BP Ultimate

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BP Ultimate

Post by Captain Sensible » Tue Jun 21, 2016 10:57 am

Has anyone used BP Ultimate lately? I think they may have changed their "recipe".

I normally use Shell Fuelsave, as it seems to be what my 820 runs best on (and returns the best MPG on - I suppose it does what it says on the tin). But last night the fuel light was on, so I went to my nearest petrol station, which happened to be a BP. I put the posh stuff in, as XOG would probably benefit from having some of the crap flushed out of his system. I put my foot down to get out of the petrol station as normal and took off like the proverbial stabbed rat!

It goes like a rocket now, and it even felt like it was trying to run away with me on the motorway - in an 820 auto! It also shot down the slip road and pissed off the Audi A5 behind me, and then reached 80 much, much sooner and smoother than normal. It is running on higher revs during cruising though. Not a scientific test in anyway but it certainly feels faster than it ever has.

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Re: BP Ultimate

Post by traineefarmer » Tue Jun 21, 2016 12:35 pm

All the premium fuels have a beneficial effect on older engines. Whether it is worth the 10-15p/liter extra is down to personal preference. My closest stations are Shell and BP and I always use V-power or ultimate. No so sure on the performance advantage, but they seem to ease up the turbo-T's immense thirst a bit.

Another thing to be careful of is many of the branded filling stations are no longer operated by the fuel manufacturers but by national franchisees. To keep costs down and profits up they are sometimes selling unbranded fuel through the standard grade pumps - similar stuff to what the supermarkets supply. When you buy the premium stuff, you can be more certain that it is proper BP, Shell, Esso, etc.
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Re: BP Ultimate

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue Jun 21, 2016 11:05 pm

What Tom said ^^^^ Sam - i've found BP Ultimate works best in mine, not sure on a T series but when i had my 420 GSi it always ran better on Ultimate than anything else. That said i didn't have the option of Shell V-Power or the new Esso high octane job to try, only had tesco or Jet as alternatives and neither gave decent economy (23mpg tops!!!) or power whereas the Ultimate gave me 30-36mpg in the 420 so IMHO was well worth the extra.

Purely anecdotal, my neighbour back then had an XC70 D-5 turbo with a fuel computer in it. When he filled up with tesco diseasel, he was lucky to get 28mpg - when he used BP Ultimate Diesel, he got 40+mpg but moaned because it was 5p/L dearer! He was saving 25-33% on the amount of fuel he used for a 3% cost increase, no-brainer as far as i can see but he reckoned tesco was cheaper. :roll: His Volvo was also a lot quicker on BP as well.

A bit more anecdotal evidence, the only time i've had 2 Lambda sensors die within miles of each other was running tesco fuel in my Sterling.

Bottom line - try to use the same station/pump and run Ultimate for a while and see how it goes, if it's worth it then stick with it, if not try V-Power or the Esso high octane stuff. :wink: :D
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Re: BP Ultimate

Post by traineefarmer » Wed Jun 22, 2016 7:29 am

scoobyh123 wrote:Purely anecdotal, my neighbour back then had an XC70 D-5 turbo with a fuel computer in it. When he filled up with tesco diseasel, he was lucky to get 28mpg - when he used BP Ultimate Diesel, he got 40+mpg but moaned because it was 5p/L dearer! He was saving 25-33% on the amount of fuel he used for a 3% cost increase, no-brainer as far as i can see but he reckoned tesco was cheaper. :roll: His Volvo was also a lot quicker on BP as well.
Funnily enough it was my old petrol V70 that really showed me the advantage of the premium fuels and the difference between manufacturers. The computer would show 33mpg all the time with standard branded fuels and maybe 35mpg with Vpower and ultimate. Supermarket fuels dropped that to 28!

Then one day I was on a long trip and couldn't find one of my preferred stations so had to pull into a Total (normally avoided because they are pricey) then somehow I managed to put 30 quids worth of their excellium into the tank at a cost of something ridiculous like £1.55 a litre. :oops:

I was fuming with myself until I reset the computer and found my mpg to be in the low 40s!!

