Esso Synergy vs. Shell V Power

I always though (perhaps mistakenly) that our 996s ran best on stuff like V Power... And then I see the heavy promotion in the Porsche GB magazine for Esso? The octane ratings for Esso are much lower than Shell (93?) yet Porsche say we should run 99. I've never run any of my 996s on other than V Power over the last 19 years - are we being taken for an expensive ride?

No, Porsche Club clearly have a sponsorship/advertising deal with Esso. Always run V Power personally.

Synergy is just a marketing brand name now being used by Esso. Their petrol still comes in different octanes including Supreme+ which is 97 octane. There's also a Synergy Diesel for the vast numbers of Porsche owners with oil burning engines.

There is no 93 octane in the UK 97-99 Is the RON of UK super unleaded. 93 is an AKI rating, a measure which the US market use, and is the average of RON and MON. So a fairly typical gasoline at 93 AKI would still be around 98 RON (with 88 MON)

There is nothing wrong with Esso 97 (RON) fuel, my turbo performs exceptionally well on itl. The 97 thing is a bit of a misnomer, a contact of mine is one of Esso's engine dyno fuel testers. The fuel is typically 100, or 99 octane. He told me exactly how the advertised octane rating arrived at 97, a very long story but entirely true. In a nutshell, the fuel was tested at individual garages all over the country over a period of one year. One sample and one sample alone, tested 97. That pump had never sold a single litre, the fuel was 9 months old.... We see more horsepower on this fuel than any other when testing various engines on our in house engine dyno. It's good stuff.

Mike, would you say it's equal to V-Power or marginally better in terms of it's det threshold? I'm in no way challenging your comments just curious of your findings as I'm about to tune my other car and was automatically drawn to V-Power.

E85 anyone?? Higher octane, but lower calorific value / density so higher fuel consumption. Government pushing this now for environmental reasons.

Hi Eddie. A tricky one, this. we have found that V power varies in performance depending on when and where it is bought from. Our local V power is utter rubbish, leaves a sooty residue in the exhaust and is very fast burning. However, a customer brought some from Cambridge and it was good stuff, which matched our then benchmark fuel, Momentum 99. The Esso thing came about after a conversation with a guy that hillclimbs a twin turbo V8, around 500 hp with no knock sensors at all. He is the Esso fuel dyno tester, a good and knowledgeable chap. He told me how the 97 bit came about, but because of the lack of media hype around the fuel, I elected to stay with momentum. That all changed at Anglesey when I ran out of fuel and was forced to use the Esso stuff.... speeds into the hairpin rose from 112 to 117 mph, no other change was made. As a result, we started testing at work and noticed the following trends; N/A engines like more advance with Esso than Shell (a lot more), the power literally climbs from the first run it is poured in after running on any other pump fuel. The burn is clean, carbon residue minimal, the outer ring of the plugs run grey not sooty like on V power. It makes more power than Momentum 99. Downsides? Yes, one. The older engines run on when switched off on this fuel. My best guess is that the Motor number is lower than with the other manufacturers, but with a higher Ron. You must test and make your own view. The guy who gave me the info says that no ethanol is used to boost the octane. Local v power has up to 5% when we test it, Momentum has 5% all the time. the Esso is zero. He also said that Shell boost their octane with the use of aromatics which disappear over time. if you test when a fresh load is delivered you will get 99-100 Ron, wait three weeks and re test, 96-97. The Esso 97 was 9 months old.... Ps, I will not be held responsible if you melt your engine, you must test and draw your own conclusions. Mike

Interesting stuff Mike, thanks. And you can now collect nectar points with Esso too

Interesting post above, Mike. I've always run my car on V Power since I had it, but the last couple of tanks have been BP Ultimate. Exhaust does seem cleaner, I'd not made the connection that the fuel might be a factor. We have an Esso station not far away, I shall give their premium fuel a go next. One reason I've gone with V Power is the cleaning agents... do all premium fuels have these, or are they a bit of a red herring anyway?

@DynoMike Mike - any idea where AppleGreen source their HO fuel from...?? Reason why I ask - they have two garages close to me, one on my way to work, and secondly they are one of my customers (we provide all of their telecoms across the UK) and i'd like to buy from one of my customers if I can. (Even though its just a little bit compared to what they spend with us) Thanks m8 - great and interesting thread :thumb: Osh

Good info, cant remember the last time I saw an Esso garage though :lol:

Hi Osh, I've no idea my friend so can't help you there I'm afraid. I kind of kept this information quiet for a long time until I was happy with the results. Can't vouch for its performance in every engine type, but we find it to be good in all the ones we've tested.I also benchmarked it again a race fuel called RMR 100, the Esso beat it....just.

Filled the Boxster with Synergy 97 on the way home tonight after reading this thread, first non-shell fill its had in a year, made it home OK so all good :wink: Always been happy to use synergy 97 in our 'normal" car as Esso garages are more convenient where we live, but never in the Porsches because Shell V power (and to a lesser degree Momentum) has been the forum darling! A 996 turbo owning friend is adamant Esso is poor, old fuel/dirty tanks, terrible stuff he says, could that be urban mythology or old news and Esso has upped its game?

A guy with a 996 Turbo said the same to me. Reliable information about fuel is not that easy to acquire, so most of us probably just use what we feel happy with.