Tesco Petrol

JHMEG

Ya, let's take average buyers like my mother and my sister who, being women, are petrified of their cars breaking down. Buying brand new every couple of years is the only thing that reassures them they're not going to break down, especially on their own, and be stranded for a time.

In addition they both like to take it easy on the gas and they both shop around for the best price in petrol.

That's reality.

milltown

Newcarneeded wrote: »

Personally i'd rather spend that €6 a week and enjoy my driving.

Fuel is a drop in the ocean relative to the total cost of running your car.

Here, here!

I'm also amazed at the people who will drive several miles, and pass a few stations, to fill up at the one that's 1 or 2 cent cheaper. Fair enough, if we all refuse to pay the higher price then that guy will theoretically be forced to lower his prices or close. In reality, station owners are making enough money selling phone credit, coffee and milk (at 30-40c more than the supermarket), not to care. The pumps are there to bring people into the shop. And where are the people who want phone credit and milk going to stop? The garage that doesn't have a forecourt clogged with cars waiting to fill up, that's where.

Lord Nikon

Reality is people driving 1/2 a mile down the road to save 2c on a litre of unleaded, saving maybe 80c on a 50euro purchase at 124.9c a litre, yet they'll piss that away in a heartbeat having a 1 pint in the pub than having one at home instead.

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Darando wrote: »

I've seen the tankers fill up the Statoil in Dundrum and then head up to Tesco in Dundrum straight after..and not just recently, I do a fair bit of travel out that way and have seen the Statoil tanker fill up Tesco in Dundrum ever since it was built...so not just a recent thing.

You really reckon they have seperate parts of the tank for Statoil and Tesco petrol? personally doubt it.

Personally I think its complete rubbish and hear say that Tesco petrol is worse than any other type, maybe some people just have a mentality that if its cheaper then its because it not as good quality..only in Ireland. I too will only believe it when hard evidence is before me .

I have mentioned this before, I have a close friend who works in Topaz Transport in Wincanton, and can guarantee you that yes indeed, they deliver the same fuel to Statoil as Tesco.

Bluefoam

Am I going mad?

Since I bought the 147 at the end of June I have been filling her up once a week at Tescos. A full tank is about €70. The tank is usually just below half empty on Wednesday and lasts me till my next fill at the weekend.

Recently, the Shell beside Tesco re-opened and is selling petrol at the same price. So I filled up there last weekend. It is now Wednesday & I have only used about a third of a tank! (Travelling the exact same amount each week)

Is Shell a better product? or am I imagining things?

L1011

elviscostello wrote: »

I have mentioned this before, I have a close friend who works in Topaz Transport in Wincanton, and can guarantee you that yes indeed, they deliver the same fuel to Statoil as Tesco.

Doesn't affect any post-delivery additives that individual stations put in, nor the quality of maintainence on the tanks in the station, the fuel lines or the pumps. All of which can have a major affect on fuel consumption

When it comes down to it, the base product is all controlled by EU regulations anyway - from memory Tesco actually have the regulation number written on the pump. The rest isn't the same.

egan007

My (unscientific) understanding of petrol isthat 95 Octane is the same no matter what brand is on it - this ain't true??

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MYOB wrote: »

Doesn't affect any post-delivery additives that individual stations put in, nor the quality of maintainence on the tanks in the station, the fuel lines or the pumps. All of which can have a major affect on fuel consumption

When it comes down to it, the base product is all controlled by EU regulations anyway - from memory Tesco actually have the regulation number written on the pump. The rest isn't the same.

Yeah, realise that and didn't mention it deliberately.

Just wanted to emphasise the point that the product delivered is 100% the same.

chris85

egan007 wrote: »

My (unscientific) understanding of petrol isthat 95 Octane is the same no matter what brand is on it - this ain't true??

not quite there are certain additives added to the fuel before they hit the pumps into our cars.

JoeA3

milltown wrote: »

Here, here!

I'm also amazed at the people who will drive several miles, and pass a few stations, to fill up at the one that's 1 or 2 cent cheaper. Fair enough, if we all refuse to pay the higher price then that guy will theoretically be forced to lower his prices or close. In reality, station owners are making enough money selling phone credit, coffee and milk (at 30-40c more than the supermarket), not to care. The pumps are there to bring people into the shop. And where are the people who want phone credit and milk going to stop? The garage that doesn't have a forecourt clogged with cars waiting to fill up, that's where.

