Save Fuel Save Money

Car Economy Tips - Three

Here is a quick rundown of what's on this page: This is the rest of the tips

  1. Which Fuel?
  2. Where can I buy Cheap Fuel?
  3. Why is fuel so expensive?
  4. Diesel
  5. Summary

Which Fuel?

This is a tricky one; I'm not quite sure what is the best answer.

Some fuel companies are promoting fuels that are more expensive but are advertised as giving more mileage; examples being BP Ultimate and Shell Optimax (now branded V Power). One of my favourite journalists, Honest John from the Daily Telegraph, swears by Optimax and I guess he must have good reasons. The companies claim that using the fuel will also reduce emissions and prolong the life of the engine.

The claim for BP Ultimate is you will get achieve an extra 28 miles per tank full. It is also claimed to give 7% extra power and 5% better acceleration.

However at my local BP service station it costs an extra 8p per litre compared to normal unleaded at BP stations. That's 93.9p per litre compared to 85.9p per litre. Therefore the Ultimate tankful costs an extra 9.3% and would need to give 9.3% extra miles to compensate for the extra cost, which for a 10 Gallon tank top-up would be an extra 28 miles - assuming 30miles to the gallon. If this cannot be achieved then using this fuel may not be justified on price alone.

Similarly at my local Shell service station Optimax costs an extra 7p per litre compared with normal unleaded at Shell stations. That's 90.9p per litre compared with 83.9p per litre for normal unleaded. Therefore the Optimax tankful costs an extra 8.3% and would need to give 8.3% extra miles to compensate for the extra cost, which for a 10 Gallon tank top-up would be an extra 25 miles.

Both companies claim that power and acceleration is increased when using these fuels.

Interestingly the TV programme "Fifth Gear" tested these two fuels against normal unleaded with three different cars:

  1. Renault Clio - and found that the premium fuels made no difference to the power output of 81bhp
  2. VW Golf GTI - Found that Ultimate increased power output from the standard 172bhp to 174bhp and Optimax increased output to 177bhp.
  3. Subaru Impreza WRX STI - found that power increased from standard 235bhp to 248bhp with Ultimate and 249bhp with Optimax.

The conclusion being that the more highly tuned Subaru, and to a smaller extent the Golf GTI, did benefit from the change in fuel. To quote the programme: -

"That would result in a more willing engine, happier to accelerate hard from low down in the rev range.

So premium fuels can make your car go faster and, on the basis of our tests, Shell's Optimax is a more performance orientated fuel than BP's Ultimate, but only if your car can appreciate the difference."

As I understand the situation ALL fuels sold in UK are basically and often literally, exactly the same base product. You can see tankers from many companies filling up at the major distribution sites. The difference between, say BP unleaded and Tesco's unleaded is that each company will add its own additive package. Some additive packages are not as good as others! So next time you're filling up at the supermarket ask yourself why the fuel is cheaper than other petrol stations, when it all comes from the same place and is exactly the same base fuel. The quality and dose rate of additives makes a lot of difference in engine performance, wear, cleanliness, emissions etc. etc. etc.

Shell developed Optimax in conjunction with Ferrari as a high performance fuel and is actually manufactured using a different, more highly refined base product. The claim is that their additive package is a specialized, high performance mix, which will clean the engines and make them "like new".

This report is all about saving money on fuel bills but you should weigh against these savings any extra expense incurred by using the cheaper supermarket fuels.

This is much more problematical.

What we need as normal motorists is an additive which is proven to clean the engine while using the standard fuels and which we can add to our tanks. Until we get that proof we are forced into a balancing situation: on one side the savings made by using the cheap fuel and on the other the additional long term - probably un-quantifiable - costs of using fuel with less-efficient additives. As they say - "you pay your money and take your choice"

One suggestion I do have, with no proof offered: every so often fill up with Optimax or Ultimate to give your engine a treat!

All this is a diversion from the main point of this report, which is tips and techniques that will save you money on your fuel bill, regardless of the fuel that goes into your tank.

Back to the top

Where can I buy Cheap Fuel?

Obviously the other side of the coin from the Premium fuels like BP Ultimate are the supermarket brands, which are usually - but not always - cheaper than our local service station.

