[SDRX]

Hi everyone,

Shell have recently marketed the V-power diesel and BP comissioned a TV campaign last year. I was just wondering if anybody has used either and can report a noticeable difference? Both fuels sell at a premium to standard fuel, so I am left wondering whether there is a difference or if its another money-grab exercise.

Cheers

[SnAzBaZ]

I ran the 320D on BP Ultimate 90% of the time. The time's when I put regular Diesel in I did notice a decrease in power, OK, it wasn't massive, but it was noticeable, the engine sounded a lot smoother running on Ultimate as well.

Some of this might just be psychological. Now, is it worth the extra cash, that I never did end up working out. I used to get between 35 - 37 MPG out of it, which was good enough for me.

Andrew

[RichardM]

I've tried both and never noticed any difference over regular fuel so now I save the money.

[dxb335d]

funnily enough ive been using regular shite for ages and the DXB seems to have lost her edge.. I thought maybe with miles she is getting slow??

but thinking about it, I ALWAYS ran on BP ulti for Months but only recently stopped.

WHat do you think?

[ChrisMWard]

I tried the 120 on BP Ultimate for a while and it seemed to lose a few MPG. I'm back on Sainsburys now and back to 46 to the gallon. I didn't notice any performance change either.

Regards

Chris

[dxb335d]

Im definately putting my lack of sparkle down to the go go juice.

[335DJim]

As per the title.. tried some and she seemed to like it (I'm mapped) - anyone know of this fuel is worth while in a derv or does it just dump more fuel in for more power as opposed to a petrol where timing can be advanced at higher octane/less risk of detonation?

[Budgie]

i use this ...it seems to like it a lot more..i sip while u bigger diesel boys drink a little more...but i pay the premium as i believe its worth it.Makes cold mornings quieter and seems to stretch out the fuel more?

Dont take my word for it im sure others will tell u there opinions.

[hmi1750]

i use it... mostly nowadays. Yes it gets more expensive... I just don't eat junk food as much for lunch!

The car feels smoother and more responsive, quieter on cold starts too.

[SiBurt]

Hi Jim

I would definately recommend this to you especially as you're re-mapped, mate - It's great stuff!

[MOB]

I tried it last week, seemed to run slightly rougher than on BP Ultimate Diesel so I'll stick to that I think.

[Bumps]

Run my car on V Power unleaded and the Miswah's Audi on V Power diesel. Great stuff all. And if you get more than 30 litres in one fill-up you get a free toy Ferrari. My son was well chuffed. Good taste too, he went for an F430.

[mjh93sa]

I used to be a user of BP Ultimate diesel, but switched to Shell V-Power diesel shortly before the change to the E91 due to better local availability.

Both have a higher cetane rating, which is (sort of) the equivalent to petrol's octane rating. But whereas octane rating is the precentage of octane in heptane that will create the same level of pre-ignition, cetane is a measure of the precentage of cetane in napthalene that has the same ignition delay. Practically a higher cetane rating will ignite more quickly, allowing more time for combustion to occur and so allow more power to be gained from a given amount of fuel.

As far as V-Power and Ultimate go the car seems to run that little bit quieter and smoother, with a slight improvement in mpg and a bit more on the butt dyno. However, I wouldn't like to say if it offsets the price hike or not. With both I found the primary benefit to be a distinct reduction in the amount of soot coming out of the back end in the days of the non particulate filter equipped E46.

In the case of Shell V-Power diesel it is actually made in the reverse manner to that traditionally employed in refining. Rather than using fractional distillation to extract it from crude oil they start with natural gas and reform it back into a liquid. The practical upshot of this that you get less impurities and so a cleaner burning product. Obviously incomplete combustion will still cause soot, but it should mean a cleaner burning engine.

[dxb335d]

I sacked off V-power long ago after finding a lot of shell garages were run by criminals.

More importantly tho, because it contains more bio-diesel than other diesel products and BMW diesels are NOT meant to run on it.

I use BP ultimate and found the DXB alot sharper with it, she was run from new with it, but with a stint of a month and she was flat. Now she is back to her old self again#!

