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Petrol Quality and MPG

BRE Fabrications LTD

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May 15, 2010
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Hey Guys,

I usually run on LPG but I haven't gotten around to filling up lately and have been running on petrol. I filled up the other day and calculated I achieved 9.87mpg. This is 90% town driving. Now bear in mind I usually get that closer to 12mpg in petrol when just driving around town and 15mpg on the freeway.

My last two fill ups have been at the same Esso. So my questions are:
1. Do the big name stations (BP, She'll etc...) have better quality fuel compared to the likes of supermarkets and Esso (is it fair to lump Esso in the supermarket fuel category?) and could this cause a drop in MOG?
2. Is it likely that different additives are added to petrol in winter and this may cause the drop in MPG?
3. Would I get better MPG on higher octane petrol?

And no I have not fitted the 37's yet so that rules out that problem. Though out of curiosity should I be making any corrections to miles due to running in 285/75 16's as opposed to stock?


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Ryan, I can tell you for sure that the basic fuel is the same. It's all made in the same refineries. But it's at the tanker filling stage that the additives go in. Or not as is the case with Supermarket fuels. So, no, not all fuel is the same at the pump.

Higher octane gives better performance but not necessarily better MPG as far as I know. I did a great many miles on company fuel and could fill up when and where I liked. Over the course of the years I kept records. Some brands gave as much as 6 MPG more in a particular car. Performance wasn't noticeably different but MPG was. All supermarket fuel was at the bottom end. Esso, Shell, BP were at the top. Now I buy exclusively Esso and claim the Tesco points which I use to buy more fuel. But I try to buy it at Esso stations rather than at the ones at a Tesco, just in case! With the points off fuel and the vouchers I figure I get a pretty good saving when I fill the 80 completely. You can only buy 100 lts max of course so I fill both tanks to make sure I get that in at least. If you save a penny here and there on 4 gallons, it's really not worth the time. Cost per mile is a good way to look at fuel rather than simply price per gallon or miles per gallon. I did post a sheet on here with all of that on once. My missus rushes out to get a penny off and only needs 15 litres. She can't see that she's only saved 15p but driven 7 miles to fill up.

If you regear your diffs as you mentioned to me then your speedo and odo should be right for the 37's but 285's aren't going to make a huge difference over standard. You can work out the rolling radius on an on line calculator then times by 100 miles say to see the difference.
 
That seems low mpg! The only stuff I use from tesco is the 99 octane stuff when the shopping points have added up and got money off, otherwise I use BP either normal unleaded or the 98 octane. I do get better mpg running higher octane fuel, and does seem to run better too. Timing has been tweaked.
Normal supermarket unleaded doesn't return as good mpg either.
 
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