Shell in India (fuel, lubes, outlets)

[Gansan]

When I enter Shell station if they say "sir, no super unleaded, only normal", I don't even say "no,thanks". I just drive out!

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by sovenkat

I own a GT-TSI. I have been filling up Super and now V-Power to my car since i bought the car about a year back. It does add a lot to the smoothness of the engine. There is also a little bit of boost in power for sure. I do not know if there is any other perks involved, but the smoothness of the engine while combustion is really good. Butter smooth.
May be I cannot relate it, but when I went in for the first service of my car, the mechanic told me that my car was one of the few of well maintained cars in terms of its engine response. I strongly feel its because of the type of fuel which went into it.
I see some hatred, non belief and some people completely against the type of fuel that shell provides. My simple question to them, If you do not believe in the company and the fuel it sells, why do you even go to Shell ?

May be you mistook the tone of few of the previous posts. All everyone is saying is that pushing a customer for V-Power is not a very good experience.
Most of us here fill Shell Unleaded (not Super) and we are all happy with the performance.
My car has been drinking Shell Unleaded Petrol for 4.3 years now. Absolutely no trouble. But when the attendant pushes for Super, V-Power, then I get pissed off. This is what we dislike, not the fuel .

We know their fuel is un-adulterated, no-short filling, correct quantity and the company follows honest practices. No questions on that .
Probably this is the reason why I have seen even Tractor trailers filling at Shell !!

Originally Posted by Gansan

When I enter Shell station if they say "sir, no super unleaded, only normal", I don't even say "no,thanks". I just drive out!

I guess you meant to say the opposite.
When they say "sir, no unleaded, only super", then you drive out ?

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

I guess you meant to say the opposite.
When they say "sir, no unleaded, only super", then you drive out ?

No. I meant what I said! If there is no super unleaded and only normal petrol is available, I drive out without a word!

[rr_zen]

Originally Posted by Gansan

No. I meant what I said! If there is no super unleaded and only normal petrol is available, I drive out without a word!

I fill regularly at the Shell outlet on Mount Poonamalee Road as it is close to my office. Everytime I hear the attendant chime like a parrot insisting on Super unleaded, I politely tell him/her to fill in normal petrol. Once I went to the wrong bay and ended up filling Shell Super Unleaded for my bike. Didnt witness any significant difference in performance though.

I prefer not to fill any fuel spiced up with so-called additives which promise protection, extra mileage etc and have been advised by both MASS and HASS only to fill normal unleaded petrol. I am very happy with normal petrol from Shell and one can feel the difference in the engine with this. My FE is good too. For instance, my 10 year Unicorn gave me 54 KMPL with Shell normal petrol while I managed to eke out 46 KMPL with the petrol from BP. Again, this is under similar driving conditions.

[RSR]

Originally Posted by Gansan

No. I meant what I said! If there is no super unleaded and only normal petrol is available, I drive out without a word!

Gansan, I guess you've been forced to switch to Shell's V-Power now, after it replaced Super Unleaded as the company's additive-containing branded petrol.

As a long term user of only Shell Super Unleaded, do you notice any difference between Super Unleaded and the new V-Power?

There seems to be some difference between the two, according to Shell. I guess Super Unleaded was more about squeezing out as many kilometres per litre as possible, through the use of additives (apart from the cleansing effect on engine components).

V-Power is supposed to contain additives that improve performance (along with the cleansing effect), although the octane number remains the same as ordinary Unleaded petrol.

Even a scientific study (in the UK, I think) of different brands of additive-containing branded fuels came to the conclusion that only Shell's V-Power provided a noticeable increase in performance. However, they mentioned that the premium charged for it (over normal Shell Unleaded petrol) may be too high when compared to the small gain in performance.

What's been your experience so far? Does your car feel like it has gained a couple of horses when you fill it up with Shell V-Power? I know you don't mind paying the premium, and prefer to fill V-Power every time, but does it translate to noticeable increased performance (compared to Super Unleaded) in your view?

[Gansan]

I topped up a significant quantity (~8 litres) only in the bike. The car took in a similar quantity, but the tank would already have had > 25 litres of SULP.

As of now, I feel the difference is only in the name. Bike and car feel no different. May be after a couple of more fills, I may be able to tell. The price is the same as SULP, so I left it at that!

[RSR]

Originally Posted by Gansan

As of now, I feel the difference is only in the name. Bike and car feel no different. May be after a couple of more fills, I may be able to tell. The price is the same as SULP, so I left it at that!

Yesterday, when the low fuel warning lamp on the i10 came on, I filled in 1000 rupees worth V-Power to try out Shell's new fuel. I normally fill fuel when the low fuel lamp comes on, instead of the tank full-to-tank full method.

I must say that V-Power does feel different, and better at that! Of course, this may be because I'm comparing it with Shell Unleaded or even the notorious PSU petrol. I do try to fill fuel at Shell pumps as much as possible, but there are times when the car has to tolerate the PSU stuff, especailly when the low fuel lamp comes on when dad is using the car. At times, even I'm forced to fill at PSU pumps late at night, but I try to limit the damage by filling in only Rs. 300 worth of the PSU liquid.

So the car usually runs on a mixture of Shell Unleaded and the PSU concoction, with the composition of the mixture varying (depending on where the car was last filled).

I could tell that V-Power does feel different! The engine note when idling and revving feels a bit smoother, and the throttle response feels a wee bit crisper as well. Overall, the engine feels more eager on V-Power.

So yes, my initial response is that Shell's V-Power does seem oriented towards making the engine perform to its potential, when compared to normal petrol.