[jjbirch]

i think one of us in ours 320d's should run on this fuel now,and the other stay on the normal stuff, fro the dyno meet, see what happens then

[Budgie]

well u got the old 163 remapped engine and i think we got the new 177 tuning box variety i think..im on Shell V not BP Ultimate

[mjh93sa]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

...
More importantly tho, because it contains more bio-diesel than other diesel products and BMW diesels are NOT meant to run on it.
...

Originally Posted by dxb335d (11-05-2007)

also worth noting, Shell V-Power diesel is Bio-diesel mix (think its bio-diesel, i forget right now) and on the fuel filler cap it says ''strictly no Bio-Diesel)
Carlos

Originally Posted by mjh93sa (11-05-2007)

Carlos, V-Power is NOT Bio-Diesel, and they are at pains to state this in their literature.

From this I understand it to be a sort of reverse of the normal cracking process where they expend energy to get the gas to recombine into longer chain hydrocarbons.

Originally Posted by dxb335d (11-05-2007)

Hi Matt, i did not say it is Bio diesel, it is partly formed from bio-diesel? sure thats what i read somewhere, thats why the Audo lemans winning R10 ran on it!!

Carlos

Originally Posted by mjh93sa (11-05-2007)

Not according to the literature I've got at home somewhere. It definately stated no bio-diesel. I made sure of that before stuffing any in.

Originally Posted by dxb335d (11-05-2007)

oh ok, i will try find the information i read on it?!

Carlos,

we're going over old ground here. V-Power diesel is synthesised from Natural Gas and not a bio-gas. The technology paves the way for such advances, but as yet it isn't being done.

[Ant397]

Well, I dont really mind anymore.. We used to run the best BP Ultimate stuff and then tried the V power stuff...

I could say that it felt smoother with this and then quieter with that, but all in all, none of it was quantifiable. I guess at the end of the day, we actually ended up looking for something to say made a difference rather than actually noticing anything due the different fuel.

With a petrol car, you really can tell the difference from even 92 to 100 octane within a few miles of adaptation, but not diesel.

In the end, we turned to the ye old faithful dyno and still didnt come away with any conclusive results other than the possability of a cleaner burn due to less impuraties, but more power? smoother? quieter? We tried and failed to come to a decisive end result.

So, these days, I really dont mind.

All I do is stay away from the big companies now like Shell and BP on principal really.

[dxb335d]

Originally Posted by Ant397

All I do is stay away from the big companies now like Shell and BP on principal really.

I know how ya feel mate

theivin baxturds

[mjh93sa]

Originally Posted by Ant397

Well, I dont really mind anymore.. We used to run the best BP Ultimate stuff and then tried the V power stuff...

I could say that it felt smoother with this and then quieter with that, but all in all, none of it was quantifiable. I guess at the end of the day, we actually ended up looking for something to say made a difference rather than actually noticing anything due the different fuel.

With a petrol car, you really can tell the difference from even 92 to 100 octane within a few miles of adaptation, but not diesel.

In the end, we turned to the ye old faithful dyno and still didnt come away with any conclusive results other than the possability of a cleaner burn due to less impuraties, but more power? smoother? quieter? We tried and failed to come to a decisive end result.

So, these days, I really dont mind.

All I do is stay away from the big companies now like Shell and BP on principal really.

I think you've hit the nail on the head.

The cetance rating of standard diesel is so high these days that although the improvement from these high performance diesels cetane number is impressive, it doesn't actually mean much in terms of real performance.

The cleaner blend will however lead to less soot and particulates, but with the particulate filter becoming standard nobody is going to notice this anymore.

[SDRX]

i've been running BP ultimate diesel for about 6wks and it definitely does create a slightly sharper throttle response but i have doubts concerning its claims for better mpg. Its very hard to tell really but the fact of matter is that the composition is superior to standard juice, enough of a reason to use in a £40k car.

[Ant397]

Originally Posted by SDRX

i've been running BP ultimate diesel for about 6wks and it definitely does create a slightly sharper throttle response but i have doubts concerning its claims for better mpg. Its very hard to tell really but the fact of matter is that the composition is superior to standard juice, enough of a reason to use in a £40k car.

Nope, not for me on even a theoretical £100,000 BMW with warranty.

Have you ever heard of a diesel engine failing and the manufacturer not paying on the basis of the fuel quality used?

If it was a 5 year car out of warranty, then my stance may be different, but not by much.