Shell V-Power diesel - waste of money..?

[aaron-gardner]

It should not have really been called v power as it's not really designed to improve performance or mpg by all accounts but it should have been called "city" diesel because of the cleaner less sooty burn. Also as it's a good engine cleaner and lubrication any improvements I'n both mpg and performance could be more down to a cleaner smoother engine ( factory fresh ) petrol on the other hand has been designed to improve performance but only I'n cars that have an adaptive ecu. The seat range have a stock ecu parameter to run with 95-98 Ron so you would notice a minimal difference.

 

[/dev/null]

It should not have really been called v power as it's not really designed to improve performance or mpg by all accounts but it should have been called "city" diesel because of the cleaner less sooty burn.

But then I imagine they wouldn't sell nearly as much.

 

[Deleted member 74601]

To be honest, I don't know why people who use V-Power etc don't just use standard diesel and add something like Millers Ecomax. It figures out cheaper than premium diesel.

 

[Jmerrie]

Not got a leon but ive been using bp ultimate diesel in my ibiza for a few months and im seeing about 50 miles extra per tank than standard tesco diesel.

Yeah i will second this ... Seat Leon Cupra Stage 1 Remap for Shell V-Power.
Used to get about 315 Miles per tank ... was never below 360 Miles on V-Power!

 

[csd_19]

very intresting read this. one way to sort it, get rid of the DPF???

It would certainly sort it yes

Although knowing how the MOT works there will no doubt be a soot test introduced for vehicles which were supplied with a DPF....

 

[Alzak]

To be honest, I don't know why people who use V-Power etc don't just use standard diesel and add something like Millers Ecomax. It figures out cheaper than premium diesel.

I used few bottles of ecomax in past and this is no near good as v-power...

 

[Deleted member 74601]

I used few bottles of ecomax in past and this is no near good as v-power...

It's the same stuff that's in V-power...

 

[Jmate]

Right....

Mostly all the higher rom/mon rating vpowers are actually the same, taken from the same shore tanks by the same road tankers.

Shell has seperate ones, this you would think is good, BUT there have been to massive blunders in the NE region with the vpower from shell. Water in skid, alot of cars monged up. So take that risk...

Tesco take the same vpower as BP and everyone else. So may aswell save the pennies.

 

[Redemption]

Used Total Excellium for over a
year until I switched to Shell V-Power.
The engine seems to like either of
them. Had to put in normal Total
diesel after everyone around here
went mental panic buying and the car
got noiser and less responsive as I
burnt through it. Once I filled up with V-Power again I got my decent car back.

I won't use anything else now. Also lob in Millers Eco Power Max as well. A clean engine is a happy engine as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Hugo Nebula]

Well, I've just finished the third tankful of V-Power diesel, and the results are in...

Subjectively, the responsiveness didn't change, I noticed no appreciable reduction in noise or vibration. I can't drive behind myself, so I don't know if my exhaust was cleaner than before. So no result there. However, none of those things were an issue before.

Therefore the only way of telling is by objective measurement of the fuel consumption. For the three tankfuls of Shell ordinary diesel prior to using V-Power, 40.6 mpg. For the three V-Power tankfuls, 40.0 mpg. So a fail for fuel economy. Price; each was about £4.00 more than ordinary diesel at the same station.

So, it's back to 'supermarket crap' for me.

 

[Nath.]

^^^^^I would have put money on those resuts, 0.6 MPG difference is as good as no difference really . Vpower petrol can make a little result on a tuned turbo but Vpower diesel is just a scam.

I've tested it myself the only difference is the price.

The "up to" cetane level is higher with Vpower but in reality it measures the same as regular or just a tiney bit higher than regular (like 1%)

Up to doesn't mean minimum.

 

[Top Dog]

Would you lot say filling up with vpower unleaded to be worth while on a cupra k1- stage 2 ....?
I have noticed when the k1 is ran on vpower its more ressponsive.

 

[AndrewJB]

Yes you need to run it on decent fuel, i run my LCR Stage1 on Momentum 99

 

[1ns4ne1d10t]

Running a 1.9 TDI with a remap I switched over to BP Ultimate and Shell V a few months ago and I would never inflict my Leon with 'regular diesel' ever again. A lot of people think premium is a rip off and its just a marketing trick to get people into thinking you are getting what you pay for but I disagree. On a personal observation not only was I was getting around 1/4 less miles per gallon (Sometimes even 1/3 less) on the regular liquid it was also smoking it up more inside so I found myself putting my foot down a lot more to de soot the black carbon build ups that occured under light driving. Add it all up and I was spending more!!! Not to mention the black build ups regular diesel does to the fuel filter which clogs it up and makes the car more unresponsive over time. You have to remember that they keep costs as low as possible on the regular diesel so I'd hate to imagine what chemicals they are putting in it to keep the litres up and the prices down. However I have never found premium fuels to increase horsepower, that I will say is a bit of a misleading white lie but they certainly run with less smoke, less effort, and I don't feel the same suffocating build ups that occur when I use regular diesel. I only buy it because my engine seems much happier on it and it isn't so rough and unrefined on cold starts and runs a bit smoother.

 

[AndrewJB]

my Stage2+ PD170 ran better on Shell Fuelsave than V-Power Diesel

 

[Engimaneer]

I only have a mk1 Leon, however I have seen this debate come up lots of times on other forums.

Personally I have never tried V power Diesel, but I do think that when nshell released their 'new' fuel which got more MPG than their old one, it seemed to never get me as far as tesco diesel does.

With regards to V power, your car ECU is mapped from the factory to run of std cetane level diesel for what is sold in the Uk, therefore running v power will show little difference, however if you get it remapped to run of higher cetane fuel you will notice an increase in performance and probably economy.

 

[Nath.]

From Wiki "but Shell also states that V-Power diesel will typically have an increased cetane rating of 1 to 2 points over standard diesel"

Thats "typically" a very small amount and we all know that typically means "if you're lucky".

It's a gimmick.

Someone should invent an octane/cetane tester app so we can test it for ourselves.

 

[Jmate]

I can test octane/cetane levels, just cba doing it.

 

[Nath.]

I can test octane/cetane levels, just cba doing it.

Do tell........

 

[Jmerrie]

i can test octane/cetane levels, just cba doing it.

do tell........

+1 !!