Shell V Power vs Normal Unleaded | Is It Worth It? 

Over 200,000 miles on the cheapest fuel I can find in the same car from new. Still on original fuel injectors and last time I checked the engine hadn't lost power. Still on the original fuel filter as it's not a service item on my car, the filter is integrated into the low pressure fuel pump. Most engines are direct injection now so the fuel can't clean the back of the intake valves which do get dirty due to the positive crankcase ventilation system.

Another factor you missed is that you're driving a "Performance" Ford Focus ST there. So performance cars with Higher compression engines will get more out of higher octane fuels compared to a "pedestrian" non performance car. There's a reason why when you open the fuel cap on higher end cars, manufacturers will say "Recommend 97-98 RON" on them because that will be where they factory tuned their cars for and the ECU will adapt accordingly to the quality of fuel you are using. So for 90% of the driving population, you can keep filling up on 95. Unless you drive a performance car.

Knocking 5 to 10 mph off your top speed depending on the road type and outside of 40mph speed limited areas and lifting off early to slow down rather than using your brakes will also give you more miles per litre of fuel irrespective of fuel type. I did this for a couple of years about 25 years ago, due to being an impoverished graduate, and almost doubled my range. OK, journeys took a little longer, but I had the time and needed to save some money.

I tried the same experiment seven years ago. I drive a 2L Diesel Ford Kuga and compared the fuel economy using Morrisons normal Diesel against Shell V-Power Nitro. Each fill was up to the top and trip mileage was recorded between fills. Results: 1) 5 fills of normal diesel - Totals: 1918.7 miles & 43.3 gallons, average: 44.3 mpg 2) 2 fills of V-Power4 - Totals: 949.3 miles & 21.8 gallons, average: 43.6 mpg 2) 5 fills of normal diesel - Totals: 2185.5 miles & 49.7 gallons, average: 44.0 mpg Conclusion - absolutely no observable difference in fuel economy within experimental uncertainty. Obviously this data refers to Diesel rather than petrol - but Shell was making the same claims for both fuels.

I'm an efficiency engineer, here's how you can do a super accurate comparison with little effort: Take a note of your odometer when you fill up the tank. When you need to fill up next, take another odometer reading to get the distance travelled between refuelling. You have the Litres from the pump. This should give you miles per litre/MPG if you can be bothered doing the maths. 👍 You can use this to validate your in car mpg gauge accuracy.

Octane level is purely to prevent knocking. Higher compression engines require higher octane fuel. It has no benefit regarding better fuel economy. Ethanol has a higher octane rating than petrol but you get less miles per gallon. I have been putting E10 in my 1.8, 2016 Civic and have never bothered resetting the mileage computer, over those eight years I am averaging 48 miles to the gallon.

I'm like you - I full up with V-Power (or it's equivalent) every so often, more often if I'm driving only local short journeys!

High octane doesn't mean it burns better. If anything it burns worse. The point of higher octane fuels is that they better resist pre-ignition or knocking. That is, when the air-fuel mixture is compressed in the cylinders, it can spontaneously explode by itself at the wrong time, which will be bad for the running of the engine. If you have a high compression engine, then you need a high octane fuel. If you don't, then you are wasting your money. You should just use what the manual says to use.

When I used to commute 700 miles a week I added an expensive tank every so often, and it did help. Made the difference between doing the full week on a tank and not quite making it - and the benefit continued over the next several tanks of “normal” fuel. Electrons are much more consistent

There's a lot of misunderstanding about fuels and I don't think this video is enough to answer the question. For most engines, there is no direct benefit in terms of performance, economy, etc. when comparing premium fuels to an equivalent standard fuel. V Power and similar fuels (Tesco Momentum, BP Ultimate, etc.) have a higher RON (Research Octane Number, or just octane). This improves their resistance to detonation or knock - which is caused when high pressure in the combustion chamber causes high temperatures, in turn leading to uncontrolled ignition of the fuel/air mix away from the spark plug. The benefit of 98/99 RON fuels is in engines with a high compression ratio (typically above 12:1) as these generate higher cylinder pressures. In those cars, if you use standard (95 in the UK) fuel, the cars will adjust their ignition timing to prevent detonation, which will reduce their performance. All new cars have to work on 95 so it won't harm a car with a high compression ratio engine, but they generally tend to be high performance cars and using 95 will reduce their performance. IMO the more interesting comparison here would've been regular Shell to regular Asda fuel. I wouldn't be surprised to find that regular Shell also gives you better performance compared to supermarket fuel. It's also worth remembering that more expensive fuels will often contain other constituents intended to keep your engine 'clean' (free from deposits) so some of the benefits could take much longer to be noticeable.

