Miles fuel (Topaz/Circle K)

mikeecho

So, today i was talking to someone in the trade, who is involved with Topaz.

Now, as many know, Topaz was bought by Circle K (who are owned by Irving Oil, Whom bought Whitegate refinery in cork)

Anyway, i was told that Topaz will soon be re-branded as Circle K, and that they will be offering Premium Petrol & Diesel.

It'll be marketed as "miles Plus"
(sorry to disappoint all of those metric heads :pac: )

I have noticed a few Topaz stations being updated and their new pumps have the red branding, and each pump has 4 nozzles, at the moment selling 2x petrol & 2 x Diesel, But this is to change to
1:95 petrol, (95ron)
2: miles plus Petrol, (98ron)
3: miles Diesel, (51cetane)
4: miles Plus Diesel . (55cetane)

Now.. the downside.. the miles plus fuels will cost about approx 11c/l ,


now i didn't ask if the 11c extra would be the additional consumer cost, or the additional retailer cost.

Will you pay extra for premium ?

I dont think many people will.

MarkR

It would want to have some pretty impressive benefits for that much extra. I remain to be convinced, but am open to information.

Special Circumstances

You'd expect high quality petrol to be a requirement for the most efficient next generation petrol models, so ....



Obviously they will tax the sh1t out of it here so that "clean, green, low emissions" diesel can continue to be king.

colm_mcm

Atari Jaguar

It's not going to make my car go faster, so no.

Shur doesn't topaz already have magic pixie dust in it that makes your car use less?

jimgoose

Bullshit. It's 95 RON just like the usual stuff. "By adding multi-functional additives, that decrease friction and cleans your engine, our fuel miles will take you further on every liter." - this is a gouging exercise.

dogmatix

NO.. Bog standard for me

I presume you mean 11c a litre on top of the current 1.38 or thereabouts? I'd be tempted if it led to real improvement over standard petrol.

kay 9

NO.. Bog standard for me

If it's higher oct value, may be interested. Sounds considerably more expensive though.

mikeecho

NO.. Bog standard for me

colm_mcm wrote: »

It's not going to make my car go faster, so no.

Shur doesn't topaz already have magic pixie dust in it that makes your car use less?

Yup, Topaz use a chemical from BASF called Keropur, Circle K will be using a different additive (lubrizol), that they will be advertising as 3% more miles/better.

probably the same stuff

Zaph

Atari Jaguar

mikeecho wrote: »

Yup, Topaz use a chemical from BASF called Keropur, Circle K will be using a different additive, that they will be advertising as 3% more miles/better.

probably the same stuff

So it's 3% more performance for 8% more money? Hardly seems worth it.

dar83

NO.. Bog standard for me

If it was actually premium like in other countries and a higher RON, then yes I'd switch to it in a heartbeat and always buy it above 'regular'. But I'm not convinced from the details above or their marketing pitch for it that this stuff is any higher octane than regular so no, I'll probably be giving it a miss.

Similar to a modification friendly insurer, Ireland does have a lack of premium fuel options for those of us that would buy it even with the premium cost added to it.

mikeecho

NO.. Bog standard for me

Personally, if premium fuel was only a few ¢ extra i'd buy it, but at 11¢.. i doubt i would be a regular user.

I currently use a DCI card and TOP is my cheapest station, so i use them (4¢/l off pump price)

mikeecho

NO.. Bog standard for me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMXrRvV3ynk

Translated: How it works cetane improver additive for miles plus diesel. In addition, the greatest effect by miles plus actually from the cleansing properties of the highly effective additive added. Cleanliness in a diesel engine is the most important relation. To reduce fuel consumption and make maximum use of the engine's power.

So this is what your petrol pump will look like.

The Diesel will have a cetane improver.. i'd imagine the petrol will have an octane improver

zilog_jones

Atari Jaguar

The standard 95 RON petrol we get here is already better than "regular" in a lot of countries (91 RON or lower), so what we currently get isn't that bad. If it's higher octane, most non-performance cars won't benefit from it either way.

