Accidentally filled my van up with v power diesel the other week. Didn’t make any difference 😂 As you said would be interesting to see how it it effects a tuned diesel.
Been running Tesco 99 in my performance cars since it first came out, and not only have I always sworn by it, but every single tuner I've ever met has said Tesco 99 is what they recommend.
@@BenState It is if you have a highly tuned engine, particularly turbo charged. The more power you make the more noticeable. Also Knock is really bad for an engine and will shorten it's life span.
I'm a tanker driver and at the tanker terminal they all come from the same pumps and base fuel. It's just the additives that are injected whilst loading that make all the difference. Interesting just how much difference they can make.
@@chrisg4rr377 "You're". The apostrophe replaces the missing letter from "you are". "Your" indicates that I'm in ownership of something and would make your reply nonsensical. I mean, if we're being cunty about stuff, you know.
@@chrisg4rr377 I'm also a fuel tanker driver for a large supermarket and we know what products have what additives. No need to be condescending when the guys right. What's your experience in the fuel game?
The quality of the fuel station the fuel is from make a huge difference too. The underground tanks are susceptible to leaks, damage, crud in the tank etc, shell stations vary wildly with their quality, Tesco are more consistent with the quality of their fuel stations and their underground tanks, hence its more consistent. If you have a more modern shell station near you, this won’t be as much of an issue as demonstrated, so best advice is Shell or Tesco from the most modern station local to you
@@modermonkula exactly, had my car tuned in Somerset recently and the Shell petrol station there was effectively a garden shed. No way is the quality of the tanks, the fuel storage and the cleanliness of them anywhere near as good as the modern and recently refitted 16 pump Shell stations near where I live is. I believe Tesco centrally controls the fuel stations so the quality is consistent, whereas Shell stations are franchised so it’s anyone’s guess how good they are
All garages have a lower limit, smaller garages won't go below 500ltrs per tank, on the large supermarkets they won't go below 2500lts per tank. The tanks have water sensors to detect leaks also so you'd be unlikely to have dirty fuel regardless of where you go.
@@FalseProfitMusic there you go, you’ve answered the question. Shell garages can be small so you get contaminants in 500L of fuel rather than 2500L, therefore you’re getting a higher concentration of contaminants per L of fuel at worst than a supermarket
Ran my M3 on Tesco for the last 4 years and its been pretty consistent, Everytime I used another fuel including v power it felt a bit less responsive but i thought i was imagining it
Love this! Takes me back to ‘fast car’ magazine type testing. I’m on Tesco in my GT-R, and have been for a couple of years now, after using Shell for years… Tesco does seem more consistent for me 👍
LEGEND .. no one has ever done that, that much in depth. Well done Jamie. Can you please do the same with a diesel, as that has never ever been done. Thank you!
I've been using Esso 99 now for a few years, was introduced at my local tesco express and is the only garage nearby that offers 99. Had my last fiesta st150 mapped (full bolt ons, cammed etc) and made 195hp. Been using it in a few cars and never had an issue. I personally thought Esso 99 was the most consistant. Shell has been known to sell 97 as 99.
I have always used Shell and had 20+/- miles left in my tank yesterday, I filled up with Tesco at 4 miles left. I then took the car for a drive round Rivington as usual and noticed a definite improvement in performance. Although someone with a stage 2+ ST had already sworn by Tesco Momentum for over a year, I doubted it because it was "supermarket fuel" and admit I was wrong. I'm switched.
Bro, this is so informative. People chase numbers by default for engine power. But to hear about other variables we should consider is hella interesting! Bring more informative content like this yo. Now I know that fuel from a supermarket selling bread and butter out performs other brands which focus heavily on fuels alone.
Love these kinds of tests 👍 I've been saying for years you can make more power reliably with Tesco 99 then Shell 99 It's nice to see that's been cleared up today 👍
Very knowledgeable Ben is. Shame the staff were all so ignorant when myself and another person were waiting to be served and ignored (didn’t know each other, arrived in separate cars). I left and booked my two cars elsewhere, and he left also. They obviously don’t need or want the work. Go somewhere you’ll be valued, unless you’re a UA-camr then I’m sure they’ll be happy to help.
The reason why Shell differs more than Tesco is because Tesco being priced better often has its tanks refilled on a regular basis, where as the Shell fuel sits for longer and more of an evaporation process takes place in the fuel court tanks.
No, your fuel has to sit for MONTHS in a sealed tank to degrade (minimally in a sealed tank under ground). Shell has more "aditives" which is just nonsense for the biggest part. Also 99 octsne is the MINIMUM octane for that fuel. So the Tesco could very much sk be 100 or 101 octane for example
I've used Tesco Momentum 99 in my Seat Leon Cupra 280 ST for the last 4.5 years since owning it. And what a difference it made compared to the other super fuels. Every weekend I've travelled 20 miles round trip to get it. Recently got a brand new BMW M135i and I cant really tell a difference from V Power to Momentum 99 although saying this I find the mpg is slightly better with Momentum!. When going to Tesco and I see a high performance car pulling in I always look to see if they are using the crap or good stuff. 9 times out of 10 they use the crap stuff! I feeling walking upto them and giving them a slap. The very few that use the 99 puts a smile on my face and I feel like giving them a pat on the back! 🤣
This was a really interesting topic that I actually enjoyed watching for me I’ve always put 99 from shell in my car I used to run the old 95 in my car when I first had it but it wouldn’t go that well and ever since then I’ve always used shell V power I’ve Tesco maybe once or twice because I always thought supermarket fuel wasn’t as good but now that I’ve seen this I might actually use Tesco more keep up the great content as always Jamie
Yeah i'd be great to see tesco 99 and a 95 with contrasting additives. 1 - to see which (if any) additives add performance to the top performing 99 fuel 2 - to see if additives can help 95 perform like a 99
Thanks!!, Very interesting that same RON from different companies are so big :)..And E30 is spicy, very popular in Sweden aswell on heavy tuned cars :)
Most definitely Jamie and the only tuner that sorted my problem out where others failed the legendary wizard Ben parson big thank you ben really appreciate it 🙏
Glad someone else has finally done this test! Because as you said Jamie the last one was on Fifth gear them many moons ago! There’s just one other fuel you could of added in and that’s the Costco premium fuel as it’s the cheapest petrol in the country. Great video anyway mate 👌
here in the netherlands all the fuels are 98 ron instead of 97 or 99 and we tested the fuels and BP comes out on top its weird that it also differs per country.
