Tesco Fuel - Inferior?

PaulBrewer

A local car dealer I spoke with recently suggested Tesco Petrol is of a lower standard than 'normal' petrol.

He suggested that even though it's within the band of acceptable Octane measurement it's always at the bottom of that band i.e. minimum requirement.

The dealer spoke of some of his customers cars failing NCTs on emissions. Then the customer changes fuel and with no other changes, the NCT is then passed.

Does anyone have definitive info on this?

Berty

Not quite possible considering Tesco petrol is actually Topaz Petrol.

Previously when there were only 2 stations in Ireland it used to come the whole way from Cardiff.

PaulBrewer

quirke_folder wrote: »

Not quite possible considering Tesco petrol is actually Topaz Petrol.

Previously when there were only 2 stations in Ireland it used to come the whole way from Cardiff.

Interesting - however that doesn't remove the possibility that Topaz and TescoTopaz are different does it?

I don't know either way, just being devil's advocate.

Holsten

Well they get filled up by Statoil tankers...

Bandara

quirke_folder wrote: »

Not quite possible considering Tesco petrol is actually Topaz Petrol.

Previously when there were only 2 stations in Ireland it used to come the whole way from Cardiff.

Its Statoil petrol supplied via depots in the North. Nothing for Tesco comes out of the Dublin Docks, ie. TOP etc.

Seth Brundle

It sounds like the dealer is talking a lot of crap. The only thing that I'd believe is what he said about some of his customers failing the NCT (hint: run away!!!)

PaulBrewer

So to clarify -

Topaz or Statoil's (as was) fuel comes from the North?

Is it possible they use a different blend for Tesco, which I believe is usually the cheapest, compared to their own filling stations?

Seth Brundle

Its possible but I wouldn't pay too muych to a car dealer making claims about something that he knows little about!

brendansmith

I do believe that tescos fuel is inferior.
I used to work in a petrol station and tried the tesco fuel due to its price a couple of times, i always notices the petrol tank emptying noticably faster with it compared to esso or statoil petrol. Alot of customers noticed the exact same thing tbh.

Try it for yourself

PaulBrewer

kbannon wrote: »

Its possible but I wouldn't pay too muych to a car dealer making claims about something that he knows little about!

Ah yes, this guy is an acquaintance so it was an during a social chat. I don't think he had any reason to be tin roofing in this instance.

PaulBrewer

brendansmith wrote: »

I do believe that tescos fuel is inferior.
I used to work in a petrol station and tried the tesco fuel due to its price a couple of times, i always notices the petrol tank emptying noticably faster with it compared to esso or statoil petrol. Alot of customers noticed the exact same thing tbh.

Try it for yourself

Interesting Brendan! However all we have so far is anecdotal evidence.

Does anyone have some hard facts?

Mitch Connor

brendansmith wrote: »

I do believe that tescos fuel is inferior.
I used to work in a petrol station and tried the tesco fuel due to its price a couple of times, i always notices the petrol tank emptying noticably faster with it compared to esso or statoil petrol. Alot of customers noticed the exact same thing tbh.

Try it for yourself

My fuel consumption went from an average of about 5.7L/100km, to 6.2L/100km when i filled up in tesco recently. A friend went to Bundoran (Sp) for some surfing, and filled in tesco before driving over - car sluttered a lot on the way down. Filled in an Esso or Topaz for the drive back up and had no issue. Girlfriends brother had to fill his tank 3 days earlier for the same driving after filling in tesco.

All these happened around the same time, about a month ago now.

Royale with Cheese

I have to say I think the tank drains faster when I've filled up at tesco, so much so I don't bother going there anymore. And I'm far from a snob, actually I'm a cheapass. If lidl did petrol I'd be there.

PaulBrewer

There's a body of circumstantial evidence forming ....

But can we get facts, fact that could stand up in court, or even harder again, in front of Boards.ie Posters?;)

brendansmith

PaulBrewer wrote: »

There's a body of circumstantial evidence forming ....