Special Circumstances

Ah lads, this is worse than the "a glass is a pint is a glass" argument people are making over in AfterHours.
Premium means higher octane not just a cleaner engine.

mikeecho

NO.. Bog standard for me

zilog_jones wrote: »

The standard 95 RON petrol we get here is already better than "regular" in a lot of countries (91 RON or lower), so what we currently get isn't that bad. If it's higher octane, most non-performance cars won't benefit from it either way.

true, with all the Ethanol being added, we have circa 98ron petrol.

as for diesel.. i dunno what the cetane number is, but its a min of 51, but a spec sheet for esso claimed that it was a min if 51 but normally 54.4

freshpopcorn

Wasn't this called V-Power back in the Shell days!

colm_mcm

Atari Jaguar

Didn't shell have pura petrol years ago which didn't sell, then they rebranded it as V Power.

mikeecho

NO.. Bog standard for me

Jebus... those shorts... @00:20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SuUPWTzlaA

my eyes.. my eyes

Zaph

Atari Jaguar

mikeecho wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SuUPWTzlaA

Fixed that for you

testicles

NO.. Bog standard for me

This post has been deleted.

mikeecho

NO.. Bog standard for me

i fixed it

Zaph

Atari Jaguar

mikeecho wrote: »

i fixed it

We were both fixing and unfixing it at the same time it seems

TheAnalyst_

I only use 98ron now. If you have a decent performance car and enjoy driving then whats an extra 100 euro per year.

MarkN

It's deffo higher RON, confirmed by someone I know (well) who works for them today. They'll be using their fuel before the re-brand is fully rolled out.

mikeecho

NO.. Bog standard for me

MarkN wrote: »

It's deffo higher RON, confirmed by someone I know (well) who works for them today. They'll be using their fuel before the re-brand is fully rolled out.

But the new pumps will have 4 nozzles.
1 regular petrol
2 premium petrol
3 diesel
4 premium diesel

How are they rolling out a premium fuel... without charging more, or ... I dunno what.

rex-x

NO.. Bog standard for me

mikeecho wrote: »

true, with all the Ethanol being added, we have circa 98ron petrol.

as for diesel.. i dunno what the cetane number is, but its a min of 51, but a spec sheet for esso claimed that it was a min if 51 but normally 54.4

Sadly the ethanol used now is just make make the fuel 95 ron, more ethanol currently does not mean higher ron unfortunately. If you have a turbocharged or high performance car then you will for sure be interested in this new premium fuel I know I will

Kevin!

NO.. Bog standard for me

Really hope it's higher octane fuel, would switch in a heartbeat

polan

NO.. Bog standard for me

If it's 98RON, I'll be more than happy to go up from time to time.

mikeecho

NO.. Bog standard for me

polan wrote: »

If it's 98RON, I'll be more than happy to go up from time to time.

Looking at statoil pumps across Europe (owned by circle k, and soon to be rebraned ) who use the miles plus branding,

They sell 95 & 98 petrol

polan

NO.. Bog standard for me

mikeecho wrote: »

Looking at statoil pumps across Europe (owned by circle k, and soon to be rebraned ) who use the miles plus branding,

They sell 95 & 98 petrol

I really hope it is. Just FYI, Statoil sells milesPLUS 95 and milesPLUS 98 on the continent, so it could be either of those

mikeecho

NO.. Bog standard for me

polan wrote: »

I really hope it is. Just FYI, Statoil sells milesPLUS 95 and milesPLUS 98 on the continent, so it could be either of those

Circle K will probably be selling 95 as regular and 98 as plus miles

Dunno what the diesel situation will be.

Atlantic Dawn

Atari Jaguar

Considering people will pay €20k to save €200 a year in motor tax I can't see any market for "expensive" premium fuel.

jca

NO.. Bog standard for me

I'd like to try it in the TSI.

Hal1

Bring back e85....

_Kaiser_

Can't see a market for it here when people complain about the higher price of Topaz stations as it is.

privateBeavis

Sounds like a Celtic tiger product maybe they're expecting the next boom.