Would be interesting to do a video on what the differences in Premium, E95 and E10 are on fuel economy too. See if this change to E10 is doing more harm than good
Well, 99% of drivers used E10. Premium fuel is more or less for performance cars. I've tried shell E95 on my little Citroen DS3 just out of curiosity, I honestly didn't notice any difference apart from the pump giving me significantly less. Maybe I missed something
I use tesco momentum for 7 years now. Always gives me the best response, economy and performance on my na V8. Tried the shell, I was ready to be blown away, and it was noticeable worse. Maybe they tune it too much for turbo engines this days, who knows. Anyway I will stick to the momentum, good price, good performance.
I bought my 1m 2003 Seat Leon Cupra 1.8T (180bhp / apparently?) and tried 3 different fuels to see how at ran? Firstly on the old E5 95 Ron and my car was down on power. Hardly no boost etc. Then ran Morrisons E5 97 Ron, it a had a little bit more power, but no real gain. Then tried Tesco Momentum 99 Ron, and have never looked back. It pulls like a train from 2,000 rpm all way to 5,500rpm. And goes well under load and I hardly ever have to go down past 4th gear to overtake etc. So I feel my car has been re-mapped. It’s a fun car to drIve. So Tesco Momentum is the best fuel. And a great video Jamie 👍
We have Shell V-Power in Australia, and I've had so many issues with it causing detonation on 2 of my turbo cars - but not all the time. The tuners I speak to over here also say they prefer BP Ultimate as a first choice and Shell is very hit-and-miss. Personally, I find that Costco Premium is excellent, and have never had any issues. My Subaru was been tuned with Costco fuel once and second time with BP and the tuner couldn't tell the difference. So I'm surprised BP didn't do well in this test. Although all our premiums fuels are 98RON maximum out here.
Can't belive all this years I've been spending the extra money and miles on esso which Is 13 miles away and the tesco is only 2 miles away from me and actually tesco is on the way to work.... Tesco 99 from now on. Really nice video. Thanks
Been using Tesco 99 in my RS6 since I bought it about 6 months ago. Never missed a beat. Found a Murco station down the road where their 99 fuel was almost 10p a litre cheaper so I ran that for a bit. However, on idle I noticed the car was ever so slightly 'twitchy'. Put Tesco back in and its silky smooth again. May just be my imagination of course
Loved the video not seen one of these tests since fifth gear did it some years ago. But this was more in depth. How about trying a few more fuels like Texaco 99 and Essar 99 put them against Tesco momentum, it would be interesting to see the results.
Loved the vid, i have always run Tesco 99 and found the same. Ran 95 E10 during the fuel problems on my Edition 30 golf EA113 K04 and my god that is a no no! I do want some of that Ethanol though 😁
I always ran V Power until I saw this... gave Tesco 99 a run and definitely a noticeable power increase in my Stage 2+ B58 M240i! I'll be running Tesco from now on. I'm in the North of England where Tesco reportedly has more ethanol content than the south, so maybe that helps with it being a turbo engine.
Just remember all petrol is identical(except esso) All comes from IDENTICAL storage tanks. Just their additives that differ... As a base fuel in the tanks, asda, sainaburys,morrisons, applegreen,BP, shell, texaco etc etc all are the exact same quality..
Awesome content! For real. I wish a Portuguese tuning shop would do the same in our country. We have different fuel brands obviously and also different types of products to choose from. In terms of Petrol there are simple 95, premium 95 and premium 98. The "simple" allegedly don't have any additives or cleaning products. "Premium" allegedly have performance enhancements, injector cleaning additives, etc. They're also supposed to be more efficient in terms of Km/tank. On diesel we also have simple and premium. These ones I would really love to see tested on TDi types of engines. As always great content! I learned a lot from this video. Thank you! 🙌
I would like to see the test on a N/A engine maybe most likely a Vtec or something similar.. with and without iridium sparkplugs and ignition coils to see what difference they do actually make to the ignition timing set ups
This is all about power, I run v power on my stage 1 034 tune Audi S4, runs great but not used tesco 99, main reason I use V power is it`s aleeged cleaning agent to prevent carbon build,watch a few vids on it and is supposeed to work
A terrific video. I only use Tesco 99 or VPower in my modified car. This just helps to back that up. I usually use Tesco as its nearer. So this is great news. Banging content 👌
Very interesting video. I own a bog standard MK5 Ford Cortina (so the opposite end of the engine spectrum here) and only ever run it on Tesco Momentum 99. This was also words of advice from my local engine repair specialist. Obviously I shouldn’t and wouldn’t run it on E10, but was advised that classic cars (whether converted to unleaded or not) should use the highest octane fuel possible to prevent issues and apparently Tesco 99 is just that. As others have said, would love to see a diesel fuel comparison if possible 👍🏼
It's also definitely worth mentioning that if you have a car tuned for any particular fuel, you can still run regular 95 perfectly fine and you won't notice any difference whatsoever IF YOU DON'T FLOOR IT. Drive gently, accelerate gently and change down before heavier throttle and you'll be fine until you fill up again with your choice. If you avoid heavy loads as mentioned, you'll not cause any damage at all.
