Octane boosters

[gjm 3258]

Filling the 500SE (another mortgage!) this evening with 95 at the local BP, I found myself thinking "what am I doing?"

No... I'm not selling the Mercedes. Don't be silly! ?

But... 95 RON was 232.9c per litre.
91 was 186.9c per litre. (It's 10c cheaper than that at Gull.)

That's a huge difference. 46c per litre. Who is getting ripped off here? I'm sure there isn't more than 10-12c per litre of additives, if that.

So... And bearing in mind I'm talking up to 90 litres of fuel at a time, is there an octane booster which will turn 91 fuel into something more palatable? It could cost $30 a bottle and still be cheaper than using the supposedly better fuel from the pump!

[C-130 Hercules 571]

Believe 95/98 has less impurities besides higher ron. I guess you pay for that to some extent. 

 Go get yourself an oil burner 450cdi...? 

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by C-130 Hercules

[gjm 3258]

24 minutes ago, C-130 Hercules said:

Go get yourself an oil burner 450cdi...? 

If I could find a W220 S400CDi I'd be very happy! 

[balancerider 758]

25 minutes ago, C-130 Hercules said:

Go get yourself an oil burner 450cdi...? 

then you just get to pay the government $72/1000k instead. the value proposition is crap for light diesel vehicles (speaking as someone who owns a 335d)

[andrewm 236]

I find in my area BP is a rip off for premium but mobil is very reasonable, last fill up was 2.08 for 98 and 186 i think for 91 and the local BP is usually 35c between 91 and 98

[Eagle 1662]

Yep BP=Bullshit prices. Mobil are much better here, sometimes their 98 gets a bit pricey compared to 95 so i just switch to that. 

[Willy Sea 46]

Back in Oct 2018 when the fuel prices shot  over 12 days up to 2.49 / litre for 91, the differential applied was approx 10 cents litre between 91 to 95, and BP and Mobil applied another 12 cents approx for 98 Octane.

You may remember there was a tremendous public outcry, and Cindy promised a commission of inquiry, which after six months deliberation decided that to level the playing field the retailers had to display on the forecourts signage, the site pricing for 91, 95 /98 octanes, and diesel. So a slap with a wet bus ticket for the big three.

Now of course fuel prices have dropped significantly, 91 octane accounts for 55 - 60 % of  all petrol sales and diesel / 95 or 98 the other 25 % each, but that differential has moved wider, to as Graham points out to around 40 cents litre disparity. So effectively the fuelcos are earning less but pumping more 91, and gaining back margin lost or given away to get market share in the premium sector. Interestingly in Christchurch the two majors have either 95 or 98 at the pumps, but not both.

Diesel of course seems to be loosing volume, the fuelcos don't like it, neither do the service station operators, the only people who do are people who drive or operate diesel fleets. And of the three fuel types it consistently weather the storms, and today for station operators is probably giving the operator a 35 cents litre margin. And is the bottom listed product on the signage displays that were very slow to come into prominence at the forecourt.

I feel so sorry for Z / Infratil the only company here with NZ shareholders that it must report to, and am quite devoid of emotion when I read in the accounts that fuel retail is a struggle in 2020. Please someone, pass a tissue? 

Gaspy is quite a handy app for those of you wanting to pay less and get more bang for your buck.

Edited August 28, 2020 by Willy Sea

[Willy Sea 46]

15 minutes ago, F10er said:

I never buy fuel from BP, simply because they are the biggest gougers out there. I always buy from NPD. $1.94 for 95 and $2.06 for 100

That is what the differential should be. Behind NPD is the might of Chevron / Mobil. BP cafes are good for fueling up the drivers on a roadie. Ask OP6, a frequent shopper in the cafes, not so much at the pumps?

[kiwi535 538]

i beleive that mobil also supply Waitomo.At least when you click on data for fuel it takes you to Mobil.RUC has gone up sisnce i started the diesel life.When i first had my 120d ruc was just over 500 per 10000 k,now it is over 700 per 10000 k.Rego is cheaper though that used to be more expensive for the acc than it is now,may be thay have put more acc onto the ruc.But the RUc makes it hard to jutify a diesel now esp if you have small diesel

[Olaf 3318]

2 hours ago, balancerider said:

then you just get to pay the government $72/1000k instead. the value proposition is crap for light diesel vehicles (speaking as someone who owns a 335d)

wow, it's 7.2c per km now?  

[Willy Sea 46]

29 minutes ago, kiwi535 said:

i beleive that mobil also supply Waitomo.At least when you click on data for fuel it takes you to Mobil.RUC has gone up sisnce i started the diesel life.When i first had my 120d ruc was just over 500 per 10000 k,now it is over 700 per 10000 k.Rego is cheaper though that used to be more expensive for the acc than it is now,may be thay have put more acc onto the ruc.But the RUc makes it hard to jutify a diesel now esp if you have small diesel

Correct. Of course these discussions are moot, new car registrations are rising and total fuel pumped has fallen 6% 8% and 4% the last three years.

