Performance Fueling

They cost up to 10p a litre more than regular fuel. But do these posh petrols actually make any difference to our cars? T And here are a selection of five different fuels and I'm going to see whether any one of them can make a difference to the power output of to avoid each fuel mixing in the car's petrol tank and spoiling the results, my crack team of mechanics has built a bespoke rig to feed the Golf with each fuel in turn. The car's internal fuel supply will be disconnected and attached directly to the petrol we're testing. I'll test the car's power output using t By measuring the forces sent through the wheels, to ensure consistency, I'll test each fuel four times and take an average result. We have three so-called posh petrols, we have a BP Ultimate Shell V-Power and SO Supreme and to act as a comparison, we have two standard unleddeds. We've got BP unleddied and the cheapest supermarket fuel we could get, w Let the testing begin. To set a benchmark, we'll start with the standard BP unleddied. It costs just under u00a31. 39 a litre on the day of the test. W You'll see a Ron figure, which stands for Research Octane N The n So in a roundabout way, the higher the Ron n 1 BHP. Next our first posh petrol, BP Ultimate, rated at 97 Ron. On the day of the test, it costs just under u00a31. 47 a litre. BP says its ultimate fuel is, and I quote, especially designed to keep petrol engines fit and healthy and running efficiently. Let'see if it's got any more power. It's a disappointing result. In the Gulf, BP's ultimate produced just 0. 6 more horsepower than the standard unleddied. Time for Shell V-Power, rated at 98 Ron, w 45 a litre. Shell claims its fuel is designed to actively clean your engine and protect vital engine parts w The Shell V-Power gives the best results so far, producing 4. 8 BHP, more than our first petrol, BP'standard unleddied. Next, the last of the posh petrol, the 97 Ron Esso Supreme, w 44 a litre. According to Esso, its supreme fuel should give better performance but use less fuel getting it. The Esso gets the second 5 brake horsepower. That's just 0. 4 BHP be Finally, the fuel from Asda at nearly u00a31. 36 a litre. T So, just what effect does t It is the worst of all, but only by a fraction. Asda's fuel is 3P per litre cheaper than BP'standard unleddied but was just 0. 3 BHP less. In our test, posh petrol was superior but with mixed results. Shell V-Power is the star performer followed by Esso Supreme. Most disappointingly is BP Ultimate. It's the priciest posh petrol but the least powerful. BP'standard unleddied is next, narrowly beating the bargain Asda fuel. Now, being a girl who So, we have established that the Shell V-Power was the best and the Asda unleddied the worst but can I feel the difference? Time for my kind of testing. First, some hot laps with the Asda fuel. Compared to Shell V-Power, it was down 5. 1 BHP. I can't feel any disturbances and I can't hear anyt So, all in all, I wouldn't say that there was anyt That's good news for petrol heads on a budget but having flushed the system through, will I be able to feel the benefit of the V-Power? About a second after I've moved to the throttle, there is a noticeable increase in grunt would you notice that on an everyday drive if you weren't doing a back-to-back fuel comparison? Probably not. Purely in terms of power delivery in t Filling t 95 more per tank than filling it with Asda's petrol and unless you're concentrating fully on your engine's behaviour, you can't really feel the difference. I t How much throttle was that? It was a tiny one.