When I bought my DC5 many years ago from Torque GT they said use shell fuel only it's the best for them. My car ran like a bag of crap on my local shell fuel, tick over was awfull, very lumpy and sounded like the car was struggling to idle properly and acceleration low down was crap I thought my injectors were shot. Switched to tesco fuel problem solved, got better MPG when driving motorway journeys and the car ran smooth as anything, one thing I will say though is shell fuel felt like it give the car abit more punch in the upper revs but I could live without that and wanted my car running propper.
Always used Tesco 99, Always thought it was the best for the money and it's good to see some data to back that up, since getting a supercharged older car I figured it would be the safest option for knock resistance and peace of mind too, if nothing else. Never figured it would make that much difference or beat Shell on area under the curve though. Awesome vid guys, nice one.
Very interesting video! happy to have access to pump e85, worrying for engine knock, timing corrections or leave performance sitting aren't an issue (if you blend correctly with the right software ofcourse).
Was actually having this debate with someone on a different UA-camrs channel and a point they raised was about Shell V-Power not always being the 99 RON they advertise based on an image going around on car forums, which claimed that Shell V Power was tested to be 92 RON. The fact that Ben said Shell V-Power is inconsistent possibly proves that some Shell fuelling stations sell dodgy '99' RON fuel... Interesting
Congrats littco x Devil and OG this is something that needed covering for years. I’ve often explained this to others in the tuning scene with regards to Tesco and always found it to be consistent on ignition logs. Interestingly and abit deeper in with the higher Ethanol 95 E10 fuel we found EGT’s to be slightly cooler presumably due to the higher ethanol cooling ? Would be cool to hear Bens feedback on his experience with E10 fuels.
When I had a tuned performance turbo car a few years back I only ever used Tesco 99, when I got it remapped I made sure it was mapped on Tesco, I remember having to put some V power in once as I couldn’t get to Tesco near me and I could notice a big difference, felt more sluggish and seemed to be more pops and bangs which aren’t overly great for your car.
Esso 99 does not have Ethanol while Momentum 99 has upto 5% ethanol and your spicy fuel experiment shows the benefit ethanol gives. On another note ethanol absorbs water, so if your sports car is a garage queen in winters , it must use Esso at its last fill as it minimises water absorption while Momentum will absorb water. If yours is a daily , Then Momentum is fine.
Older cars tend to have no knock detection and would be a lot more likely to destroy themselves as the ignition programmed is what you get regardless of fuel...
When you overlay these average price differences it’s backwards to the results: Esso 25p a litre more than their 95 Shell 16p a litre more than their 95 Tesco 10p a litre more than their 95
Very interesting video I believe that Tesco 99 has a higher mon rating than shell 99 turbo engines in particular seem to enjoy the higher mon rating more both fuels being 99ron but Ron is only part of the story . I found my megane RS preferred Tesco over shell. My clio RS being NA can’t really tell between shell and Tesco but interestingly tried one tank of esso 99 and felt not quite as good (my cars mapped for 99)
On the topic of Esso, the website says that it’s E5 ‘supreme’ is actually (except, due to technical supply reasons, in Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, North England and Scotland) ethanol free and is only labelled E5 because of legality… perhaps that has something to do with what you were talking about !
Interesting video. Thanks for doing this - discovered the channel on the back of it. Would be interesting to do the same test with a high performance N/A engined car like an e46/e9x M3, B8 RS4 or a Honda S2000 - they usually state use of 98+RON fuel on the filler cap. This channels seems to be focused on modified cars, but the fuel may react quite differently on something more pedestrian - I would also wonder how a modern turbo petrol might differ to the fire breathing monster you had on test - Did the SEAT have advanced capability to adjust ignition? (sorry if I missed that). Another question from me would be about how the ECU might adapt to a fuel over time, rather than the quick changover shown here - Don't fuel system's adapt? The main reason I came to comment: I can tell you why the ESSO 99 gave the least power in this test - It has zero ethanol. Although on the pump it states E5, on ESSO's website they are very clear that it contains no ethanol: 'Although our pumps have E5 labels on them, our Synergy Supreme+ 99 is ethanol-free (except, due to technical supply reasons, in Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, North England and Scotland). Legislation requires us to place E5 labels on pumps that dispense unleaded petrol with ‘up to 5% ethanol’, including those that contain no ethanol. ' Found here: www.esso.co.uk/en-gb/fuels In terms of performance there will clearly be a loss on this vehicle, and Ben explained that well - So on that basis of power in this test, the highest ethanol fuel will be 'the best'. There are some other considerations to take into account depending on you and your vehicle. The ethanol in fuel is why you struggle to start your lawn mower in the summer after a winter laid up - if you left fuel in the tank, that fuel has probably absorbed water, which then will degrade sensiitve parts of the fuel system (corrode aluminium and damage certain rubbers) - this can happen to older vehicles with fuel systems which can't tolerate it (usually pre-2001). Another reason is that ethanol is a cheap way for the manufacturer to boost the octane rating of the fuel - my expectation is that Tesco achieve 99 through a higher ethanol content relative to the others tested. I think it tends to be the cheapest forecourt price of those tested. Shell likely achieves their 99 octane through the base fuel. Ben touched on the calorific value of ethanol as well. If you went from E0 to E100 then you would just add 30% extra fuel across the whole map. Fuel is priced by the litre, so your fuel economy since switching from E5 to E10 will now be worse. The government have done a fast one on us there, since their tax revenue will now increase as people now consume more litres, and they can also claim to be more 'green'. Other than fuel 'quality' differing