Have always used V-Power since I had my 2003 Mini Cooper (the manual for that car stated using higher octane fuel may increase MPG, which proved to be the case), the engine generally ran better too, and now that I've got a 2012 Audi A1 1.4 Turbo, have continued to use V-Power after experimenting, and again found increased MPG and the engine runs so much better with improved driveability (especially when cold).

It's not just about range, as I'm sure you know. The additives and detergents in the fuel are worth the extra cost if you plan on owning long term and/or if you bought from new. Great content as always, though!

I have exclusively used the premium fuels since getting my car 8 years ago. It does specify it on the filling door also. Given the age of my car too and the new switch to E10. My car is a lot happier on the expensive fuel. On other vehicles. One of my past bikes would have major issues on cheaper fuel. Often just cutting out completely. Using the premium fuels fixed that also. But this was 1989 Yamaha.

When you went back for a refill I loved that woman in front of you who indicated that she was moving off from the pump! 😀

Spot on there Mr. Neal and for my father's minivan Toyota Sienna which you'll see around US military bases in the UK he goes for US 93 octane uk 97 RON Shell V Power because it's engine is designed for Shell V Power premium. the one time it was filled to US 87 octane regular UK 91 RON it's performance dropped and struggled on the Motorway. Here in the US regular gas is E10 in most places others have it at E0 or E15 ethanol mixes.

Running premium petrol for fuel efficiency = ✋️ Running premium to stop knock on your turbo banger = 👌

the only benefit from using v-power (over other premium fuels) is that it contains more cleaning agents, prolonged running of v-power will help clean and maintain the engine. but thats it, getting better MPG is too variable to actually give better MPG. some people are under the impression that it "boosts power" but it doesnt, it will help maintain the current power. unless your car/bike specifically states to run on e5 or 99 octane, you do not need premium fuel. the only reason i run it in my bike, is purely to avoid preignision and detonating the engine. i run tank or two through the car every now and then to help it clean injectors and such.

A benefit of the premium fuels - especially relevant to motorcycles - is they typically have a lower ethanol content: if your bike is older and/or spends long periods stored and/or has a plastic tank, ethanol can cause issues.

I use V Power all the time as I do very few miles and a tank of petrol lasts me months. I won't use E10 as I don't like it lying in my tank for a long time. I also feel, rightly or wrongly, that the car runs better and feels smoother on V Power.

I use V power every fill up. I’ve monitor my engine (B58 3L straight 6). A lot more timing corrections happen within the cylinder on regular fuel, whereas timing corrections are minimal when using higher octane fuel. Also cleaning additives are helpful for the injectors

Interesting this Ashley! Thanks for showing this on here! 😊

Ford recommend Super Unleaded for my 2015 Eco Boost 1.0 Fiesta. I do get better mileage on long drives and more power than E10 fuel. Also 2 separate garages have recommended I use E5 for my model. This isn't a scientific test just my personal experience.

I’ve never put E10 fuel in my new car. I only use E5. That’s because there’s clear evidence to show rubber seals break down under E10 a lot quicker

I have a Mercedes AMG A45s which is the factory standard 421bhp. And on the inside of the filler cap it states that you should use 98 ron or above. So for many performance cars, you don’t really have a choice but to use premium fuels. For what it’s worth the average consumption of the lifetime of my car has been 27.2mpg, and on a motorway run i can see around 43mpg. But with a heavy right foot, i may as well be throwing £10 notes out the window 😅

I tried a tank of V Power diesel in my Skoda Octavia VRS 2.0 tdi a month ago. It did feel a bit more responsive, but that may have just been wishful thinking! On Tesco fuel I was getting around 44.5 - 45 mpg on average. On the V Power I got 46.5 mpg, so not a massive difference. I had forgotten to check the cost of it when I paid for it. I went back last week to fill up again and this time checked the price difference - the V Power was 20p a litre more than standard diesel!!! Just 10 litres of the stuff cost me £2 more than standard diesel. What a rip off!

I drive a 2001 Honda Stepwgn. There used to be no fault indications whilst running, but after the increase to 10% Ethanol, I started getting O2 sensor problems. This persisted until my local garage investigated and their advice was to use 5% Ethanol petrol, i.e. Super grade. I don't regularly drive long distances, so I am unable to comment on the effect of the increased octane rating, but I am forced to buy expensive petrol to avoid fault indications due to the poor performance of ethanol.