But can we get facts, fact that could stand up in court, or even harder again, in front of Boards.ie Posters?;)

I have the company directors from tescos tied to chairs here with electrodes attached to the goolies.
As soon as i get a confession ill forward you the link to the youtube of it.

PaulBrewer

brendansmith wrote: »

I have the company directors from tescos tied to chairs here with electrodes attached to the goolies.
As soon as i get a confession ill forward you the link to the youtube of it.

Wouldn't cut it in front of boards.ie ....

Holsten

Might be all in our heads but yeah I have noticed it too, as I'd get most of my petrol from Tesco.

Tesco would run out the quickest while Maxol E5 would last the longest.

ART6

The pumps at Tesco are marked with the BS standard 4040, same as all the other pumps around where I live. I assume that means that Tesco's petrol is the same as everyone else's. The price difference could be accounted for by 1) Tesco's normal marketing strategy of dropping the price a little and making up the profit margin by increased sales, and 2) Using petrol as a loss leader to get people into the store to buy premium priced goods.

DublinWriter

I filled up with Maxol diesel for the first time last night. I've been getting my diesel in Tescos for the past 2 years.

I was shocked at the difference. The car went like a rocket. Even the missus commented that the car seemed to be going a lot faster, and I didn't even tell her that I filled up at Maxol.

A year ago my neighbour had to have the engine in his then new Merc C220 completely rebuilt by a main dealer. The reason the dealer gave was 'cheap petrol'. Again, like me, the neighbour used Tesco for petrol.

I know this is all very anecdotal, but I'm seriously having second thoughts about using Tesco for fuel ever again.

John Mason

i have to say, i used to use tesco all the time, as it was the closest garage to me.

i stop going there because the staff were so rude and it could take 10 mins for them to reset the pump but the difference in the mileage and how well my cars runs now is unbelievable.

Down with Tesco, i say, they will never get anymore money from me

mcwhirter

There used to be a petrol staion company in GB called JET. They were always cheaper than the competition and were always rumoured to be of lower quality( a bit like tescos value apple pies!). I'm not sure if there was any official investigation mind you.

L1011

There still is Jet in the UK; about the only station I ever use in NI is the Jet in Dhu Varren in Portrush.

http://www.conocophillips.co.uk/JetBrand/index.htm

Tabnabs

I asked a guy who delivers fuel for a rival company for a living. He said they load in Dublin Port just the same as everyone else, the only difference is they don't put the additives that other companies use into the Tesco petrol. In his opinion, it wasn't really inferior at all.

(They never transported it the whole way from Cardiff :rolleyes:, there is a huge Chevron refinery at Pembroke where they convert crude oil to Petrol and diesel etc. and then it gets shipped across the Irish Sea to Dublin port for the Irish market).

PaulBrewer

Dyflin wrote: »

I asked a guy who delivers fuel for a rival company for a living. He said they load in Dublin Port just the same as everyone else, the only difference is they don't put the additives that other companies use into the Tesco petrol. In his opinion, it wasn't really inferior at all.

(They never transported it the whole way from Cardiff :rolleyes:, there is a huge Chevron refinery at Pembroke where they convert crude oil to Petrol and diesel etc. and then it gets shipped across the Irish Sea to Dublin port for the Irish market).

What sort of additives? Salt? Pepper?

L1011

PaulBrewer wrote: »

What sort of additives? Salt? Pepper?

Detergents, oxygenates, all manner of stuff in theory can be added.

PaulBrewer

Why would these be added?

cashmni1

Not too sure why that stuff would be added, maybe to increase the quality of the fuel. i.e. detergent - I think Shell are running an advertising campain that says the fuel is cleaning your engine supported with a picture of a few pistons hanging on a clothes line.
Anyway, if you believe that.....
However, the addition of additives and detergents to the fuel might very well increase the quality (for burning) of the fuel. It seems the only logical explanation at this point.

OldmanMondeo

My car was running at 43.4mpg using Tesco, I started using "branded" diesel and it has increased to 44.5mpg in a short space of time.