based on location, the turnover of that location is also important, given that fuel octane level will degrade over time the faster that the fuel gets from the refinary to your engines combustion chamber the higher octane it will be. (Maybe that has something to do with the variation in Shell's fuel). In Formula 1 their fuel (regardless of supplier) used to always be bang on 97.5 octane because it comes direct to the team from the manufacturer and never gets to degrade to the 95 octane listed on the pump - which was dictated by the rules. You might want to go to the most popular forecourt in your area on that basis. Fuel 'quality' might also literally mean the amount of other contaminants found in it - sand, feathers, brick dust - I would expect the more premium brands to literally offer a purer fuel, and the most used forcourts fuel to cotain the least sendiment. There are other consderations with using ethanol, since it's alcohol has a cleaning effect which will have some impact on the lubrication of your engine (granted, probably minimal). There might be other impacts I haven't thought of here. If you want some more technical information on some elements of this, this video is pretty interesting, although from an Aston Martin owners perspective (presumiably mostly N/A engines). I don't know much about the channel, although the presenter quotes his expertise at the beginning. ua-cam.com/video/wOxxPYLhBhM/v-deo.html From my own perspective; as my youngest car is 18-years old I use only ESSO 99 since it became available - I'm most concerned with longevity and value for money since I also do frequent long trips. Fuel economy increased for me by 5% when I switched from Shell 99 to ESSO in my E55K. I also have a couple of vehicles mostly dormant over winter and that's another reason I want a low ethanol fuel. There are companies that even do 'storage fuels' for this purpose. This ended up wordier than I originally intended - But I think many viewers might be interested. Thanks for reading.
This was interesting for me as im also an engine tuner and have been doing the same tests more or less continuously for the last 3 years & 70,000 miles. So much so that i have developed tunes specifically for 1 brand of fuel. V-Power99. More recently with people trying to save money i started working on Eco tuning for 95 E10 fuel. And it has been really surprising how much further you can push Brake Specific Torque under cruise conditions. Having the overall effect of greater MPG. With most of my Eco tune customers seeing an extra 4 mpg overall. My findings though are exactly as per this video. Agree with the Esso too, stay clear... Worst performing fuel of all brands.
Another great video brotha I like this man showing the difference in fuel I like how you can do different content within the confines of us car guys cheers 🍻 from across the pond
Well interesting video, I honestly thought all fuels were equal pending on their octane rating. Interesting to know about the dangers of running 95 Ron fuel if your car isn't tuned for it aswell!
You should do the same test, but with a diesel fuel. I'm really looking forward to it!!!
Accidentally filled my van up with v power diesel the other week. Didn’t make any difference 😂
As you said would be interesting to see how it it effects a tuned diesel.
Great idea 💡
Diesel is Diesel. Super Diesel just costs more. You wont get any more miles from it.
Great idea because then you will know the difference in power
@@theenglishtrucker1849 well it'll be good to see the facts tho
Been running Tesco 99 in my performance cars since it first came out, and not only have I always sworn by it, but every single tuner I've ever met has said Tesco 99 is what they recommend.
Copy that my stage 2.+ mk5 gti noticeably has less power with shell than tesco 99
I have only v power in my city
@@lewisnisbet5328 less than 1% is not something you'll notice.
@@BenState It is if you have a highly tuned engine, particularly turbo charged. The more power you make the more noticeable. Also Knock is really bad for an engine and will shorten it's life span.
@@SamuelHale-fk9ij wasnt what theyre talking about
I'm a tanker driver and at the tanker terminal they all come from the same pumps and base fuel. It's just the additives that are injected whilst loading that make all the difference. Interesting just how much difference they can make.
So your just a driver and not a scientist. Got it
@@chrisg4rr377 "You're". The apostrophe replaces the missing letter from "you are". "Your" indicates that I'm in ownership of something and would make your reply nonsensical. I mean, if we're being cunty about stuff, you know.
@@toadscrote123321 haha fair point. Hook line and sinker
@@chrisg4rr377 I'm also a fuel tanker driver for a large supermarket and we know what products have what additives. No need to be condescending when the guys right.
What's your experience in the fuel game?
@@FalseProfitMusic nothing on the chemical side
The quality of the fuel station the fuel is from make a huge difference too.
The underground tanks are susceptible to leaks, damage, crud in the tank etc, shell stations vary wildly with their quality, Tesco are more consistent with the quality of their fuel stations and their underground tanks, hence its more consistent.
If you have a more modern shell station near you, this won’t be as much of an issue as demonstrated, so best advice is Shell or Tesco from the most modern station local to you
Some of the petrol stations near me have got to be 80 years old if not more.
@@modermonkula exactly, had my car tuned in Somerset recently and the Shell petrol station there was effectively a garden shed. No way is the quality of the tanks, the fuel storage and the cleanliness of them anywhere near as good as the modern and recently refitted 16 pump Shell stations near where I live is.
I believe Tesco centrally controls the fuel stations so the quality is consistent, whereas Shell stations are franchised so it’s anyone’s guess how good they are
All garages have a lower limit, smaller garages won't go below 500ltrs per tank, on the large supermarkets they won't go below 2500lts per tank. The tanks have water sensors to detect leaks also so you'd be unlikely to have dirty fuel regardless of where you go.
@@FalseProfitMusic there you go, you’ve answered the question. Shell garages can be small so you get contaminants in 500L of fuel rather than 2500L, therefore you’re getting a higher concentration of contaminants per L of fuel at worst than a supermarket
A significant number of the Shell, BP and Esso stations are dealer sites that often have older tanks and pipework.