I went back to E5 fuel for my little 1 litre 3 cylinder naturally aspirated VW Up after I read some articles saying the E10 was a con and people were starting to have some issues with their engines. This is when I noticed an improvement in some issues I didn't realise I was having with the new fuel until I switched back. My car sounded laboured when I started it up which after switching back to E5 it starts up much smoother; I have far better acceleration and general engine performance (little engine and no turbo it needs all the help it can get); my car now lowers it's idling revs after being stationary a short while; and I've found I can get about 30 more miles before light on which is 2 more days of commuting for me. The price per litre difference seems like a lot but added up only comes to £2 - £3 more, it isn't a bad price to pay for the benefits it brings, I think.

Bought my daughter an i10 to learn on. It was almost 5years old when we purchased it and had a noticeable stutter in the mid range. 6 I thought that its something sticky (valves, injectors, or something else) hence we've been running it on the premium stuff. The engine is now running freely and without hesitation and we've gone to 2 tanks regular/1 tank premium to keep it all sweet. MPG aside, this must be the cheapest maintenance on an engine going! She's passed BTW!! 🎉

the instant mileage readout gives you an easy cheat, since it tells you how your MPG changes. and it is MPG that is the relevant number. when I was younger and less task-saturated, I actually kept a log of all my fuel use, and it provided a nice warning if there was something that needed attention, of course, back then, your calculated mileage could fluctuate based on how well you filled the tank. now with fuel injection, cars count the amount burned in real time. of course, cars also monitor to make sure they are using the fuel as efficiently as possible, allowing for noticeable differences in efficiency on better fuel. the next test would be to compare cheap brands of fuel to more expensive brands in the same grade. for the viewers, be aware that there are two recommendations to pay attention to: there may be a requirement for a minimum octane, in which case, using lower octane may result in engine trouble, or there may be a recommendation for a minimum octane, which means your car will perform better on higher octane fuel. if there is no recommendation, it will probably make little difference. also, under 25 MPG on regular isn't living up to the hype of fuel sipping UK cars - my daily driver gets 25.1 per US gallon which is only 4/5 of a UK gallon.

I get from 18 mpg to 26 mpg in the big Holden wagon depending on fuel and type of travel. The car takes E85, which Ive tried and does indeed give about 25% worse economy, but mostly I use 95 RON. The biggest factor is whether its city driving - short trips and lots of stops, or highway driving.

When I did many motorway miles I used to put some advanced fuel in the car once a month and accelerate hard onto the motorway. Cleared the heart of the diesel engine that I had and used to keep the 54 plate 200,000+ mile engine going at 55+ mpg

one thing to remember that i bet most will not know or forget, most lawnmowers are not set up for e10 so you should put the more expensive fuel in those

A few years ago I used to travel a lot at night and found that in brim-brim fill-up tests my Omega V6 Auto Estate always gave about 7% more MPG when using Shell V-Power. These days I always use V-Power in our XF-S 3.0D and as a minimum normal Shell Unleaded in my petrol powered cars with the odd fill-up with V-Power.;

I used to race a bmw. Everyone used VPower for racing. We did it for the slight increase in power which I believe was proven on a rolling road. You could advance the ignition too. You probably wouldn't notice the power increase on the road though.

Fuel economy is not the only advantage of premium fuels. My experience started with a Citroën C5 Mk1 2.2 HDi (great engine) which I initially ran on Tesco diesel. I then tried BP Ultimate and within a few miles noticed how much quieter and smoother the engine was and pickup was much crisper. When the BP got dearer, I found that Asda diesel with Millers Ecomax added gave the same result for less. The Millers adds 2 cetane numbers to the fuel and gives better acceleration. You can also double dose it for even more performance. If you don't exploit the acceleration too much you get more mpg. I decided then to try similar with our petrol cars, one turbo the other non turbo. We finished up using Tesco Momentum fuel, sometimes with Millers Ecomax petrol added. Both cars are quieter, smoother and have improved acceleration. The non turbo is also incredibly more flexible and pulls well at low revs; 20 mph in 4th is easily doable with no sign of strain. Both petrol cars give better economy against standard fuel and the quieter and smoother performance convinces me that it is better for the engines so there is no way I would run on standard fuel whether petrol or diesel.

I always fill up with tesco premium fuel, its 99 octane but only normally 8-10p more expensive per litre, so with the extra range and MPG it works out as the cheapest fuel per mile for me.

Tip - when possible fill up early in the morning when the world is at its coldest. You get slightly more weight of fuel for your money when it's cold as the fuel is denser, and it's the weight not the volume of fuel which is important, but you buy it by volume. It only makes 1-2% difference at most so don't expect a lot, and if the petrol station is busy the air temperature won't make a lot of difference as the stuff in the underground tanks stays at a pretty steady temperature. It's only when the fuel has time to cool or warm in the overground parts of the system that you'll see a difference.

