I noticed an improvement of a few mpg. Not quite enough to compensate for the extra cost, but enough to lessen the difference a bit. Mostly I was trying to maximise mpg though, so I was looking carefully.
The other thing I liked about V-Power unleaded was that my car wouldn't 'wobble' occasionally during idle like it would on standard fuel.

As an aside, I found the Tesco 99 Octane fuel was OK for performance but actually worse for economy than regular unleaded. Not sure why that is - perhaps the ethanol content? :confused:
 

Nath.

The Gentlemans Express
Jan 1, 2006
8,620
16
EASTLEIGH, HAMPSHIRE
you are entirely imagining any kind of tangible, let alone observable, difference between BP ultimate and Shell V-power diesel.
this is a tectbook example of the placebo effect.

placebo effect for sure. The cetane levels in these more expensive dervs is the same.

A fool and his money are easily parted clicky
 

Nath.

The Gentlemans Express
Jan 1, 2006
8,620
16
EASTLEIGH, HAMPSHIRE
I've done about 600,000 miles in the last 20 years on Supermaket cheap stuff and all of the cars I have owned during that time/mileage have loved it. I wonder how many £k's extra it would have cost to do that on Vpower derv?
 

wjohnson

Active Member
Dec 17, 2008
212
0
Why dont you guys just buy some millers diesel additive and stick to the cheapest supermarket fuel you can get? That works out the best solution for me? It regens far less with millers in the tank which in my book means it must be burning a bit cleaner and over several tanks it works out much cheaper? Thats my opinion of course but it sits nicely in the middle of cheapo supermarket diesel and very expensive Vpower stuff. ;)
 

FR_Flavoured

Guest
you are entirely imagining any kind of tangible, let alone observable, difference between BP ultimate and Shell V-power diesel.
this is a tectbook example of the placebo effect.

Well my only experience of my FR initially was the test drive (before buying it).
As we all know, with the Sales guy sat next to you, you still drive quite conservatory an dont really test the car, or accelerate hard.

Upon buying the car, it was given a full tank of Texaco diesel by the Dealer as a good will gesture (as the garage was next door - to see me home), and on that drive, it honestly was like a different car. Performance was SO flat. Sounded more rough, and wasnt so enjoyable to drive. I even contacted the Dealer and told them it wasnt running "right" !

After washing that Texaco diesel out with a couple of fill-ups of Shell V-Power diesel, and instantly the car felt responsive with a more settled engine tone too! :)

It was the CAR telling me it wasn't happy - nothing to do with placebo! ;) :D
 

Leon2012

Active Member
Jan 24, 2012
480
1
Well let's get some real data here, the V-Power and BP Ultimate fuels have cetane ratings of 55, Total Excellium diesel is 53 and standard UK diesel is 51.

Cetane (and other additives) will make your car seem like it's got more performance, because it's smoother and quieter, but it doesn't increase actual performance.

I do think it makes (some) cars better to drive (mine included - Leon Mk1 110 ASV engine), but that's due to the smoothness and quieter diesel clatter, as well as increased MPG, which I have noticed.

This is a quote from Drivbiwire (from tdiclub.com), a leading expert, on the subject of increased perfomance:

The biggest change with a Cetane enhancer is noise, that's all. You get a softer combustion stroke because of the smoother pressure rise. The engine will seem less rough, slightly lower smoke for the same power. This can make the car seem more powerful at the higher rpm range, thus the foundation of the perceived higher power.

No Placebo there, its a fact it will smooth the motor out.

Will it increase power, not possible because you aren't increasing the quantity of fuel being burned, and it takes fuel to make more power...

Without the Cetane all the fuel was still being combusted, so it's not like you were losing any performance with the quantity of fuel being injected at that time.

The only way to really get more power and utilize the Cetane increase to re-shape the injection window to utilize those softer combustion rise characteristics and reduction in time to auto-ignite the fuel. This gives a very modest increase in time for burning a slight increase in total fuel quantity.
 
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Redemption

Active Member
Jun 18, 2011
1,771
6
Hampshire
Been using Shell V-Power diesel for the last couple of months after using Total Excellium exclusively (apart from some Murco stuff which I had to put in when I collected it from the dealer as it was on empty).

Does 'seem' to like the Shell but if anything it feels less torquey low down but more willing higher up the rev range. The engine was just as smooth using either of them. Fuel consumption is roughly the same as I'm still averaging 47mpg. I also lob in some Millers Diesel Eco Power Max each time I fill up.

Only drawback is the price. V-Power is now £1.54 a litre around my way.
 
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jimbo_h

just all torque
Jun 16, 2008
398
4
Melbourne
I pump mine full of supermarket shi!e all the time (mainly because I work for the big 1 and there's a pump in the car park) and have done so for 3yrs. the motor goes absolutely fine (and fast)
 

/dev/null

Active Member
Nov 12, 2008
1,649
101
I used to use nothing but V-Power but then as the price of fuel crept up I was paying an extra £15-£20 a month for it, on top of the £300 or so I was already spending. So I started using shell standard (fuel-save as it's called now) and can honestly say I've not noticed any difference at all other than having a bit more cash in my pocket at the end of the month. :)
Can is standard btw, may be different for heavily modified ones.
 
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