💯 agree everything Ben said, Tesco 99 is always consistent, shell is so hit and miss, I personally run Tesco 99 in my cars
Me too
Tesco 99 is also always way cheaper
@@hakeemsaunders1258 💯
Shell is hit and miss as all they do is add an additive to normal fuel to make it 99, and sometimes they forget. (What a shell tanker driver told me)
I have also, people say supermarket fuel is dirty but I cut open my fuel filter when it was due replacement and it was very good condition inside!
Ran my M3 on Tesco for the last 4 years and its been pretty consistent, Everytime I used another fuel including v power it felt a bit less responsive but i thought i was imagining it
Love this!
Takes me back to ‘fast car’ magazine type testing.
I’m on Tesco in my GT-R, and have been for a couple of years now, after using Shell for years…
Tesco does seem more consistent for me 👍
FINALLLY! Someone made that comparison everyone wanted!
LEGEND .. no one has ever done that, that much in depth. Well done Jamie. Can you please do the same with a diesel, as that has never ever been done. Thank you!
One with different octane boosters on the tesco fuel would be really interesting
1000000% be interested in seeing this !
And with the 95
@@GJB21 they did 95 octane....
@@snoopydogg1 “with different octane boosters”…
Octane boosters are ment to be used with 95
I've been using Esso 99 now for a few years, was introduced at my local tesco express and is the only garage nearby that offers 99. Had my last fiesta st150 mapped (full bolt ons, cammed etc) and made 195hp. Been using it in a few cars and never had an issue. I personally thought Esso 99 was the most consistant. Shell has been known to sell 97 as 99.
I have always used Shell and had 20+/- miles left in my tank yesterday, I filled up with Tesco at 4 miles left. I then took the car for a drive round Rivington as usual and noticed a definite improvement in performance. Although someone with a stage 2+ ST had already sworn by Tesco Momentum for over a year, I doubted it because it was "supermarket fuel" and admit I was wrong. I'm switched.
Bro, this is so informative. People chase numbers by default for engine power. But to hear about other variables we should consider is hella interesting! Bring more informative content like this yo. Now I know that fuel from a supermarket selling bread and butter out performs other brands which focus heavily on fuels alone.
The hands of a real mechanic . Been through the wars ….. it’s basically a stamp of qualify to say this guy knows what he is doing
Love these kinds of tests 👍
I've been saying for years you can make more power reliably with Tesco 99 then Shell 99
It's nice to see that's been cleared up today 👍
Very knowledgeable Ben is. Shame the staff were all so ignorant when myself and another person were waiting to be served and ignored (didn’t know each other, arrived in separate cars). I left and booked my two cars elsewhere, and he left also. They obviously don’t need or want the work. Go somewhere you’ll be valued, unless you’re a UA-camr then I’m sure they’ll be happy to help.
The reason why Shell differs more than Tesco is because Tesco being priced better often has its tanks refilled on a regular basis, where as the Shell fuel sits for longer and more of an evaporation process takes place in the fuel court tanks.
I beg to differ because every time I go fill up at Shell the V Power is always empty
No, your fuel has to sit for MONTHS in a sealed tank to degrade (minimally in a sealed tank under ground). Shell has more "aditives" which is just nonsense for the biggest part. Also 99 octsne is the MINIMUM octane for that fuel. So the Tesco could very much sk be 100 or 101 octane for example
Tesco momentum has been my go to for a long time now, seems to perform the best for me and is one of the cheaper premium fuels as well
I've used Tesco Momentum 99 in my Seat Leon Cupra 280 ST for the last 4.5 years since owning it. And what a difference it made compared to the other super fuels. Every weekend I've travelled 20 miles round trip to get it. Recently got a brand new BMW M135i and I cant really tell a difference from V Power to Momentum 99 although saying this I find the mpg is slightly better with Momentum!. When going to Tesco and I see a high performance car pulling in I always look to see if they are using the crap or good stuff. 9 times out of 10 they use the crap stuff! I feeling walking upto them and giving them a slap. The very few that use the 99 puts a smile on my face and I feel like giving them a pat on the back! 🤣
😂
Im glad you actually did a test on fuels. Least we can protect our petrol engines
Tesco " every little helps " even with tuning
This was a really interesting topic that I actually enjoyed watching for me I’ve always put 99 from shell in my car I used to run the old 95 in my car when I first had it but it wouldn’t go that well and ever since then I’ve always used shell V power I’ve Tesco maybe once or twice because I always thought supermarket fuel wasn’t as good but now that I’ve seen this I might actually use Tesco more keep up the great content as always Jamie
95 supermarket fuel is worse but Tesco 99 is the best 99 fuel
I've used Esso 99 in my RS3 for the 2 years I've had her. I'll give Tesco 99 a shot next time I fill up.
Please let us know about ur experience
@@talhaahmed9778 Tesco 99 all the time now, usually cheaper too.
Filled up the bike the other day with Tesco momentum and it was the best the bike has ever felt,definitely noticeable.
Videos like this are super interesting 👌
I always Shell Vpower in my mk 2 Focus ST
Never had a problem runs really well
But also noticed the the BP Ultimate seems to get better fuel economy 🤔
Gentlemen thank you for your time and effort doing this.
Yeah i'd be great to see tesco 99 and a 95 with contrasting additives.
1 - to see which (if any) additives add performance to the top performing 99 fuel
2 - to see if additives can help 95 perform like a 99
Like seeing Ben, always learn a lot from this bloke, humble top bloke
Thanks!!, Very interesting that same RON from different companies are so big :)..And E30 is spicy, very popular in Sweden aswell on heavy tuned cars :)
Most definitely Jamie and the only tuner that sorted my problem out where others failed the legendary wizard Ben parson big thank you ben really appreciate it 🙏
Glad someone else has finally done this test! Because as you said Jamie the last one was on Fifth gear them many moons ago!