L1011

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Why would these be added?

To increase fuel quality / efficiency / cleanliness (in theory, for all three).

jimmycrackcorm

Reminds me of the Lidl/Aldi discussion re cheese - you know how , like, Tesco cheapie cheese only contains like 19% cheese, like.

PaulKK

I noticed that using the tesco diesel in my TDI that it caused it to idle rough and be down on power and the consumption was also poor. After filling up in Maxol all was well again, so I would definately say it is of a lower standard from my experience.

I have heard of a few others with the same problems in VAG diesels and also in the saab diesels.

GreeBo

DublinWriter wrote: »

The car went like a rocket. Even the missus commented that the car seemed to be going a lot faster, and I didn't even tell her that I filled up at Maxol.

How do you mean it was going faster?
Your top speed was faster or you had less rev's for the same speed or what?
"car seemed to be going faster" to me means that you were driving faster. 60kph is 60kph regardless of what petrol you are using...

ironclaw

GreeBo wrote: »

"car seemed to be going faster" to me means that you were driving faster. 60kph is 60kph regardless of what petrol you are using...

+1 on that one. We're talking such small tolerances here. How well serviced your car is etc would have a much bigger effect. Unless your driving a top spec car I really wouldn't be worried. And your tank draining faster? You do realise that would require a fairly noticable change in Octane Number?

PaulBrewer

MYOB wrote: »

To increase fuel quality / efficiency / cleanliness (in theory, for all three).

So why wouldn't it be added then? Cost?

I thank all posters for some interesting points - but it's still all conjecture or, at very best circumstantial !

Is there no one who can give an definitive post?

MarkN

I've been running a 300+ bhp car on Tesco petrol the last week and haven't noticed an awful lot of difference (including fuel burning quicker) between it and Maxol's 99 stuff.

ironclaw

PaulBrewer wrote: »

So why wouldn't it be added then?

They are expensive to add. But must be added to meet EU guidelines I believe. Their concentration varys based on the fuel sample itself / season.

IMHO, I'd be very surprised if their was any difference between the fuels. Customs & Excise have standards for the fuel industry.

PaulBrewer

ironclaw wrote: »

+1 on that one. We're talking such small tolerances here. How well serviced your car is etc would have a much bigger effect. Unless your driving a top spec car I really wouldn't be worried. And your tank draining faster? You do realise that would require a fairly noticable change in Octane Number?

What's brought on the query is both my cars - a 94 Merc E220 Cabriolet (low miles) and a 97 E230 Estate's performance (hi miles) has changed a bit over the last few months.

PaulBrewer

MarkN wrote: »

I've been running a 300+ bhp car on Tesco petrol the last week and haven't noticed an awful lot of difference (including fuel burning quicker) between it and Maxol's 99 stuff.

We're not really coming to a conclusion here are we!?;)

scottledeuce

ironclaw wrote: »

+1 on that one. We're talking such small tolerances here. How well serviced your car is etc would have a much bigger effect. Unless your driving a top spec car I really wouldn't be worried. And your tank draining faster? You do realise that would require a fairly noticable change in Octane Number?

GreeBo wrote: »

How do you mean it was going faster?
Your top speed was faster or you had less rev's for the same speed or what?
"car seemed to be going faster" to me means that you were driving faster. 60kph is 60kph regardless of what petrol you are using...

The pair of ye :rolleyes:
If you've never heard a ladyperson refer to better acceleration as "being faster" I don't know where you've been hiding.

On topic though I like to think I notice the smallest things and I always thought there was something about Tesco petrol but figured that they cant be allowed to sell inferior petrol.

What someone said earlier about it maybe lacking additives could make sense as I know for sure texaco have that "techron" stuff added to all their fuel and I think Shell have something similar as well so maybe that can account for a difference.
I used to drive on V -power and I would always notice the extra mileage i'd get form a tank.

Just my opinion but I think the exhaust fume's from my de cat'ed V6 smell a bit more petrolish when I use Texaco Maxol etc:D

blackbox

PaulBrewer wrote: »

There's a body of circumstantial evidence forming ....

