The Superfuels Debate

Mr.David

Taken from Whatcar.com http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/are-superfuels-worth-the-cash-/256405

They cost more but are claimed to offer better economy. Are petrol and diesel superfuels too good to be true? Peter de Nayer investigates.

Sales of so-called ‘superfuels’ are rising, and it’s little wonder: with their exotic names and bold promises of better efficiency, it would be easy to think that they could hold the answer to increasing fuel prices.

As a result of being made from higher-quality ingredients and being more finely distilled, superfuels contain more energy than standard fuels. Their makers claim they can provide extra mileage benefits of up to 25% – which would be more than enough to offset the extra 4-9% cost for buying the fuel.

Here, we independently test those extra mileage claims in real driving conditions to find out if superfuels really can help make our motoring cheaper.

yOur rigorous tests took several months, and were carried out by What Car? fuel expert Peter de Nayer, a former senior research engineer for the AA. Each car was tested in every condition, from city to motorway, testing each fuel over hundreds of miles. We’re confident that, if asked, we can repeat our results to within plus or minus 0.5%.

We compared both petrol and diesel superfuels to determine the benefits. The petrol tests were conducted in a VW Polo 1.2 SE and the diesel tests in a BMW 318d Touring.



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The conclusion from our tests was emphatic: although all but one of the superfuels we tested delivered some mileage benefit, none was worth the extra money in terms of the extra mileage it delivered.

The biggest improvement recorded was with Tesco Momentum unleaded, which delivered 45.4mpg as opposed to 44.5mpg when we ran the Polo on standard Tesco fuel – an efficiency increase of 2%. However, this was still a long way off the claimed potential improvement of 17.25%, based on Tesco’s own tests in a supermini, and did not justify the 5p per litre extra charge, which is 3.7% more than the standard Tesco fuel.

The worst performance we recorded was with Total Excellium diesel, which delivered worse mpg than standard Total diesel.

Average economy fell from 48.5 to 48.2mpg when we used Excellium, a drop of 0.6%.


Despite our rigorous test procedures, BP, Esso and Total all challenged our results, pointing to their own research over millions of miles.

However, even if you accept the official claims, only Tesco’s demonstrates an improvement in fuel efficiency that outweighs the extra cost of buying the superfuel. All the other official figures deliver smaller mpg gains than the extra cost of buying the fuel. BP, Esso and Total argue that the performance, emissions and engine cleaning benefits of superfuels should also be taken into account when considering the additional cost.

Total would not comment on the fact we recorded worse economy with
Excellium diesel than its standard diesel. Instead, a spokesman stood by its claimed figures, citing extensive fleet tests.

In contrast, Tesco promised a review of its claims – which are by far the highest of any fuel maker (see table, left). A spokesman said: ‘We are concerned that What Car?’s test results are significantly different from ours. Our clear goal is to provide accurate information to our customers on the real world benefits of using high octane fuel. We are carrying out further independent testing.’

What Car? says
Although the superfuels tested here advertise economy benefits among their advantages, none of them delivers enough extra efficiency to outweigh the additional cost.