Fuel brand

My 2012 Passat SEL TDI runs great. Any recommendations on what company makes the best diesel fuel? Big question I know, but surely some are better than others? I currently use Shell diesel in mine.

I think if you are so inclined as to rummage about on this very site you'll see recommendations of "fresh" fuel being more important than a specific name brand, i.e. purchased at a busy station rather than just the cheapest available.

I've had good experience with Shell but I don't go there much because (at least in my area) they upcharge 10 cents per gallon for using a credit card, which I don't like.

If you can find a "premium" diesel in your area it will typically have a good additive package and higher cetane number for easier starting in winter. Cenex Roadmaster XL is one such fuel.

More than anything else your driving habits dictate what your mileage will be.
It is a proven fact that at around 55 mph you will achieve your best mileage regardless whether gasoline or Diesel.
Of course there are people in these forums who claim to drive 85-90mph and get 65mpg?

I use shell Dieswel but every 4th tank or so i will fill up on V-Power

johnsTDI said:

every 4th tank or so i will fill up on V-Power

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Why??

Here is how all fuel branding works.

Even though there are national brands, all fuel is locally sourced. Area refineries will refine fuels under different brands. It's impossible to have dedicated refineries that can fill the needs of a national brand. Area refineries will sell to area bulk plants and the bulk plants will deliver fuel to anyone. If there is a specific brand, and that brand has a specific and/or proprietary additive formula, the bulk plant will add the additives to the generic fuel. The closest thing one can buy to a national brand is if the brand supplies the additives to the bulk plant. In most cases they do not. The bulk plant has concentrated additives for just about everything so that any specific fuel can be locally blended. The point here is that all the fuel starts out the same.

Fuels are 'fungible' commodities. Any #2D can be substituted for any other #2D anywhere on the planet. What about those branded tanker trucks? Yeah, what about them? Those trucks go to the same terminals as the local accounts. I'll use Circle-K for example. One can see Circle-K stations co-branded with many national brands. The delivery trucks might be branded Circle-K, they might be branded the national co-brand, there might be no brand at all on the truck. They all went to the same area terminal to get the same fuel. Only after the proprietary additive has been added, then the fuel is not fungible anymore as it's exclusive to that particular account. So does one shop for a brand with a proprietary additive package (Shell V-Power, Exxon-Mobil Synergy Diesel, etc.)? Meh... If you feel so inclined, go ahead if it will make you feel better. 95% chance you're paying extra for marketing hype.

Even without a proprietary additive package, all #2D has to meet ASTM specs for summer/winter pour points, lubricity, sulfur, BTUs, cetane index (not the same as the cetane number), cetane number, and lots of obscure standards. I just touched on the one most of us would understand.

This is why people recommend stations with a high turn-over of fuel above all else.

Drive more and worry less.

I try to find Shell,but if it is much more expensive than others(+15 cents sometimes) then I look for BP or Sunoco. But it really depends, some Shell stations I went to gave me very bad mpg on my daily route,avg mph.
I started using LiquiMoly diesel additive I bought from amazon. It is a 300ml bottle,recommended to use during fill up. about 9$ if you buy one, 5-6$ if bought as a pack of 20 I guess. Hoping the see if that it works.

This is like asking what electrons work best in your toaster, those excited by a nuclear plant or those excited by a coal plant. So long as it is 120v AC, single phase, 60 hz, your toaster will work exactly the same.

Brian explained how fuel supply works. I will add in that the "terminal" he mentions is just a spigot at the local pipeline. All the oil companies use the same pipelines to push refined product. It isn't like Company A refines its product and then sends its Company A brand trucks out to all its Company A brand retail stores. It doesn't work that way.

Company A feeds X amount of refined products into shared pipeline that Companies A, B, C, and D use. Then, at the other end, Company A can take out X amount of refined product in their tanker truck for local delivery.

Another analogy is banking. You can deposit $100 cash in one branch and drive 100 miles to another brand and withdraw $100. It is not the "same" $100, but it will spend exactly the same.

High traffic stations that will insure a fresh supply is all you really need to be concerned with.

I tired three phase 480V on my toaster once, toasted my bagel in about 20 seconds.

In the north east I'm not aware of liquid pipe lines but 2-4 shipping ports (Searsport, Portland and Portsmouth being the closest/biggest).