One way I save when back in Vancouver Canada and it's something many of my fellow Canadians do. That is, I fill up when I'm south of the border, since "gas" as it's known over there is considerably cheaper in the USA versus Canada. Of course, this is only worthwhile if I am making trips into the US to begin with but I know of many Canadians who live very near the US border that fill up in the US as a matter of routine because it's cheaper. Of course, all this wasn't possible during the two years the border was closed due to COVID and for the first time in years, these folks had no choice but to fill up in Canada. Most of the gas stations just across the border in the USA rely very heavily on Canadians for their business and because of this phenomenon, they raise their prices, much to the annoyance of local Americans. The further you drive south from the border, generally the cheaper the fuel, until you hit the bigger cities. Comparing the fuel price in Canada to USA involves a fair bit of calculation, including converting Canadian cents per litre to the advertised price in US $ and US gallons south of the border, factoring in also the exchange rate between Canadian and US $. Incidentally, you don't have to declare the new fuel in your tank when crossing the border. Unfortunately though, some of my fellow Canadians are a bit excessive with all this and fill up many jerry cans to take back, a practice that's frowned upon, especially on safety grounds.

If you drive something that needs it and is high compression then yes. Other than that your loads better of chucking an additive in the tank once a year I had a Peugeot 106 Rallye back in the 90’s that’d only run on Super

On my Evo I have no choice but to run V Power or Tesco Momentum as that's what it's mapped for. If I run normal fuel the engine would die. I think your results make sense given you're driving an ST too. I would like to see how it compares if you're doing this test with a more average commuter car. On my old car that had a Carburettor I tried running premium and it made the car run absolutely terribly.

I keep a spreadsheet of my fuel use verus mileage and have done since - checks dates 8th April 2004. My previous car, Citroën C5 (Mk I facelift) 1.6 litre diesel estate, showed no significant difference with BP Ultimate, so I have just stuck with regular Tesco's diesel and Cataclean once a year about a month before the MOT. My best mileage out of my current Citroën C5 (X7) 2.0 litre diesel estate just tipped 70 mpg on a long run with aircon off (this was when it was over £2/litre for regular, so I was in full economy driving mode), but it averages between 40 and 50 mpg depending on usage, which is very mixed. I will try Ultimate again to see if it makes any difference with this car. I brim the car once a month just after payday. The most significant difference in fuel I've ever discovered was with French LPG versus British. They use a different mix (Butane/Propane, I think) and it easily gave a 25% improvement over the British stuff. And it was cheaper.

Hi Ashley, I drive a 3ltr TDI and have tested both The Higher Octane Fuels and the ‘Additives’ over the past few years, I found approx 8% better MPG with the Higher Octane , and similar adding Octane Booster additive, I generally use Costco who provide only the Higher Octane Diesel but up to 15p ltr cheaper, I also tow a caravan and found a slight improvement over the Supermarket Fuels, strangely I find that I get better MPG whilst in Scotland , which always makes me smile 😂 good channel many thanks

My understanding is that modern engines advance ignition to the point that the knock sensor detects no knocking ("pinging" to 'Merkins). Advancing ignition increases power output. The premium fuel has a higher octane rating so permits greater ignition advance, hence greater power output (not fuel efficiency). The advance is varied, and may take some time to adapt to a new fuel (this adaptation time being a choice of the ECU designer). Years ago (early '70s) I fitted high compression pistons to my Norton 650SS. In those days 5* petrol was common, but when it disappeared I first used a barrel base plate (my uncle was an engraver of plates for bank notes, and had easy access to old disused copper and brass. His trainer had been put inside for forging the old, large white fivers). When I rebuilt the bike (1996-1998) I returned to standard compression, and can now use basic unleaded. The high performance fuel _can_ improve power, but when I tried it I found no noticeable differences off the Nürburgring.

I use supermarket fuel in my car and bikes, diesel in the car and super E5 in the bikes, since they increased the standard unleaded to E10. Both are over 40 years old (a 1978 Triumph 750 Bonneville and a 1980 Suzuki GS550), and have fuel systems which were not made to cope with high levels of ethanol. The Triumph does benefit from the higher octane rating of the E5, because it was made to run on 4 star leaded at 98/99 octane, and it seems to have a bit more grunt than when I put 95 RON in it, but I can't see any advantage to using expensive brand name fuels.

I used to use Shell Optimax when I had a Primera GT back when it was only 6p/l more than regular (and still only 99p/l) and it worked out the same cost due to increased mpg. It also felt like it had more power but that might have been my imagination (but still good, if it was). I then upgraded to an 03 Lotus Elise 111S (with Rover k-series VVC) and it returned the exact same mpg regardless of which fuel used! It's very dependent on whether your engine is optimised to take advantage of higher octane fuels.