And last week when we caught myself gazing with interest and contemplating a spin in a late 1990's Honda Insight, you know the all alloy hybrid built alongside the NSX, a severe caution was issued to myself, not ready to join the exodus quite yet but could be tempted. Elon Musk has a lot to answer for?

And to see a Tesla rocket away from the lights effortlessly defeating all else, it is quite impressive. And impressively quiet.?

Edited August 28, 2020 by Willy Sea

[aja540i 1906]

I did an exercise many years ago when I had a Mitsi Legnum VR4 and ran it on the different grades of fuel, both with and without octane boosters for a period of time each and carefully measured the economy of each, 98 with no octane booster ended up being the cheapest option, ($ per km) of course the prices are all vastly higher now than they were then but it is possibly still the same result. I'm not prepared to run the M5 on anything but 98 and the Leaf doesn't care how much petrol costs so I won't be repeating the experiment. 

[m325i 709]

Echo the above about BP and Mobil pricing. I often use Gull as it is my local and significantly cheaper. (E10 obviously hasn't caused me any issues in ~10 years - not sure about economy).

But I did notice the other day what a massive price difference there was between Mobil 95 and 98 - it was like 40c! 

For the first time ever I put a tank of 95 in as it just felt like such a blatant a#% %#@&ing! I thought hold on - That's like a nice lunch!

Even if you get slightly worse economy - Gull is so much cheaper. 

[kwhelan 241]

just up the road from you graham in Hastings

all the gas here is still about 11c more for 95 than 91which has crept up from the 9c difference it used to be

there has been some obvious changes around though Z which are next door to Pakn save used to match price now they don't bother.Havelock North 10km down the road is 20-30 dearer

Hastings Pak n Save 95 is 1.86 and you can 6 c off that again, Z is 205 and 60 m away on the same side of the road

Napier Pak n Save is 1.77 for 95 and you can get 6 cents off there is also gull but you don't need it when the others are behaving

[gjm 3258]

Prices are quoted are for Waipawa BP, and for Gull down the road in waipuk. The Caltex in Waipuk seems to almost match Gull, once you take into account random special offers.

The Gull pump price is 3c per litre less than the hoarding says. Always... And they do 'discount' days when another 10c per litre comes off. BP rarely matches that.

From my perspective, if I can (on a discount day) get Gull 91 for (say) 166c, and 95 at BP is costing 65c or more a litre, more, and if a bottle of some sort of booster/treatment is $20, then why wouldn't I...? If someone offered you the chance to save $30 every time you fill up...?

 

[kwhelan 241]

every time I went up to the big smoke for the day I'd be taking extra fuel cans then. Got caught a little short coming home and had to top up in taupo recently, just put the bare $20 to make the gauge safer because they were pretty OTT as well. poor boaties they would make a killing filling boats

[gjm 3258]

6 minutes ago, kwhelan said:

every time I went up to the big smoke for the day

Hastings is the big smoke!  

[kiwi535 538]

13 hours ago, Willy Sea said:

Correct. Of course these discussions are moot, new car registrations are rising and total fuel pumped has fallen 6% 8% and 4% the last three years.

And last week when we caught myself gazing with interest and contemplating a spin in a late 1990's Honda Insight, you know the all alloy hybrid built alongside the NSX, a severe caution was issued to myself, not ready to join the exodus quite yet but could be tempted. Elon Musk has a lot to answer for?

And to see a Tesla rocket away from the lights effortlessly defeating all else, it is quite impressive. And impressively quiet.?

yes was going over the rimutakas the other day and just approaching from the wellington side i saw what i thought was a tesla coming up behinds me,a car went past me the other way then the tesla overtook us with motorcycle levels of acceleration!

Edited August 29, 2020 by kiwi535

[Matth5 471]

We're lucky to have NPD in the South island. 100 RON and it's cheaper than BP's 98. Can only hope they expand to the north island. 

[aja540i 1906]

6 hours ago, gjm said:

Prices are quoted are for Waipawa BP, and for Gull down the road in waipuk. The Caltex in Waipuk seems to almost match Gull, once you take into account random special offers.

The Gull pump price is 3c per litre less than the hoarding says. Always... And they do 'discount' days when another 10c per litre comes off. BP rarely matches that.

From my perspective, if I can (on a discount day) get Gull 91 for (say) 166c, and 95 at BP is costing 65c or more a litre, more, and if a bottle of some sort of booster/treatment is $20, then why wouldn't I...? If someone offered you the chance to save $30 every time you fill up...?

 

I would be very surprised if one $20 bottle of octane booster would increase a full tank of gas from 91 to 95 octane, and if you need 2 then it's only $10 difference and a hassle!

[kwhelan 241]

7 hours ago, gjm said:

Hastings is the big smoke!  

yeah it does have McDonalds and KFC

blooming luxury I tell ya

[gjm 3258]

1 hour ago, aja540i said:

I would be very surprised if one $20 bottle of octane booster would increase a full tank of gas from 91 to 95 octane, and if you need 2 then it's only $10 difference and a hassle!

True... I think they normally treat 50-60 litres. 

Bulk discount anywhere...? 

[kwhelan 241]

local stickman has 91 at $1.59 and 95 at $1.73 both then less 6c off that.

convenient with school hols I guess