Atari Jaguar

Petrol is already way too expensive so no chance I'd buy even more expensive petrol than I have to.

mfceiling

Wow it improves performance. Fairly sure the speed limit hasn't changed. Though on the flip side it might mean that it shaves 0.00001 seconds from my 0 - 120 kmh time.

Special Circumstances

mfceiling wrote: »

Wow it improves performance. Fairly sure the speed limit hasn't changed.

Sacre bleu!

kirving

Bring back E85 and a decent price and I'll take the power cut all day long! 1200km a week for the past while and NY wallet is getting sick of my FlexFuel running on petrol

Special Circumstances

Kevin Irving wrote: »

Bring back E85 and a decent price and I'll take the power cut all day long! 1200km a week for the past while and NY wallet is getting sick of my FlexFuel running on petrol

They were well able to zap E85 and make lpg etc unattractive. Good thing the greens had clean green environmentally friendly diesel to step into the gap.

Cause and effect and intent may be open to interpretation in fairness.

pajor

Atari Jaguar

Premium fuel is always an option for me here in NL but I've never got it. Price being the biggest factor. And you've got to be careful as to what's 98 RON and what's not.

Esso Supreme and Total Excellium for example are still 95 RON, waste of money imo.

A local station to me is today €1.549 for 95 unleaded and €1.719 for 98. No way would I ever pay the extra for my 1.4 Golf.

There are a couple of places that sell 102 RON that has no ethanol. That's more tempting but don't know how much it costs.

I would think 98 RON is better for motorbikes though..?

K.Flyer

^^^^^
1.55 euro and 1.72 euro / litre for fuel :eek: and people complain about fuel costs here.
Out of curiosity how does the road tax on your car compare to heee.

TheAnalyst_

K.Flyer wrote: »

^^^^^
1.55 euro and 1.72 euro / litre for fuel :eek: and people complain about fuel costs here.
Out of curiosity how does the road tax on your car compare to heee.

A lot higher for most cars. 3k for a diesel E class.

pajor

Atari Jaguar

K.Flyer wrote: »

^^^^^
1.55 euro and 1.72 euro / litre for fuel :eek: and people complain about fuel costs here.
Out of curiosity how does the road tax on your car compare to heee.

€604/year

My insurance renewal is in May. Should be about €570 for TPFT. 25 y.o with 2 years NCB

Edit: both of the above prices up 1c again today. Filled myself at €1.509

mikeecho

NO.. Bog standard for me

Topaz are rolling out the miles fuels.

The premium versions will be a bit further down the line.

https://www.topaz.ie/fuels/sds-product-specs.aspx

Seweryn

Fuels are still unbelievably cheap from the energy output point of view.

Some cars (older and newer) require to be fuelled by 98 octane fuel, so it will be nice to have that option.

MarkN

To be fair here, a 1.4 Golf doesn't need it though.

You're talking a very small number of cars on Irish roads IMO. I've only ever had one car that said it needed it in the manual, a 4.0 V8.

It's not just about 0-60 times either, it will help a high performance engine run better in general.

Total waste of money unless it says in your cars manual that you should use it. And even then, it's at your own discretion!

mikeecho

NO.. Bog standard for me

polan wrote: »

I really hope it is. Just FYI, Statoil sells milesPLUS 95 and milesPLUS 98 on the continent, so it could be either of those

They actually sell
95miles
95miles plus
98miles plus
Diesel miles
Diesel miles plus

Cee-Jay-Cee

I will probably try a tank or two of the miles plus petrol or whatever it is called and see if I can notice any worthwhile difference and if not revert to the regular stuff.

mikeecho

NO.. Bog standard for me

The specs on the Swedish statoil site claim
95miles = min 95ron
98miles plus = 98ron
Diesel miles= min 51 cetane
Diesel miles plus= 60 cetane

Some countries claim diesel miles to be 51 cetane and diesel miles plus to be 55 cetane

Hopefully we'll get the 60cetane.

Time and pricing will tell.