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        General >> Give/Need advice to/from others >> Fueling Up In France
        
(Message started by: DJWerkz on Jul 13^th, 2006, 12:19am)

Title: Fueling Up In France
Post by DJWerkz on Jul 13^th, 2006, 12:19am

Maybe Baz can help on this one as I am sure he has taken his Scorp into France before ???

Just booked up to go to France for the week and this time I am taking the Scorpio. I have got used to only using Shell Optimax fuel over here and was checking the Shell official web site to see if they sell under that name.

Under the fuel options listed by country France is not listed (?) but a little further checking of the French version of the site I found a reference to a fuel called 'V-Power'. Is this the same as Optimax?

Maybe it's just easier me asking if anyone know's for sure what the French sell Optimax as?

Many thanks ;)

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Spannerdemon on Jul 13^th, 2006, 8:04am

My wife and I often go over to France, and you won't have any trouble finding a good fuel.

Pass on Optimax, but you can get BP Ultimate Sans Plomb (sans-plomb means without lead.....unleaded).

It's commonly signed up as BP Ultimate SP98. High Grade, and very good.You'll also see "Eurosuper" 95/98 which is equivelant to our leaded and super-unleaded.

Bear in mind that (as in this country) the best deal for fuel is at the Hypermarkets etc. You'll pay the most on the Autoriutes in addition to the toll charges of course.

This is a site we use whenever we go over there, and it includes fuel information (click near the top).

http://www.beyond.fr/travel/autoroutes.html

Tip for travelling is to buy food at the supermarket, and use the "Aires". These are well signed, regularly spaced stop and rest areas with tables and basic seating just off the autoroutes, often in very pretty tree shaded areas next to small rivers etc, where you can have a picnic, use the toilets (take your own loo roll), and chill out for an hour or so.

Have a good trip. :)

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by DJWerkz on Jul 13^th, 2006, 8:31am

Thanks SD. We have actually been to France several times before and this will be the second time we shall be staying at our friends farmhouse in Normandy so we are vaguely familiar with most of what you recommend.

I just have fussy fuel requirements,...hehehehehe (personally I never touch the cheap Supermarket stuff, any cars I have ever owned with performance styled engines never run as nice IMHO).

OK, off to get the Scorp serviced this morning,...bye ;)

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Baz on Jul 13^th, 2006, 8:44am

Ha Ha.... I stick any old fuel in mine when I am in France, but always the 98 or super type. Like you I only ever stuck Optimax or the other 98 grades over here. But now with the LPG on the car, it may be a little cheaper this year!!

However, I am looking at contract hiring a new car so if it arrives before we go, I may take that instead of the Scorp to keep the mileage down a bit!

I agree with spannerdemon about buying fuel off the autoroutes....last year, we always came off when low on fuel and used the "find a petrol station" option on the sat nav to get the cheaper stuff and see a little of life off the motorways.

Baz

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Spannerdemon on Jul 13^th, 2006, 9:14am

Last time we went down to Valbonne (Nov last year), we took my Volvo 940 Turbo, and by the time we'd calculated it out, we'd have been cheaper flying to Nice, and hiring a car down there. Long drive. we won't be doing THAT one again. 1068 Miles.....each way!!

Wish you'd stop rubbing it in about your ********LPG Baz!!!

ESPECIALLY as I live less than a mile from Powercraft! ;D ;D ;D

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Bren_K30 on Jul 13^th, 2006, 10:20am

R N can be every bit as fuel efficient as A routes nowadays with sat nav, added bonus of no paege sections as well.

I am not familiar with the rate for cars but it's about £38 for a large vehicle from Calais to Paris. Even guestimating it at about a third that still means a heavy whack out of the wallet for a return trip to the south.

Got Navigator 4.75 for Europe on DVD if anyone needs a copy by the way. (for Medion satnavs)

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Spannerdemon on Jul 13^th, 2006, 1:04pm

Course.....You COULD mix your own!!

http://www.joecartoon.com/pages/frogbender_anim

;D ;D ;D ;D

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by mr._floppy on Jul 13^th, 2006, 4:19pm

Unless the Octane ratings are different in the USA their unleaded gas octane rating is usually 87 ( as low as 85 in some outlets ) compared to the UK 95 to 98 ratings.

Could explain why their gas is cheap and why big engined US cars are notoriously underpowered. :-/

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Octavian_P on Jul 13^th, 2006, 6:10pm

on 07/13/06 at 00:19:05, DJWerkz wrote:

Under the fuel options listed by country France is not listed (?) but a little further checking of the French version of the site I found a reference to a fuel called 'V-Power'. Is this the same as Optimax?

V-Power, in romania had a rating of 99+, after which V-Power Racing 100 was released.....

Take great care that Shell also has V-Power Diesel..... :o

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Kjetil S on Jul 13^th, 2006, 7:37pm

Shell has V-power in Norway as well, but I believe it has a 95 rating here (will check if I remember to do so later :))

(Shell Optimax isn't available in Norway afaik.)