There’s just one other fuel you could of added in and that’s the Costco premium fuel as it’s the cheapest petrol in the country.
Great video anyway mate 👌
here in the netherlands all the fuels are 98 ron instead of 97 or 99 and we tested the fuels and BP comes out on top its weird that it also differs per country.
Would be interesting to do a video on what the differences in Premium, E95 and E10 are on fuel economy too. See if this change to E10 is doing more harm than good
Well, 99% of drivers used E10. Premium fuel is more or less for performance cars. I've tried shell E95 on my little Citroen DS3 just out of curiosity, I honestly didn't notice any difference apart from the pump giving me significantly less. Maybe I missed something
I have a 1l ecoboost ford but get an extra 30 miles out of premium.
@@RainbowLizardRacing yeh fuel change wouldn’t do that, most likely other variables like driving style, average speed etc.
@@TrumpWinner e10 vs ethanol free can make a big difference
The extra ethanol in E10 fuel will do damage to most engines , "compatible" or not. Except for diesel of course.
I use tesco momentum for 7 years now. Always gives me the best response, economy and performance on my na V8. Tried the shell, I was ready to be blown away, and it was noticeable worse. Maybe they tune it too much for turbo engines this days, who knows. Anyway I will stick to the momentum, good price, good performance.
I bought my 1m 2003 Seat Leon Cupra 1.8T (180bhp / apparently?) and tried 3 different fuels to see how at ran?
Firstly on the old E5 95 Ron and my car was down on power. Hardly no boost etc. Then ran Morrisons E5 97 Ron, it a had a little bit more power, but no real gain.
Then tried Tesco Momentum 99 Ron, and have never looked back.
It pulls like a train from 2,000 rpm all way to 5,500rpm. And goes well under load and I hardly ever have to go down past 4th gear to overtake etc.
So I feel my car has been re-mapped.
It’s a fun car to drIve.
So Tesco Momentum is the best fuel.
And a great video Jamie 👍
We have Shell V-Power in Australia, and I've had so many issues with it causing detonation on 2 of my turbo cars - but not all the time. The tuners I speak to over here also say they prefer BP Ultimate as a first choice and Shell is very hit-and-miss. Personally, I find that Costco Premium is excellent, and have never had any issues. My Subaru was been tuned with Costco fuel once and second time with BP and the tuner couldn't tell the difference. So I'm surprised BP didn't do well in this test. Although all our premiums fuels are 98RON maximum out here.
Can't belive all this years I've been spending the extra money and miles on esso which Is 13 miles away and the tesco is only 2 miles away from me and actually tesco is on the way to work....
Tesco 99 from now on.
Really nice video. Thanks
Worth noting that Esso super unleaded is actually completely ethanol free - apart from that sold in northern regions.
Indeed - in fact most supers are ethanol free in much of southern England, for now anyway. Source: "The Boilerhouse Garage" on UA-cam
Great video. I liked the controlled testing procedure and the great analysis post test. Thanks.
Been using Tesco 99 in my RS6 since I bought it about 6 months ago. Never missed a beat. Found a Murco station down the road where their 99 fuel was almost 10p a litre cheaper so I ran that for a bit. However, on idle I noticed the car was ever so slightly 'twitchy'. Put Tesco back in and its silky smooth again. May just be my imagination of course
Loved the video not seen one of these tests since fifth gear did it some years ago. But this was more in depth.
How about trying a few more fuels like Texaco 99 and Essar 99 put them against Tesco momentum, it would be interesting to see the results.
Loved the vid, i have always run Tesco 99 and found the same. Ran 95 E10 during the fuel problems on my Edition 30 golf EA113 K04 and my god that is a no no! I do want some of that Ethanol though 😁
I always ran V Power until I saw this... gave Tesco 99 a run and definitely a noticeable power increase in my Stage 2+ B58 M240i! I'll be running Tesco from now on. I'm in the North of England where Tesco reportedly has more ethanol content than the south, so maybe that helps with it being a turbo engine.
Momentum everytime. Plus the clubcard points rack up😉
Thank you for this video, years of waiting for comparison on these fuels.
Just remember all petrol is identical(except esso)
All comes from IDENTICAL storage tanks.
Just their additives that differ...
As a base fuel in the tanks, asda, sainaburys,morrisons, applegreen,BP, shell, texaco etc etc all are the exact same quality..
I worked at a rolling road when dream science first came about, we did some tests for a ford magazine with different fuels
Awesome content! For real.
I wish a Portuguese tuning shop would do the same in our country.
We have different fuel brands obviously and also different types of products to choose from.
In terms of Petrol there are simple 95, premium 95 and premium 98. The "simple" allegedly don't have any additives or cleaning products. "Premium" allegedly have performance enhancements, injector cleaning additives, etc. They're also supposed to be more efficient in terms of Km/tank. On diesel we also have simple and premium. These ones I would really love to see tested on TDi types of engines.
As always great content! I learned a lot from this video. Thank you! 🙌
I would like to see the test on a N/A engine maybe most likely a Vtec or something similar.. with and without iridium sparkplugs and ignition coils to see what difference they do actually make to the ignition timing set ups
I live in Belfast. There’s one garage I know of that does 99 super unleaded and that’s a solo garage. All the other super is 97 as far as I know.
Costco Premium compared please! Would be sweet to see if there's any difference!