All the advice seems to be if you've got a bog-standard car there's no point in getting premium fuel. But what the heck; this video has inspired me to stick a tank in at my next fill up and see what happens!

Shell V Power I use in my 2010 1.6 automatic Ford Focus. Occasionally I use other higher octane brands and these days rarely E10. V Power is makes the engine noticeably smoother and quieter. I can feel the difference between it and basic petrol.

My go to garage on my older car (2003 Honda CRV) said it was better to use E5. By using E10 you’re not getting any of the extras that is included with E5 for protecting your engine. Not sure it’s a myth or not as I’ve not looked into it,with me only driving just over two years now. But I do find the MPG is better with E5 in my current Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross. I get over 34MPG with the 1.5 turbo petrol

I’m driving a petrol car and use V Power on every 2-3 tankfuls. I definitely get more miles from a tank. I do regular runs of 200-250 miles and get around 30 more miles from a fill up. But also, the car runs better for the next couple of fill ups too, so there’s a positive knock-on effect. It’s costing more in net terms though, so for pure cost reasons ignoring MPG the cheapest fuel will save money.

I found when running motorcycles on E10 fuel they tend to be sluggish. Change to E5 and the performance is noticeably different. The same applies to chain saws and other small engines especially when firing up with a pull cord system. Not interested in mpg savings, efficiency is more important.

In my Skoda Octavia 2003 (diesel) I used to get good mileage, but before setting off to see friends in Scotland (c500 miles) I would run the fuel down to minimum, and then fill up with V power. After about sixty miles I definitely felt the engine was quieter, and more responsive than normal. I do think that the MPG climbed as well. In my current car (Audi A4 2,0 S line, year 2007) I am not so sure that it makes so much difference, although even on normal fuel I can get up to 77 MPG. I will have to try a long run again to see if there is an improvement.

Hi Ashley and Richard, I have a question, in the book know your traffic signs under the double white lines section it says you must not cross a continuous white line to enter a hatched area but underneath that under the section overtaking lanes it says you must not cross a continuous white line to enter a hatched area except for the reasons mentioned for double white lines (turning into or out of a side road or property, avoid a stationary vehicle, overtake a bicycle horse or road works vehicle travelling at no more than 10mph), which one is correct?

I worked for an Audi dealer many years ago, so surely I'm forgiven! But we did this experiment with an S3 over a month. We found consumption roughly the same, but performance improvement. It was the managers vehicle, so whilst not exactly the same usage, it was pretty close. Using Vpower or equivalent is worth it in a performance oriented vehicle, but not the majority of vehicles. I certainly don't use it in my Yaris.

When I had a petrol car I found that the biggest item that affected MPG was which garage I went to. As I recorded all of my fuel usage I found that using a Shell petrol was actually cheaper than using the same rated fuel from Jet. When I checked with trading standards I discovered that garages had a large 'leeway' in the accuracy of their pumps, something like 5%. ALso the additives in Shell did seem to make a difference in the longer run. Now my cost per mile is down to 1.75p per mile, but of course not using petrol. (cost based on todays 156 mile trip for lunch)

Use it all the time in my bikes.and car works for me ,i used E10 in one of my bikes and felt way down on power and lost 10mpg ,throttle was flat too. On my cars the exhaust using shell high octane always looked very clean compared to using Asda fuel for 2 fill ups this was over 200.000 miles over 5 years

My 2015 Mazda2 1.5 Skyactiv did 609 miles on 45 litres of Shell V Power. Definitely works. That's a true 60.9mpg from previous fill up. The fuel economy computer in the car i have found over reads by 7% as that claimed i averaged 65.2mpg since last fill up.

Was advised by the VW dealer when I bought my Mk7GTi to use Tesco premium which I did as they were local to me, for around 15 months. The had to fill up elsewhere and used Shell V power I noticed immediately the engine ran smoother, picked up quicker. Never went away from V Power. VW recommend premium fuel, yes some will say I'm wasting money but the additional cost to, maybe, look after the engine is worth it. Like using good quality oil on regular changes. Few £'s now v potentially many, many £'s should the engine go 'south'!

Yeah I agreed with you. Slightly better milage. I only used it when I was going to be doing a really long journey 400+ miles

Some cars need the super unleaded and higher octane fuel 97/99 ron Most cars don't and run fine on 95 ron and you don't get really anymore mpg. But now that you can no longer get E5 at 95 Ron only E10 it really makes a difference to mpg using cheapest fuel. Also to the smooth running of the engine. Even on my car designed to run on E10 I noticed the difference. Between the 2. It's the biggest con so what I do a lot is put half a tank of E5 and half a tank of E10 giving me E7.5 and a octane in between. That's the sweet spot for me. Better mpg and performance and lower costs than a tank of super unleaded.