Strangely I've found the D5 in the XC to be much less sensitive to fuel quality. Better engine management?
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Re: BP Ultimate

Post by Captain Sensible » Wed Jun 22, 2016 9:25 am

I avoid supermarket fuels like the plague. A few years ago our local ASDA had to shell out a lot of money to its customers, after some people had their engines wrecked by an impurity in their fuel. They all still lined up for hours to get about 2 p off a litre earlier in the year though. :roll:

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Re: BP Ultimate

Post by midnite » Wed Jun 22, 2016 9:13 pm

shell v power, and tescos super unleaded is good, any proper fuel station fuel is going to be better than most slop dished out by supermarkets, asda diesel i used in our passat doesn't last long, watered down toss.
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Re: BP Ultimate

Post by traineefarmer » Wed Jun 22, 2016 9:34 pm

midnite wrote:tescos super unleaded is good
I've got to agree with you there. I normally avoid Tesco fuel stations as their petrol is automotive Budweiser. But I got caught short the other day and put some of the 99 Momentum stuff in and it does seem to be as good as the branded premium stuff.

That judgement is based on a £15 worth though. I'd want to run a few tankfulls through to be sure.
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Re: BP Ultimate

Post by scoobyh123 » Wed Jun 22, 2016 10:46 pm

The old adage of "you get what you pay for" comes to mind! These days i stick to BP Ultimate although the last £20 of that will be in my coupé for some time to come yet! ;) :lol: I've just converted it to LPG so got the benefit of 105 octane (but lower calorific value so uses more! :roll: ) and something like 49p/L.
If i'm really stuck for petrol i also have the choice of Shell or Esso high octane both within easy reach now. Don't think i've ever tried Tescos high octane stuff but mostly avoid tescos like the plague for everything these days. :lol:
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Dave

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Re: BP Ultimate

Post by NONOTE » Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:28 pm

It is running on higher revs during cruising though. Not a scientific test in anyway but it certainly feels faster than it ever has.
You sure the gearbox is going into top?

Sport mode without you knowing it? Does it have sport mode on your model, my KV6 does.

I'd really like to believe the more expensive fuel was worth it but my V8 P6 runs on normal unleaded even though it's supposed to run on 4 star. Expensive unleaded made no difference at all except to my wallet. Never used it in a modern car though.

Just a thought.
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Re: BP Ultimate

Post by scoobyh123 » Sat Jun 25, 2016 6:46 pm

NONOTE wrote:
It is running on higher revs during cruising though. Not a scientific test in anyway but it certainly feels faster than it ever has.
You sure the gearbox is going into top?

Sport mode without you knowing it? Does it have sport mode on your model, my KV6 does.

I'd really like to believe the more expensive fuel was worth it but my V8 P6 runs on normal unleaded even though it's supposed to run on 4 star. Expensive unleaded made no difference at all except to my wallet. Never used it in a modern car though.

Just a thought.
Could be it's not going into torque converter lock-up at 45-50mph or whatever speed the ZF 4HP14 is meant to lock up at. Don't think there's a Sport mode on the 820i, even the Sterling variants.

I think the expensive fuel depends on the car, works well on both my 827s but made no difference on my old Volvo 740 and makes no difference on my Jeep either, even if using "Power" (Jeeps word for Sport) mode although when running on LPG the Jeep sits up and takes notice of Power mode.
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Dave

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Re: BP Ultimate

Post by thamestyres » Tue Jun 28, 2016 6:37 pm

I generally use normal unleaded from bp (95ron) if I am doing a run I use ultimate (97ron), or occasionally I splash out and use shell v power (99 ron) rarely the Tesco fuel (99 ron).. If I go from std fuel to v power you can notice a distinct difference in power/performance, the engine is smoother, quieter, more responsive which in turn makes for slightly better economy.. on mine the exhaust drones less at sixty mph, and is quieter at seventy mph.. small but nice improvements.. in theory the higher the ron value the better the fuel... we used to be able to get some 104 ron from the local Ferrari dealer in staines apparently that was good fun compared to normal fuel and at £2.50 per litre an expensive option.. regards ricky
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Re: BP Ultimate

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue Jun 28, 2016 7:38 pm

thamestyres wrote:we used to be able to get some 104 ron from the local Ferrari dealer in staines apparently that was good fun compared to normal fuel and at £2.50 per litre an expensive option.. regards ricky
I doubt that bothered the Ferrari owners Rick! :wink: :lol:
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