The big question - is it worth the premium? V-Power costs 79.65 compared to Shell Unleaded at 71.65 a litre in Chennai now. A difference of 8 rupees a litre is quite high, in my opinion. Given the definite and perceptible improvement in performance, I would gladly pay a premium of upto 4 rupees a litre for V-Power (over Shell Unleaded).

A premium of Rs. 8 per litre would have been fine if V-Power had a higher octane rating. At the same octane number as Shell Unleaded, I don't know. I may be tempted to fill in V-Power once in a while just to experience the little extra performance and smoothness it offers.

[Gansan]

^^ Depends on individuals. I don't mind the price difference as my spend towards petrol for car + bike per month is low, = / < 25 litres. If my spend was a lot more, I might have thought differently.

The increase in engine smoothness and slight increase in mileage are one reason. The other reason is I love the way it keeps the spark plugs really clean. I hang around when the plugs of my car are cleaned at MSM, and they need very little cleaning. Ok, my running is low at 4k KM a year, but still they are cleaned after 12 months.

My usage of the bike is relatively more. It completes 3k KM once every four months and goes to a local mechanic friend's workshop for service. He exclaims "the innards look as if they have been freshly washed!". Again the plug needs very little cleaning.

I am sure part of the credit should also go to the Shell engine oils - HX 7 and AX 7 respectively.

[RSR]

This is the report that I mentioned previously. It was an independent test in the United Kingdom performed by the consumer awareness group called Which? They tested popular branded fuels against ordinary ones to find out if they lived up to the tall claims made by fuel companies.

Shell's V-Power was the only one to make a difference in performance.

Fuel companies claim super fuels, which cost more at the pumps, can optimise fuel economy and increase a car’s power.

But Which? Car put three super fuels up against cheaper alternatives, and found there was little point in using them.

Marginal power increase

Shell V-Power, one of the unleaded super fuels tested, gave a 1.6-litre Ford Focus a marginal power increase.

But filling the car on this petrol for 12,000 miles would cost £115 more than using Shell’s standard petrol.

...

Supercharged engines

Which? Car also looked at the impact of super fuels on turbo- and supercharged engines.

The VW Golf’s hi-tech 1.4TSI engine responded well to Shell V-Power, but there was little to choose between super fuels and ordinary petrol when it came to economy and emissions.

...

There may be benefits to using super fuels in the long term as they include detergents to improve engine longevity. But Which? Car said any break even point in terms of reduced repair bills could take many years to reach.

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2008/09/...-which-157038/

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Oh, and I forgot to mention this previously. I filled in V-Power at the Shell pump in Vadapalani. They were in the process of installing a car lift (similar to the one at the Shell Porur pump) to carry out free engine oil change on cars.

It's good to know that (in the near future) all Shell pumps will have a proper oil change facility for cars!

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Gansan

My usage of the bike is relatively more. It completes 3k KM once every four months and goes to a local mechanic friend's workshop for service. He exclaims "the innards look as if they have been freshly washed!".

I am sure part of the credit should also go to the Shell engine oils - HX 7 and AX 7 respectively.

I took my bike for service today. When the work started, I remembered 20k KM have passed since the engine rebuild and told him to clean the rotary oil filter. He said it won't be necessary but I told him to open the case anyway. He was right. The filter was absolutely clean and the inside of the oil sump looked really clean. But having opened, he cleaned the filter and the case before fitting. The AX 7 oil seems to be really good. Full synthetic must be even better, but I baulk at paying close to Rs 1k for it.

[JD1]

Some outlets in Bangalore are Euro III v/s Euro IV. Does it matter which outlet I visit or do I need to fill in Euro IV only?

[RSR]

My experience with Shell V-Power so far - it does have a noticeable effect on the engine's performance! Even our nearly 6 year old i10 1.1 iRDE feels like it has gained a couple of horses when it's drinking Shell's V-Power.

However, with the vile PSU oil cabal now indulging in daylight robbery of petrol users and Shell stupidly sourcing their fuels from PSU refineries, the price of Shell V-Power is 80.32 rupees a litre in Chennai now.

Originally Posted by JD1

Some outlets in Bangalore are Euro III v/s Euro IV. Does it matter which outlet I visit or do I need to fill in Euro IV only?

If your car/bike is one that's compliant with Euro-III (or earlier) emission norms, then it doesn't matter at all.

If it's a Euro-IV compliant one, then it's better to fill up at pumps selling Euro-IV fuel (although it can also run on the older fuel).

[Gansan]

^^ I think all pumps in metro cities dispense only Euro IV fuel nowadays and Euro three has been phased out in these places?

[JD1]

On Shell's website they have 3 variants for Bangalore with 3 different prices - Euro III A, Euro III B and Euro IV! The pumps outside of city limits dispense Euro III.
Here is the cut/paste from their website-Euro III prices in Bangalore are applicable only at Whitefield, Brookefield, Varthur Road, Sai Baba, Kengeri and Kanakapura, Bannergatta, Magadi -1, Tumkur Road outlets.

I own 2015 Hyundai Xcent.

[RSR]

Originally Posted by Gansan

^^ I think all pumps in metro cities dispense only Euro IV fuel nowadays and Euro three has been phased out in these places?

That's true, but I guess it depends on the technical definition of city limits. Bengaluru and Pune have some Shell pumps outside their respective city limits, where Euro-III fuel is sold (just like with pumps of the PSU oil cabal). Here is their latest price chart:

Originally Posted by JD1

I own 2015 Hyundai Xcent.

The Xcent is Euro-IV compliant, so it would be better to fill up at Shell pumps within city limits that dispense Euro-IV fuels.