With that being said I've only been buying from Irving for the past 5-8 years. It's the closest diesel/D2/HHO refinery to us (St John NB) but no idea at what truck/tanker does local dumps at the station but i figure it can't hurt.

There are stations that I have learned to avoid. The murphey's stations in my area are all associated with Walmart. I saw my worst mileage ever on my 2000 ALH beetle using their cheaper fuel. Dropped about 10 mpg, mid 40s to mid 30s. Last winter when I was in South Bend, IN, I filled the truck at a Speedway and dropped the mileage by about 10%. Could have been a heavier dose of winterized chemicals or could have been a true #1 and #2 blend, but I won't use that brand again.

As mentioned here and everywhere else on this site, use a station with lots of fuel turn over and where you see lots of diesel trucks. Of course, this may not always help. The Love's closest to me told me that they use seperate tanks for the auto side versus the truck side.

Pipelines are all over, but these are the major ones:

https://pipeline101.org/where-are-pipelines-located

And yes, if you are nearer shipping ports it is certainly possible that certain refined products come in via ship traffic. There are also rail lines, but that is more for specialized lower volume stuff.

Thank you for the link to the map. Out here in the wilderness it shows a lot better where everything comes from.

There are three major refineries in Billings, and that is where most of the northwest gets fed from. My father in law worked 30+ years and retired from the Exxon plant in Billings. He said they used the pipeline a lot as did the other refineries. They would drop product in the line and put in a dye, then the next product. Down the line the purchasers would tap in at the designated time to get their product.


In gasoline alcohol is added after the pipeline and before resale. They ship it raw as they do not designate it's use, aviation, farm or road fuel are all different mixes. Same with diesel, as dye is added to designate off road usage and taxation. We see red fuel in farmers TDI's sometimes. I see nothing, as Sgt. Schultz would say.

oilhammer said:

Pipelines are all over, but these are the major ones:
https://pipeline101.org/where-are-pipelines-located
And yes, if you are nearer shipping ports it is certainly possible that certain refined products come in via ship traffic. There are also rail lines, but that is more for specialized lower volume stuff.

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very cool map, i knew ashland KY was a huge refinery but i thought they had a refined pipeline that came down to lexington (that is where all the fuel distributors work out of). But apparently our refined product comes out of Indiana... had no idea....

The map shows, as expected, that much of North America's refined products are very Texas reliant. Which is why any time a hurricane threatens or hits the Texas coast, there are lots of disruptions and price craziness resulting.

For those of us old enough to remember the TV show Dallas...

kjclow said:

There are stations that I have learned to avoid. The murphey's stations in my area are all associated with Walmart. I saw my worst mileage ever on my 2000 ALH beetle using their cheaper fuel. Dropped about 10 mpg, mid 40s to mid 30s. Last winter when I was in South Bend, IN, I filled the truck at a Speedway and dropped the mileage by about 10%. Could have been a heavier dose of winterized chemicals or could have been a true #1 and #2 blend, but I won't use that brand again.

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Murphy (Walmart) fuel was good to use in the past. A few years back they started blending it with 5% to 20% of biodiesel so it has less energy than straight (unblended) diesel does so fuel economy takes a hit. Bet that's why you took a hit in mileage. Did you check the pumps for a biodiesel content sticker? The Murphys around South Bend all have this sticker. (And on the gas side they have 10% ethanol - again it's cheaper but fuel economy suffers. I know this as I used a Murphy twice to fill up my mother's gasser, took a hit in economy on those tanks.)

I used to use Murphy with my A4 ALH but as I drive a 2015 CR now for which VW does not recommend a biodiesel blend of more than 5% I avoid Murphy stations now as one does not know what the blend ratio is other than it can be low as 5%, high as 20%. Do know in Illinois due to state law the diesel there is 20% biodiesel at ALL stations / ALL brands so I skip fueling up in Illinois unless I absolutely must do so.

in my area (South Bend, IN) none of the Speedways use biodiesel blended diesel, is still regular diesel so far. Meijer is also good quality fuel as is Marathon, Phillips 66, Shell and BP.

Jeez, I use Speedway for both of my diesel cars. I haven't figured out where the big trucks fill up around here. Fuel is so expensive in my immediate area that I wouldn't be surprised to learn that trucks either fill in NJ or further upstate in NY or CT where the fuel is significantly (20-50 cents) cheaper.