Yes, thats true, I had a conversation with a petrol station manager a few years ago and he told me that their cut on the litre of petrol was a tiny % of the retail cost. The supermarket/convenience shop is where the cash is in these places.

snowman707

Bluefoam wrote: »

Is Shell a better product? or am I imagining things?

No . you are not imagining things,

I reguarlly see up to 10% difference in the mileage returns (diesel) , no tesco here but maxol returns the lowest mpg

100gSoma

just a couple of quick points

Yes, Statoil are 100% GONE from Ireland. Topaz bought the operations/stations from them. They also bought shell out.

Yes, Ethanol has a lower calorific return than non-blended ethanol fuel. Given that its about 25-30% less calorific, but only forms 5% of the actual E5 petrol, it means your MPG difference would only be about 2% worse per tank of E5 (in a perfectly equal test/load scenario). Given varying driving conditions etc, there is no way anyone could say they notice 2% difference in MPG per tank of fuel. And if they did its most likley driving style not down to the Ethanol in the fuel. Consider your route to work for example. Sometimes doing some more miles on a motorway is better than sitting 10 mins in traffic (or worse, startign stopping again and again) on an urban route to save a few miles of 5th gear driving.

I use Topaz fuel because there are no Maxol SS near me, and Topaz also use a 5% blend of Ethanol in all their stations serviced from Dublin port (all stations in leinster). Anyone with a high revving car or forced induction should really use the higher (99.2 RON) octane provided by Maxol/Topaz/Shell fuels.

I don't know if Tesco get the same fuel as Topaz/Shell delivered from Dublin port by Wincanton. It's possible I suppose.

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100gSoma wrote: »

I don't know if Tesco get the same fuel as Topaz/Shell delivered from Dublin port by Wincanton. It's possible I suppose.

Yeah, they do.

100gSoma

well then I guess Tesco is 99.2 octane Ethanol blended also... WOnder why they have not had a promo campaign for this yet? green issues and all that crap. Topaz will be promoting it shortly I think.

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100gSoma wrote: »

well then I guess Tesco is 99.2 octane Ethanol blended also... WOnder why they have not had a promo campaign for this yet? green issues and all that crap. Topaz will be promoting it shortly I think.

Good point actually ... they sell cheap petrol but a lot of ppl are wary of using them. Good promo campaign could help that out.

Beta Ray Bill

I always use the E5 its the only fuel I can use in my car safely. (and its not even that safe)

As for Tesco fuel... I dont know what it is about it but when I used to fill up the civic or the mondeo there, The engine never sounded normal also the the smell from the exhaust wasnt the best

only happened at the tesco pumps though

strange. I stopped using it after a while. just not good for the engine

Third_Echelon

Volvoboy wrote: »

For the last while ive been filling up at tescos it being the cheapest around.


I'd struggle to get 240 miles out of 50 litres

Last week i filled up a Texaco

I got 290 miles out of the same 50 litres!


I had always heard that tesco petrol ''burned quckier'', but now i'm a beliver that tesco petrol is muck.

What are you driving?

From my Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec (2006), I can get around 580 KMs/360 Miles out of a full tank (on a good motorway trip I got just over 600 KMs)... Its only a 50 litre tank as far as I know...

I always use Topaz as that's who my company's fuel card is with. Before I got the card I filled up at Tesco Dundrum and I seemed to be filling up my car more often.

ART6

All the pumps I have seen have a BS number on the nozzle, so presumably if the pump has the same number on a Tesco pump as on (say) a Maxol one, then the fuel must be pretty much the same

kmart6

Lad's there's no point saying that you travel X distance and it lasted X amount of days from one garage compared to another! Every trip you take is going to have a different fuel consumption due to the way your driving or if you were stuck on traffic!

Unless people can actually back up their claims about Tesco fuel I don't think people should be saying that it's not good quality. Facts speak louder than speculation!!

G-Money

I used to get petrol at either Tesco in Dundrum, or the Shell on the Churchtown road in Dundrum past Superquinn I think it was.

I don't really know if either had a better quality of petrol, or if it was identical, but at the time the Shell petrol was cheaper, although this is about two years ago now.