Edit:

Norwegian V-power is 95 octane and Optimax isn't available according to shell.no. Personally I find that the regular 98 octane works better than the V-power (with 95-rating), and costs about the same)

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by sector-9 on Jul 13^th, 2006, 9:10pm

I thought American cars were lousy on economy and power because of their strict emission controls?

Darren

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Octavian_P on Jul 13^th, 2006, 9:22pm

on 07/13/06 at 21:10:22, sector-9 wrote:

I thought American cars were lousy on economy and power because of their strict emission controls?

Darren

I don't think all thoes v8's are really .....enviroment friendly
;D

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Danny_R on Jul 14^th, 2006, 12:24pm

American cars are big and lousy on MPG because gasoline was/is cheap. When I came over here just under 2 years ago gas was around $1.79 a gallon. It's only recently that gas prices have shot sky high and Detroit are having to actually make efficient engines.

As they say over here, bigger is better ;)

Danny_R

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by - Mike - on Jul 14^th, 2006, 12:34pm

Well fuel has finally reached 96.9p lltr :o here at our local supermarket for the cheap stuff, how much are you all actually paying for the 98 octane ???
Does it really warrant paying the difference ??? I never noticed any difference in performance or economy on the odd time that I have tried it.
Never really fancied paying out too many times for it if there was to be no real end result. :'(

Mike

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Baz on Jul 14^th, 2006, 10:50pm

Oh, and did I mention that I have LPG fitted?? ;D ;D

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by DJWerkz on Jul 15^th, 2006, 12:06am

I went to the Shell garage today and put in the usual Optimax, 99.9p per litre.

Personally I say the car runs alot better on this than regular unleaded.

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by - Mike - on Jul 15^th, 2006, 11:13am

on 07/14/06 at 22:50:19, Baz wrote:

Oh, and did I mention that I have LPG fitted?? ;D ;D

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Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by - Mike - on Jul 15^th, 2006, 11:17am

on 07/15/06 at 00:06:14, DJWerkz wrote:

I went to the Shell garage today and put in the usual Optimax, 99.9p per litre.

Personally I say the car runs alot better on this than regular unleaded.

Thats not a bad price considering. Pity the Shell garage local to me has just closed down >:(

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Spannerdemon on Jul 15^th, 2006, 7:10pm

YES BAZ YOU DID!!! HOW MUCH do you pay for it? ;) Just to REALLY rub it in.

If i could afford it, I'd be off to Powercraft tomorrow!! ;)

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Baz on Jul 15^th, 2006, 8:51pm

Powercraft didn't fit it SD....I got the system from a scrapped Cossie for less than £200 and had it fitted by Wains Classic Autos in Norwich for a few hundred quid so a bit of a bargain all in all.... I just drove over to Devon afterwards to visit Bill at Powercraft!!

Thats the LPG I have fitted I mean!!....did I mention I had LPG?

Baz

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Spannerdemon on Jul 15^th, 2006, 9:22pm

Yeah I read somewhere that you'd got LPG.....mistakenly thought you'd got it down the road. Powercraft is about 3 minutes from where I live in Torquay!

They have some AWESOME stuff for cars! Fortunately my longest journeys around the bay are to work and back, about 6 miles each way, and starting at 6am there's usually virtually nil traffic so I get reasonable consumption. I would consider LPG, but I've had a very rough past 12 months with jobs, and only just getting settled again so at the moment just happy that the Scorp runs well and reliably. :)

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by sector-9 on Jul 15^th, 2006, 11:04pm

Wish I had LPG - unfortunately they don't work so well on diesels... Mind you, wish I had a Cossie too! ;)

Darren

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Geoff_W on Jul 15^th, 2006, 11:19pm

Baz,

Have you got LPG ;D

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by DJWerkz on Jul 15^th, 2006, 11:36pm

How large is your LPG tank Baz and where is it installed?

I am just so hesitant about this whole LPG thing. Got friends who have relatives in Italy and they always say how bad the smog is from all the cars running LPG and how much boot space these LPG tanks take up.

I have read scientific reports online of research carried out in the USA on vehicles converted to run LPG and they have higher emmission levels than non-converted cars of the same type (these are exhaust and smog chamber tests).

I think there was some conclusion that some of the higher levels could be attributed to poorly installed LPG systems but I am not convinced.

Fortunately I don't do the mileage to justify even considering the expense of a LPG conversion, so for me the whole LPG thing is a mute point.

As for someone's previous comments on American V8's being gas guzzlers, this is true with some but not all. In fact if you look at some of the power to weight ratio's of some European cars, esepcially the sporty little numbers you will find that they are less fuel efficient than the V8's. It is also true the emmission controls in the USA do restrict the power output but the best thing to do is buy a classic V8 (used to be 1967 and back in Nevada) and then your car is emmission exempt.

Then you can go off to Summit Racing and build yourself a nice big muscle car. Oh yeaaahhhh!

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Baz on Jul 16^th, 2006, 12:01am

Spanner.... I love Devon and Paignton in particular seeing as I spent most of the summer holidays down there when I was a kid. I went over to see Bill and arrange for an alloy rad and a new cossie cover to fit now the LPG injectors don't let the old cover fit properly. Did I mention the LPG? I'm sure I did somewhere!!

