I'm surprised it takes so long. My last petrol engine (a J-reg Sherpa) just used to retard the spark until it stopped pinking. The adjustment was instantaneous. Ran it on 1-star in Germany! Obviously modern technology takes a bit longer.

I used to do 25k miles a year for the last 4 years and log miles, mpg, which fuel etc for my D3 (diesel) and Audi A6 (petrol) and I can say categorically shell and bp premium fuels gave an average 10% better fuel economy (33 vs 30 MPG) than supermarket fuels and to my simple mind 10% better for less than 10% price difference makes it a win

LRFTW - I guess that's pretty good evidence. Plus if you believe the fuel companies you also ended up with cleaner, more efficient engines. As I wrote above, haven't tried them in the FR2 because nowhere near me sells them, but I think I'll make more of an effort to fill up where I can on long journeys, and see how it goes. Btw I also get better consumption figures for French diesel, whether the normal or the higher spec. Noticeable that their normal pump diesel is slightly more expensive than their truck diesel, so presumably a bit higher quality. Mind you, French BP diesel smells of perfume! I kid not.

Past master wrote:

Mind you, French BP diesel smells of perfume! I kid not.

Well the women don't

It's going to have to wait a while. Local Sainsburys gave the wife a 10p per litre discount voucher, which makes that my next fill up (plus ½p off per litre via Nectar Card, plus 1% refund via my Egg credit card). BP the time after that though.

I get 10% improvement in mpg on long runs with V-Power than I do with normal diesel and it costs me only 10p per ltr more... a increase of 6%... that puts me in profit by 4%... well worth paying the extra.

However, on city driving I see harly any improvement.

I recognise that it isn't just the mpg that makes using the premium diesel but if I were using my FL2 for short trips all the time I would probably stick to the normal.

I have tried it on a couple of long runs, inconclusive. As the nearest BP selling Ultimate is 30 miles away and Shell even further with neither on my regular route have not managed to run continually on it for a few tanks.
I would NOT grudge the extra (not really extra) as local Esso is currently £142.9 for standard. All FL2's (3) Gone
2011 Mercedes C180 CGI Gone
FL2 GS Auto SD with heated leather, factory tints, alloy spare and a few other bits.

taztastic wrote:

Past master wrote:

Mind you, French BP diesel smells of perfume! I kid not.

Well the women don't

That's because they wear perfume that smells of diesel  ______________________
2011 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8
2012 FL2 SD4 Auto HSE
2013 Kawasaki Versys 650