I drive a 2 litre, 170 HP diesel Audi A4 B7. Using Total/Shell premium diesel, I get an extra 100km per refuel. Well worth the extra cost, as per KM it's cheaper than the cheap fuel. Also, you can feel the extra power it gives you.

For those who want to take extra care of their car the higher RON helps reduce the chances of knock due to the more efficient combustion. For those with turbocharged cars it's even more worth it. Combine those benefits with the increased MPG (due to V Power being E5) and it's a no-brainer.

I have a 24 year old Jaguar with a 4L supercharged V8 engine and there is a noticeable difference in both performance and MPG. Hardly the most economic vehicle (I have others) but I always prefer to use the higher octane and lowest ethanol fuel.

In my car, a Volvo XC40, I find that 99RON fuel doesn’t do much useful for day to day driving. But when I’m towing a caravan I get around 20-25% better fuel efficiency. My take is that if your driving style needs lots of power, the extra punch in the fuel is worthwhile, otherwise just don’t bother.

I had Mazda6 diesel for 10 years and had constant DPF issues even though I did long runs. That was until I switched to High Octane fuel after which no issues with DPF even when I changed job and didn’t have the long daily commute.

I do the same - one tank of V-Power for 3 or 4 of the cheap stuff. Like you, the extra mpg is not warranted by the price. BUT - I also find I'm getting a couple more mpg out of the cheap stuff, presumably because it keeps the injectors clean and functioning properly. V-Power is all I use on my 97 carburated motorbike - I only do a couple of thousand miles a year and E10 clogs the carbs up if the bike isn't used regularly. The advantages are more than just the extra mpg.

Hi Ashley, the fuel savings are because V-Power contains 0% Ethenol. only a higher octane than recommended by the manufacturer is a waste of money. BP / Aral offers 102 Ultimate 0% Ethenol here in Germany

The higher octane number should allow the engine management system to run the engine more efficiently at higher turbo boost pressures. When it detects knocking, it will normally inject more fuel to cool the combustion chamber, which of course increases fuel consumption.

My car is tuned, so I have no choice but to use E5. I wouldn't think of putting E10 in my worst enemy's vehicle. E5 prevents engine knock and damage due to poor combustion when using poor E10. When driving in Germany, I was lucky enough to fill up with 102 octane, which was noticeably better than 98 octane.

Depends on the type of engine, and how you use it. A high compression engine might be able to take advantage of the higher octane, but only on a long distance speed run where you get to take advantage of that. Idling in city traffic jams its not going to help at all. On a standard low compression engine, it will probably reduce mpg because it burns more slowly.

I proved to myself the value of using Shell V Power and the competitors alternatives years ago. Generally speaking, V Power gives me more than 10% better fuel consumption for around 7-8% cost premium locally for same supplier ordinary unleaded, so the maths shows a distinct advantage in using V Power. The same applies to other brands and even the supermarket fuels, where 'Super' is available (Tesco and Sainsbury only). Then we come to the most important factor for me and that is fuel quality. At one time I used supermarket fuel exclusively and found that although performance didn't appear to drop off, over a large number of miles on one car the engine warning light came on for no obvious reason and changing to a branded fuel resolved the issue. It turned out that the Lamda sensor was noting a reduction in the quality of the exhaust emissions that was probably due to the reduced additives that is one of the reasons that supermarkets can offer a price incentive on their fuel. In my experience Morrisons basic unleaded is the worst with Sainsbury's the best of the big 4. The branded 'Super' grades have all stated higher additive content in their fuels. With the introduction of E10 the Govt has announced that E10 will give less fuel consumption than E5 and thus you could expect that 'Super' will show even greater advantages as its E5 over the common E10 only basic unleaded. That is notwithstanding that 'Super' has been shown to have less than the 5% Ethanol, typically 3-4%, than stated on the pump, with some companies, particularly Shell and Esso confirming that in some areas E5 'Super' i.e. V=Power and Momentum contain no Ethanol at all. Ethanol is generally no good for the engine or its components so that the least or no Ethanol content is preferred (environmental concerns excepted). I now have to use 'Super' for all my horticultural engines as well as my classic cars and motorcycle to prevent damage, notwithstanding that Ethanol does not store well so that it only lasts weeks as E10, a couple of months for E5 and 6 months for Ethanol free fuel. with all the foregoing I now won't use anything other than 'Super'. i note that Ashley is comparing a supermarket E10 fuel with a branded 'Super' fuel that is hardly a fair comparison both in terms of the base quality and cost point.