But can we get facts, fact that could stand up in court, or even harder again, in front of Boards.ie Posters?;)

Here's your proof - skeptic...

scottledeuce wrote:

Just my opinion but I think the exhaust fume's from my de cat'ed V6 smell a bit more petrolish when I use Texaco Maxol etc ?

PaulBrewer

blackbox wrote: »

Here's your proof - skeptic...

That's that then....:rolleyes:

Yez are supposed to be the motor experts, I'm only askin!

PaulBrewer

scottledeuce wrote: »

What someone said earlier about it maybe lacking additives could make sense as I know for sure texaco have that "techron" stuff added to all their fuel and I think Shell have something similar as well so maybe that can account for a difference.

I heard Tesco put in handfuls of ball bearings to help the fuel get through the engine better, that might explain why it goes quicker ....

ArthurGuinness

I have never had any problems with it personally. I fill up there once every two weeks and get 690-700 miles out off a full tank of diesel.

ironclaw

I heard that those techron etc additives were just Silicone based. They actually did NOTHING for the engine. I'm pretty sure it was in the papers a while back, some case in England regarding false advertising. Not the problem a year back that caused engines to cease working because of silicone ,it was different case.

jonnner

Don't engines perform better when the weather is colder?
I don't know about economy but maybe some peoples experiences in this thread could be explained by the recent cold snap.

ironclaw

jonnner wrote: »

Don't engines perform better when the weather is colder?

yes, very advanced chemistry. If the intake air temp is lower than the output, the greater the difference the more efficent the burn. Would be a very good explanation actually.

pred racer

Still purely anecdotal, but several people I work with who do the same fairly long commute every day (and are not normally bullsh1t artists) do not use tesco petrol, due to bad mpg. I use the diesel myself with no issues.
considering my workplace is right beside Tesco, its hard to see why these people would travel to buy more expensive petrol for no reason?

niceirishfella

I've used the Diesel a fair bit and never had any issue's either.
The petrol I can't offer any comment on and tbh, its none the cheaper than rival stations around anyways.

L1011

Tesco is further away than other 99.9 stations (seems to be the price floor locally) and I at least THINK my car runs like a bag of hammers on their petrol. The station is filthy, dark and dingy. You freeze your bollox off queuing to pay... all reasons I wouldn't use it even if the petrol was 100% exactly equal to what the Esso across the road has.

GreeBo

pred racer wrote: »

Still purely anecdotal, but several people I work with who do the same fairly long commute every day (and are not normally bullsh1t artists) do not use tesco petrol, due to bad mpg. I use the diesel myself with no issues.

Without a controlled test using only the different types of fuel as variants there is no way to state that one is better or worse than the other. There are *far* too many other variables involved during a commute for example to determine fuel/engine performance.

pred racer wrote: »

considering my workplace is right beside Tesco, its hard to see why these people would travel to buy more expensive petrol for no reason?

You will find that, in general, most people are thick.and sheeplike. Its the same reason why they wont shop in Aldi/Lidl for the exact same products.

DublinWriter

PaulKK wrote: »

I noticed that using the tesco diesel in my TDI that it caused it to idle rough and be down on power and the consumption was also poor. After filling up in Maxol all was well again, so I would definately say it is of a lower standard from my experience.

Yes - I did notice that exact same thing today. Car didn't sound like a Massey-Ferguson when idling today after filling up with Maxol last night from near empty previous fill of Tesco diesel.

To those who asked me what I meant by the car going 'faster', I was of course referring to acceleration and just 'torque'-ness in general. If you have a problem with my description, take it up with the missus!

The car is serviced religiously at a main stealer every 10K.

I had also been noticing that if I applied the boot, I'd leave behind a noticable cloud of smoke (car passed NCT a couple of months back, before you ask). I tried the same today and it wasn't as much with Maxol diesel, but I'll have to experiment a little more before I can be 100% sure that this is the case.

I think I'm seriously going to avoid Tesco for fuel from now on.