This is all about power, I run v power on my stage 1 034 tune Audi S4, runs great but not used tesco 99, main reason I use V power is it`s aleeged cleaning agent to prevent carbon build,watch a few vids on it and is supposeed to work
The knowledge is 10/10
A terrific video. I only use Tesco 99 or VPower in my modified car. This just helps to back that up. I usually use Tesco as its nearer. So this is great news. Banging content 👌
Very interesting video. I own a bog standard MK5 Ford Cortina (so the opposite end of the engine spectrum here) and only ever run it on Tesco Momentum 99. This was also words of advice from my local engine repair specialist. Obviously I shouldn’t and wouldn’t run it on E10, but was advised that classic cars (whether converted to unleaded or not) should use the highest octane fuel possible to prevent issues and apparently Tesco 99 is just that.
As others have said, would love to see a diesel fuel comparison if possible 👍🏼
Great video! I’ve been running Tesco99 for years on my rtech mapped golf and never had any issues. Momentum for the win👌🏼
I do the same mate haha tuned on v-power & use tesco99 more lol 😂
OG you should do more of these exposé vids. Very informative.
It's also definitely worth mentioning that if you have a car tuned for any particular fuel, you can still run regular 95 perfectly fine and you won't notice any difference whatsoever IF YOU DON'T FLOOR IT. Drive gently, accelerate gently and change down before heavier throttle and you'll be fine until you fill up again with your choice. If you avoid heavy loads as mentioned, you'll not cause any damage at all.
This is absolutely terrible advice
Been hearing this but it’s nice to see the numbers behind the words. 👌🏿 great vid as always !
Great test with some proper controlled conditions, data and info.
Great video!! Would be interesting to see how a NA engine performs with the different fuels
I’d like to see that too
When I bought my DC5 many years ago from Torque GT they said use shell fuel only it's the best for them.
My car ran like a bag of crap on my local shell fuel, tick over was awfull, very lumpy and sounded like the car was struggling to idle properly and acceleration low down was crap I thought my injectors were shot.
Switched to tesco fuel problem solved, got better MPG when driving motorway journeys and the car ran smooth as anything, one thing I will say though is shell fuel felt like it give the car abit more punch in the upper revs but I could live without that and wanted my car running propper.
Always used Tesco 99, Always thought it was the best for the money and it's good to see some data to back that up, since getting a supercharged older car I figured it would be the safest option for knock resistance and peace of mind too, if nothing else. Never figured it would make that much difference or beat Shell on area under the curve though. Awesome vid guys, nice one.
Fantastic,, thank you guys,, I've always thought V power was good, so, turns out I wasn't far off,, thanks again,, 👍🤙👍
Fantastic video educating the industry, Jamie! Great work.
Calvin’s car diary did a talk with VRS which is good but this in depth look is great
Great informative video that scientifically backs up what many tuners have been saying for years. Great video.
Very interesting video! happy to have access to pump e85, worrying for engine knock, timing corrections or leave performance sitting aren't an issue (if you blend correctly with the right software ofcourse).
I am so glad that we have Aral Ultimate 102 octane on the most stations.
I always felt like my car ran better on momentum. Glad there are some facts to back it now !
I just took my Ford Kuga 1.5T to Asda & filled the tank up - times are hard lol 😂😂😂
Was actually having this debate with someone on a different UA-camrs channel and a point they raised was about Shell V-Power not always being the 99 RON they advertise based on an image going around on car forums, which claimed that Shell V Power was tested to be 92 RON. The fact that Ben said Shell V-Power is inconsistent possibly proves that some Shell fuelling stations sell dodgy '99' RON fuel... Interesting
The attention to details 😮 great instalment 👍 top marks
Congrats littco x Devil and OG this is something that needed covering for years.
I’ve often explained this to others in the tuning scene with regards to Tesco and always found it to be consistent on ignition logs.
Interestingly and abit deeper in with the higher Ethanol 95 E10 fuel we found EGT’s to be slightly cooler presumably due to the higher ethanol cooling ? Would be cool to hear Bens feedback on his experience with E10 fuels.
When I had a tuned performance turbo car a few years back I only ever used Tesco 99, when I got it remapped I made sure it was mapped on Tesco, I remember having to put some V power in once as I couldn’t get to Tesco near me and I could notice a big difference, felt more sluggish and seemed to be more pops and bangs which aren’t overly great for your car.
It would be interesting to see the power differences between
Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's
Esso 99 does not have Ethanol while Momentum 99 has upto 5% ethanol and your spicy fuel experiment shows the benefit ethanol gives. On another note ethanol absorbs water, so if your sports car is a garage queen in winters , it must use Esso at its last fill as it minimises water absorption while Momentum will absorb water. If yours is a daily , Then Momentum is fine.
Wow,and there’s me avoiding momentum constantly, now I know 🤩
Older cars tend to have no knock detection and would be a lot more likely to destroy themselves as the ignition programmed is what you get regardless of fuel...
Thank you for your review and information 👍
Tesco's 99 is the go to for me, try to avoid Shell due to their greedy prices
Every little helps! 😁
Great research, and exactly what i use. Devil developments are fantastic,
Your man saying shell is 99 now stuff that Tesco high octane is king tried and tested for years now 👍
Such great content and so informative, thank you both for this test
When you overlay these average price differences it’s backwards to the results:
Esso 25p a litre more than their 95
Shell 16p a litre more than their 95
Tesco 10p a litre more than their 95
Always run “thinners” in a petrol turbo car , 10-15% mix works fantastic 🔥🔥👌
Appreciate tge shoutout to NI! I've only used BP Ultimate as we have no Shell, but I might give Tesco a go
I tried esso two months ago in my fiat coupe 20 v turbo and I agree. Within 2 mins with any load on the engine it misfired badly...never again!