You have to ask yourself a couple of questions:

  1. Is it worth driving those extra miles to save a few tenths of a penny on a litre? - The answer is "It depends" - if the cheaper service station is half a mile away then maybe it is worth it. If the nearest service station is 10 miles away in the next town then probably not.
  2. Which service stations have the cheapest fuel where I live? - You might want to look at a Website I found recently - www.petrolprices.com - this site claims to update the prices on a daily basis and you can search by postcode. In my case it tells me that there are 5 service stations within 5 miles of my house, all selling unleaded at 83.9p per litre: ASDA, Shell (two), Murco and Tesco.
  3. Can I buy fuel cheaper than that? - I cannot give an authoritive answer but I can tell that I shop for groceries at my local ASDA and have an ASDA card (not a credit card although they are available). This card allows me to shop in the supermarket and pay using the card and then I get billed at the end of the month - interest free. It also gives me 2p a litre off the standard price of petrol at the ASDA service station. Which means I pay 81.9 p per litre compared with 83.9p for the non-card carrying motorist. You might like to find out if your local supermarket does the same.

Then you should consider the point about additives I raised previously, what are the possible long-term drawbacks with using these cheap fuels?

Back to the top

Why is fuel so expensive?

Let us look backwards to try to gain an understanding of just where the current prices for Petrol and Diesel came from. These prices are in pence per litre and the tax is total tax as a percentage of the cost. These figures are from the AA Website.

UK Motor Fuel and Tax from 1988 to 2005
Year Unleaded Diesel
Cost Tax % Cost Tax %
1988 36.73 61.10 34.38 62.90
1989 38.52 59.25 35.90 61.25
1990 42.76 58.65 41.86 59.15
1991 46.06 61.55 45.05 59.45
1992 46.08 65.55 45.83 64.50
1993 49.54 67.16 49.56 65.73
1994 51.70 69.64 51.73 68.75
1995 54.20 73.17 54.25 73.08
1996 56.66 76.10 57.35 75.36
1997 61.97 77.14 62.27 76.80
1998 65.17 81.48 65.60 82.26
1999 70.58 81.14 72.62 82.92
2000 80.77 75.07 82.02 74.78
2001 76.78 75.33 78.62 73.84
2002 74.33 76.56 76.23 75.03
2003 76.56 75.26 78.35 73.92
2004 80.87 73.18 82.45 72.08
2005 87.22 68.89 91.28 66.50
© TheAA.com
Back to the top

Diesel

Many of the tips and techniques I've covered previously apply just as much to a diesel-powered vehicle as they do to a petrol (gasoline) power car. I also promised that I would not be suggesting that you changed your car to get better fuel consumption, however there are many advantages to Diesel engines that makes them a realistic proposition:

  • Generally diesel engines are more efficient in their use of fuel than petrol (gasoline) engines. The compression ratio within the engine block is much higher and you will get more power out of the fuel. Diesel fuel itself has a higher energy content than gasoline. In general the fuel consumption for a diesel-engined car is about 20% better.
  • The torque, generally understood as the pulling power from low speeds, is greater for diesel-engined automobiles than for gasoline-powered units.
  • European governments tend to favour diesel engines in taxation policy because of diesel's superior fuel efficiency.
  • Generalising again, the level of Carbon Monoxide in the exhaust is considerably lower than for a petrol-engined car.
  • Because of the diesel engine having a higher compression ratio the engines are a heavier build to take the extra stresses. This is actually a double-edged sword: They are more expensive to manufacture but they a more likely to have a longer life than the petrol-engined equivalent.

There are also a few drawbacks, which must be considered:

  • The vehicle itself can be more expensive.
  • For the image-conscious motorist there is a downside to admitting that they own a diesel.
  • This despite the emergence of diesel models from BMW, Mercedes and Jaguar. Particularly in the American market Such cars have been traditionally perceived as heavier, noisier, having performance characteristics which make them slower to accelerate, sootier, and of being more expensive than equivalent gasoline vehicles. This image does not reflect recent designs, especially where the very high low-rev torque of modern diesels is concerned - which have characteristics similar to the big V8 gasoline engines popular in the US.

So my conclusion is: give serious thought next time you buy a car. However diesel is discussed at length in the Alternative Fuels Section on this site.

Back to the top

Summary

Now I've come to the end of this particular section and I hope I've given you some "fuel" for thought. I also hope that you will take away what I've written and put it into practice, because you will be wasting time, fuel and money if you do not.

If you should ask me - "OK, I've read all you've written, but which is the best place to start?"

My absolute top tips are, in no particular order:

  1. Don't use the car in the first place.
  2. Practise "not braking"
  3. Check your tyres
  4. Go gently with the right pedal
  5. Shut the window

After those you can look at the other tips but

The most important change you must, repeat must make

is to develop the fuel saving, subconscious State of Mind.

Back to the top

Navigation