As for my system DJ, the tank is in the boot wheel well and means I have raised the floor by about 2" to compensate. Not a great deal but it means I get to have 50 litres of gas in there. As for the emissions this is from lpg-vehicles.co.uk

Autogas and the Environment

Better for budgets. Better for the environment. Whether you pit it against petrol or diesel, Autogas is the winner.
Take harmful emissions. You don’t have to with LPG – a modern, cleaner fuel for the 21st century.
Independent tests by Millbrook Proving Ground clearly and unequivocally demonstrate what the Government has already acknowledged – that LPG is the most practical way to reduce air quality problems in the urban environment. Take a look at the figures below:

Emissions Petrol up to Diesel up to

Carbon Monoxide 63% less -
Hydrocarbons 40% less 70% less
Oxides of Nitrogen 82% less 99% less
Carbon Dioxide 13% less -
Particulates 50% less 98% less

Ref. Results from tests undertaken by Millbrook Proving Ground Jan 2001 – report no. MBK 01/0048 using a Vauxhall Vectra 2001 running on Autogas.

Call me mad but there must be some good in there somewhere!!

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by scorpio_man on Jul 16^th, 2006, 12:07am

hi there

you get tested as a non cat car (pre '92 ish), if you present your car running on lpg at the MOT station.

hth

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by DJWerkz on Jul 16^th, 2006, 12:08am

It's funny Baz, you look at the web data published on pro-LPG sites and you get wonderful emmission claims. Yet look at the data done by independant research and it can show a different set of results.

I am not going to lean one way or the other on that debate, just stating what I've seen. But what I will say as former International Quality Systems specialist who has done a fair bit of DOE's and statistical research I can tell you that there is an old saying widely used,...goes something like,....

...there are lies, there are bigger lies, then there are statistics!

Quite profound and it always put a wry smile on my face,...hehehe

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Baz on Jul 16^th, 2006, 12:13am

I will concede that the petrol companies may well have an effect on whatever data is put out, but judging by how much some of the likes of Shell, BP etc. charge for LPG they will be making a stack more money than they do off petrol....the local BP garage near me, (next to IKEA in Warrington) is selling LPG at 49.5p a litre, a mile up the road and Tescos are selling it for 40.5p a litre! If there was that much difference in the price of Unleaded, the country would go bloody mad!

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by scorpio_man on Jul 16^th, 2006, 12:22am

[]

and it's a bi-product of making petrol anyway!

should only be 20 pence a litre! they can make money from that. >:(

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Octavian_P on Jul 16^th, 2006, 9:33am

WOW does BAZ has a LPG system fitted ?? ;D ;D ;D ;D

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Baz on Jul 16^th, 2006, 9:41am

Did I not mention it?

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Bren_K30 on Jul 16^th, 2006, 9:29pm

on 07/16/06 at 09:33:48, Octavian_P wrote:

WOW does BAZ has a LPG system fitted ?? ;D ;D ;D ;D

Let me know if you find out Baz has an LPG set up fitted please

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Octavian_P on Jul 18^th, 2006, 3:27pm

on 07/16/06 at 21:29:00, Bren_K30 wrote:

Let me know if you find out Baz has an LPG set up fitted please

I think we should ask him if he HAS A LPG FITTED

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Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Kjetil S on Jul 18^th, 2006, 5:26pm

I think I remember him mentioning something about an LPG system. Not sure if it was his or some other car ;D

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Dave on Jul 19^th, 2006, 9:13am

No, it wasn't Baz, he would have mentioned it.

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by DJWerkz on Jul 19^th, 2006, 9:17am

Well changing the subject from LPG (thank God!), we will be taking the wife's car to France now so any old unleaded will do for that.

Scorpio has developed an oil leak so hopefully it will be well on the way to being sorted while we are away.

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by mazzy_j on Jul 19^th, 2006, 10:05am

Quote:

Scorpio has developed an oil leak so hopefully it will be well on the way to being sorted while we are away

My diesel has started leaking oil again from somewhere under the engine :( Parked it up overnight and i counted 10 drips on the floor. It seems as though it goes through phases of dripping oil for a couple of months, then stopping for another couple, then starting again ??? one of the many strange things i love about that car ;)

Matt

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Geoff_W on Jul 19^th, 2006, 10:22am

I noticed on a dealers site, I was looking at LPG kits that there seem to be different nozzles in different countries, they were selling adaptor kits. Does the French LPG network use the same nozzle attachment as the UK one?

Anybody?

Sorry DJW ;)

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Baz on Jul 19^th, 2006, 6:02pm

Nope!! I have an adapter that fits onto our system and then onto their nozzles....................on my LPG that is.............I had one fitted a few weeks ago............................did I not say anything??

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by mazzy_j on Jul 20^th, 2006, 9:59am

Quote:

on my LPG that is.............I had one fitted a few weeks ago............................did I not say anything??

You kept it quiet from all of us ;)

Title: Re: Fueling Up In France
Post by Octavian_P on Jul 20^th, 2006, 7:47pm

Come-on BAZ, you could have told us about your LPG conversion, why didn't you said from the begining }{ }{ }{