Good video, can you make one with diesel?
Very interesting video I believe that Tesco 99 has a higher mon rating than shell 99 turbo engines in particular seem to enjoy the higher mon rating more both fuels being 99ron but Ron is only part of the story . I found my megane RS preferred Tesco over shell. My clio RS being NA can’t really tell between shell and Tesco but interestingly tried one tank of esso 99 and felt not quite as good (my cars mapped for 99)
On the topic of Esso, the website says that it’s E5 ‘supreme’ is actually (except, due to technical supply reasons, in Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, North England and Scotland) ethanol free and is only labelled E5 because of legality… perhaps that has something to do with what you were talking about !
really nice in depth test. Quality stuff guys!
Interesting video. Thanks for doing this - discovered the channel on the back of it. Would be interesting to do the same test with a high performance N/A engined car like an e46/e9x M3, B8 RS4 or a Honda S2000 - they usually state use of 98+RON fuel on the filler cap. This channels seems to be focused on modified cars, but the fuel may react quite differently on something more pedestrian - I would also wonder how a modern turbo petrol might differ to the fire breathing monster you had on test - Did the SEAT have advanced capability to adjust ignition? (sorry if I missed that). Another question from me would be about how the ECU might adapt to a fuel over time, rather than the quick changover shown here - Don't fuel system's adapt?
The main reason I came to comment: I can tell you why the ESSO 99 gave the least power in this test - It has zero ethanol. Although on the pump it states E5, on ESSO's website they are very clear that it contains no ethanol:
'Although our pumps have E5 labels on them, our Synergy Supreme+ 99 is ethanol-free (except, due to technical supply reasons, in Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, North England and Scotland). Legislation requires us to place E5 labels on pumps that dispense unleaded petrol with ‘up to 5% ethanol’, including those that contain no ethanol. '
Found here: www.esso.co.uk/en-gb/fuels
In terms of performance there will clearly be a loss on this vehicle, and Ben explained that well - So on that basis of power in this test, the highest ethanol fuel will be 'the best'. There are some other considerations to take into account depending on you and your vehicle.
The ethanol in fuel is why you struggle to start your lawn mower in the summer after a winter laid up - if you left fuel in the tank, that fuel has probably absorbed water, which then will degrade sensiitve parts of the fuel system (corrode aluminium and damage certain rubbers) - this can happen to older vehicles with fuel systems which can't tolerate it (usually pre-2001).
Another reason is that ethanol is a cheap way for the manufacturer to boost the octane rating of the fuel - my expectation is that Tesco achieve 99 through a higher ethanol content relative to the others tested. I think it tends to be the cheapest forecourt price of those tested. Shell likely achieves their 99 octane through the base fuel.
Ben touched on the calorific value of ethanol as well. If you went from E0 to E100 then you would just add 30% extra fuel across the whole map. Fuel is priced by the litre, so your fuel economy since switching from E5 to E10 will now be worse. The government have done a fast one on us there, since their tax revenue will now increase as people now consume more litres, and they can also claim to be more 'green'.
Other than fuel 'quality' differing based on location, the turnover of that location is also important, given that fuel octane level will degrade over time the faster that the fuel gets from the refinary to your engines combustion chamber the higher octane it will be. (Maybe that has something to do with the variation in Shell's fuel). In Formula 1 their fuel (regardless of supplier) used to always be bang on 97.5 octane because it comes direct to the team from the manufacturer and never gets to degrade to the 95 octane listed on the pump - which was dictated by the rules. You might want to go to the most popular forecourt in your area on that basis. Fuel 'quality' might also literally mean the amount of other contaminants found in it - sand, feathers, brick dust - I would expect the more premium brands to literally offer a purer fuel, and the most used forcourts fuel to cotain the least sendiment.
There are other consderations with using ethanol, since it's alcohol has a cleaning effect which will have some impact on the lubrication of your engine (granted, probably minimal). There might be other impacts I haven't thought of here.
If you want some more technical information on some elements of this, this video is pretty interesting, although from an Aston Martin owners perspective (presumiably mostly N/A engines). I don't know much about the channel, although the presenter quotes his expertise at the beginning.
ua-cam.com/video/wOxxPYLhBhM/v-deo.html
From my own perspective; as my youngest car is 18-years old I use only ESSO 99 since it became available - I'm most concerned with longevity and value for money since I also do frequent long trips. Fuel economy increased for me by 5% when I switched from Shell 99 to ESSO in my E55K. I also have a couple of vehicles mostly dormant over winter and that's another reason I want a low ethanol fuel. There are companies that even do 'storage fuels' for this purpose.
This ended up wordier than I originally intended - But I think many viewers might be interested. Thanks for reading.
This was interesting for me as im also an engine tuner and have been doing the same tests more or less continuously for the last 3 years & 70,000 miles. So much so that i have developed tunes specifically for 1 brand of fuel. V-Power99. More recently with people trying to save money i started working on Eco tuning for 95 E10 fuel. And it has been really surprising how much further you can push Brake Specific Torque under cruise conditions. Having the overall effect of greater MPG. With most of my Eco tune customers seeing an extra 4 mpg overall. My findings though are exactly as per this video. Agree with the Esso too, stay clear... Worst performing fuel of all brands.
Very informative always use Momentum in my car and will continue doing so. Thanks for documenting
Great video. Enjoyed that. Tesco Momentum in my Cupra and RS every time from now on 👌🏻
Another great video brotha I like this man showing the difference in fuel I like how you can do different content within the confines of us car guys cheers 🍻 from across the pond
Well interesting video, I honestly thought all fuels were equal pending on their octane rating. Interesting to know about the dangers of running 95 Ron fuel if your car isn't tuned for it aswell!