I think petrol quality is an issue in other locations though. I'm from a few files over the border and there are several petrol stations that have popped up literally 100 yards from the border. The petrol quality in some of them seems to be better than others, but I'm mostly taking that from what others say, rather than my own experience. I think some of them seem to get filled up from unmarked tankers so you've no idea really what fuel it is or where it's coming from.

Newcarneeded

chris85 wrote: »

Its a bit stupid not worrying about tire pressure as tire pressure doesnt just affect the fuel consumption and personally thats the last reason i check my tire pressure often. The main reasons are the reduced grip, the damage done to the tire (cracks in side wall usually) as well as the ride comfort and handling.

But thats grand you can not check your tire pressures and get new tires more often and leave your golf clubs in the boot so you can practice your swing when in the queue for buying the tesco petrol.

I wonder why it has come up here so often about tesco petrol fuel. I have heard from many people and it seems that Japanese cars are more sensitive to it.

You do understand that the temperature difference affects the density and volume of fuel i guess. Do you realise its so important that the suppliers have compensation guages in place when delivering this to the fuel stations yet the fuel station do not have a compensator when supplying to us.

With respect Chris If you re-read my post I said that tyre pressure was one of the things people would want to worry about for fuel economy reasons. Obviously there are overall safety issues given it's the one thing, and a small contact patch at that, that grips the vehicle to the road. I check my tyre pressures and tread depths regularly thanks very much, you've mis-read that sentence of my post entirely. The thread was in relation to fuel economy and I mentioned correct tyre pressure inflation in that context. Digressing into the overall safety implications of incorrectly inflated tyres was irrelevant to the discussion and my contribution to it.

Your comments aimed at me not checking tyre pressures, having to buy new tyres more often and my penchant for swinging the golf clubs in the queue for Tesco petrol don't follow from anything that i've said.

Perhaps you'd like to contribute something of value to the thread rather than pointing to my stupidity. Please enlighten me on what you're getting at regarding how the temperature difference affects the density and volume of the fuel?

Surely the temperature difference affects the density and volume of the fuel sold at Tesco, Topaz, Texaco and all other vendors equally if the same outside air temperature prevails at each station when a motorist purchases his fill, in which case the miles per gallon he obtains from each is unaffected by the phenomenon you're highlighting and is therefore irrelevant to the thread? I stand to be corrected however.

Even if it is irrelevant to the original topic, from general curiosity and for future pub quiz reference I'd like to know what you're getting at here. I presume it means that the delivery company is making sure that the 20,000 litres is measured at defined standard conditions, wheras when we buy the fuel if the air temperature is higher/lower there may be some change to the volume we buy relative to the total delivery volume which is not allowed for by the pump dispensing the fuel? Could you quantify the potential impact of this from a delivery air temperature of 5C versus a purchase price air temperature of 15C in terms of the change in volume of the fuel in percentage terms? Maybe then i'll be able to grasp the magnitude of the importance of the supplier compensation gauge, the epic swindle being perpetrated on joe public by the greedy retailers and I can compose an appropriate letter of protest to Messrs Hobbs and Cowen accordingly.

For the record I don't play golf. Pick holes in my argument but don't insult me man.

Matt Simis

100gSoma wrote: »

well then I guess Tesco is 99.2 octane Ethanol blended also... WOnder why they have not had a promo campaign for this yet? green issues and all that crap. Topaz will be promoting it shortly I think.

Some Topaz E5/E85 plans here:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/motors/2008/0319/1205706664873.html


The notion that Topaz is currently selling unbranded E5 (99octane) fuel and the assumption Tesco are still sourcing fuel from Statoil/Topaz is all a bit hear-say isnt it?

listermint

This debate/argument is just gonna roll on and on. Speculation and hear say on both sides. Clear FACTS are needed.

Not "my car did this" and "did that", "oh and it doesnt sound to healthy when i put that in it" and so on and on.

Buy what you like, but dont say because its cheaper than the competitors it must be sh**e. Thats what has this country were we are with high prices on everthing because we always feel if its cheap then be wary. It seems to be inbred now as a result of the affluence we have been afforded in the last 15 years. Be smart people! Judge based on fact not what someones said or told you. The jury awaits.......