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The only way to test the fuels in a driving situation would be to have two sets of cars  with the different fuels in them - with none of the drivers knowing which fuel was in the car they were driving. 

That is unlikely to happen so we have only personal experiences on the effectiveness of any additives, or the petrol companies claims.  Petrol companies have made all sorts of claims for their fuels down the years.  They always seem to be new and improved.

Hi There,

On occassions petrol / gasoline tankered to UK pumps has actually come from Europe having been stored in the UK, not refined here.  It is up to BS  but whether there is a difference in quality would be hard to tell unless it was sampled and analysed.  In fact petrol in storage does (or should have) additives but these are to prevent degredation i.e. oxidation / gums.  As previous post states "secret" additives are added during tanker loading which contain among other components anti-knock additives.  If I remeber correctly back in the '80s Shell had problems with their additives which were allegedly blamed for some engines suffering severe knocking (pinking) which once again allegedly caused preamture valve failure.  Personally I find my Ford diesel powered Motor Home and my wife's diesel Skoda Superb engines run much quieter on Shell, Esso and BP diesel when compared to supermarket Diesels.  Incidentally I am still adding 2-stroke oil even to Shell diesel.

Regards.

   Well, seeing as, in general, the supermarkets now charge much the same as the fuel companies for their fuel why use them? It used to be that they were 4-5p cheaper than the big brands but now there's little difference, in fact round here Shell is usually cheaper than the three big local supermarkets.

     Pete.