It’s more important for V6 and larger engines. What would be more interesting is the ethanol mixture as it has less energy. Sometimes it’s 10%, 5% or none.

Remembering the 80's - having the formula shell windscreen tint sticker!

I use regular fuels. I have tried the premium stuff and found only a smalll difference. 114,000 miles on my engine and it runs fine. I do the occasional Italian tune up on a local uphill dual carriageway witth the car loaded in third gear at 70, this produces a noticable inprovement after lots of local driving.

I always use High Octane in my GR Yaris, unless I can't get any. It might be psychological but it seems to give it marginal more power as well as marginal better mileage.

I used to just use V-power in my Kona N but I've since switched to Momentum 99 and I think that one feels even better. MPG wise I did a long journey on Momentum 99 and the return on normal E10 and I was able to get 37mpg on the 99 and around 33mpg on E10. I'd be interested to see you add Momentum 99 to this little informal experiment, see if you notice a difference.

NO fuel is 'cheap'. Some is however, lightly less expensive than others. We've been conned into thinking it cheap because it was at one stage nigh on £2 per litre. As it has now dropped in price slightly, we wrongly perceived it as cheap.

The expensive stuff is sometimes worth it when going on a longer journey - you can go that little bit further between fuel stops or have a bit more confidence you'll reach the next service station if you just missed the one you planned. Becomes more relevant when towing.

From documenting our fuel use of over the last 20 years on higher performance engines, Pence per mile works out about the same between V-power with loyalty perks and std fuels. Deffo notice better throttle response on V-power as well as improved tank range. As much as 60 miles extra distance per tank on mostly motorway driving. It takes a few fills and consistent driving to notice a true difference and adjust for the variables (environmental, driving styles).

The long and short of it is put 98-99 RON in if your car's manual tells you to, or you've remapped or otherwise tuned your car's engine to use advanced timings for that fuel (in which case you probably know what you're doing). If not, stick to the regular stuff and save money.

My silver 2.0 Ford Mondeo titanium x sport automatic is a beast no matter what fuel I use, having said that, when my Dad stopped at the Shell garage yesterday to fuel up for me he used Shell v power petrol, she seemed to get up to the speed limit of 70mph in no time at all when she rejoined the dual carriageway! 😀😃

It’s recommend for for every 4 tanks of supermarket use 1 expensive fuel, I have noticed my engine seems to like it and eliminates the need for products like redex, fyi I’m a Ford diesel

Good strategy with the choice of pump at the beginning there Ash. I do the same if I see the driver of the vehicle at the pump ahead of me likely about to move off, I reckon it's my worth the brief wait for them to move off and for me to then move up and use the "forward" pump, which then frees up a space for someone else to use the rear pump. It really all depends on how long my anticipated wait is assessed.

I’m not sure you’d notice much difference on city driving. However, I’ve noticed my car returns significantly better mpg on long journeys. If I’m planning long I fill up with V-power and enjoy the drive. I use cruise control at exactly the speed limit on motorways and the engine sounds more relaxed

I found it to be worth it. I used it exclusively for my 1986 2.8i Capri when she was over 30 years old and 150,000 miles in. More MPG without a doubt. It went up from 25 to over 30 (on some roads even 35mpg+), calculated manually from tank to tank compared to when she was newer and using LRP. I also found the increase in price per litre was negated by the higher efficiancy, making the price per mile cheaper than on the cheaper fuel. What does surprise me, is that something as modern as yours with a smaller engine is no more efficient than a 40-year old V6! Even my carburetted V6 limousine from 1985 regularly did over 20 and frequently 25mpg using VPower. No computers in either car.

the question is, is the v-power more efficient because it's a higher octane level or is it because it is E5 versus the regular unleaded which is E10?

Many many years ago, I had a 4.0 Jeep Cherokee. I found that using V-Power I could get 27mpg, which was more than on regular Shell. At the time, it was “only” £1/l, and the difference in fuel economy was greater than the difference in price. I now drive a 5.3 Chevrolet Suburban, in Cornwall, and have been using Texaco’s normal petrol for over a decade. Because my engine isn’t tuned for 97, I seem to get less mpg, but using 95, I’m able to get 24mpg on the run, where the book said I should get only 14-18. Currently, the price difference is too great for the difference in economy. I think that the ethanol content may have a big factor in your results, as regular is up to 10% ethanol content, and super is up to 5% ethanol.

I run my 08 1.6L Fiesta Zetec S on Super unleaded, Tesco momentum 99. I've found i get better fuel economy and less engine choking when i start it. I've had my car fail to start more times on cheaper fuels than the more expensive stuff. My car maybe 2008 and more modern but it runs better on E5 vs E10. If you want E5 from most supermarkets now unfortunately you have to go premium. I don't mind this, particularly on longer runs. Is it worth considering E5 vs E10 in this test? Is there any fair way to do it?

I wonder if part of this is that the cheaper stuff is now E10, and the V-Power is still E5 (or it was last time I checked) if we had a time machine it'd be interesting to know what the results would've been like before the change over - especially for older cars like mine!

I've found that performance fuels work well if you are going on a long run, i.e. a long motorway journey, which you'd expect slightly better MPG. However, (and only reflecting on limited experience) older cars which require E5 may notice a large drop off in MPG if forced to use an occasional tank of E10.

A number of years ago when fuel was cheaper I used to always fill up with 'premium' fuels. Back then it used to only cost an extra few quid for a full tank. I only had a mid-range petrol Astra, so there were no performance gains, but it used to always feel like it ran smoother. When it came to the MoT the emissions would barely register. That car managed almost 200k before I got rid of it, whether or not the fuel helped I'm not sure! With the price difference between standard and premium fuels increasing I used to fill every other tank with premium fuel in my current van. Same again, no performance gains, but it did appear to run better. I can't justify using premium diesel now, and haven't for about 18 months but I have noticed the engine is noticeably rougher and not as smooth and my MPG dropped slightly. It'd only be a couple of MPG, but enough to lower the long term average. I've started to use RedEx additive now and it seems to be improving MPG towards what I got with the premium diesel.

I have often wondered whether its better using the high octane fuel or if its better just getting Redex fuel additive once a month. I also put the good stuff in my tank about 1 in 4 fills

I drive a 2014 Fiat Panda. It has a 0.9L twin air engine. I use E10 petrol during the summer and E5 during the winter.

The old debate about which is best. If you have a "performance" engine then I believe it is recommended by the manufacturer to use the higher octane fuel to prevent engine damage. Listen to the manufacturer and also the engine, if a lesser octane fuel is used the engine will sound in pain (or knocking). In terms of cleaning the engine, I think it has the same effect as a can (or half a can) of Redex. For those that are on a tight budget, this could be the better option considering a you could get 4 uses of Redex (2 cans) for a similar price to the difference between standard and advanced fuel from the pump for a full tank. One thing I find that does make a difference is how the engine is used and maintained. Regular oil changes and keep the air filter clear and renew regular will definitely help the MPG as does warmer weather with less electrical load. For keeping the engine healthy, remember that if you do lots of short journeys that can affect the internals. Take you car on a long run occasionally to give it a clear out, charge the battery and also refine some of those lesser used driving abilities 👍

2013 Focus 1.6 Zetec. Filled up with Sainsburys hi-octane fuel. No difference whatsoever in mpg - still 40mpg. Bigger hole in the pocket, though.

There are some cars that would be damaged with lower octane fuels due to pre-ignition and so can only be ran on higher octane. Putting higher octane fuel in an engine with a lower compression ratio safe for a lower octane fuel use would not necessarily result in increased power, efficiency, or clean burning. If you are putting your engine under abnormally high load like towing, then you might see a small benefit from the higher octane.

I always use Esso Synergy+ not for any potential improvements in performance or economy but because, in my area at least, it is completely ethanol-free. My vehicles are relatively old (27 and 13 years), don't cover many miles and are idle a lot if the time. I'm happy to pay a bit extra for the peace of mind.

I filled up with the good stuff by accident a couple of months ago and I don't know if it was all in my head or not but the drive felt smoother and definitely took longer to burn through than normal Probably in my head as I say but Ashley's figures are interesting regardless of the variables

Tell me if I'm wrong but shouldn't you be using higher ron fuel for your vehicle anyway? Doesn't the model requrie higher ron for the ECU and engine. I don't think in this country any vehicles would be at risk of damage because the 95ron is still very good stuff, but with it being more of a performance model.

Watching this with interest Ashley, as I have a MK3 Focus ST. I give it Shell V-Power or Tesco 99 occasionally, as a 'treat', as I think it gives a few extra BHP and does go slightly further too. But I don't buy it regularly as it's just too costly when you're only getting 28 mpg!

I remember Evo magazine tested a few premium fuels several years ago in a variety of cars and found they generally gave about 5% extra power (theoretically a similar increase in fuel efficiency). Shell V Power is around 10% more expensive than its standard unleaded - so do the maths on the efficiency argument.