Hidden tricks at the bowser
If you drive a car there are six types of fuel you can use; Diesel, LPG, Ethanol, Unleaded, Premium Unleadead and High Octane Unleaded.
They all come at different prices.
'The dominant fuel remains regular unleaded petrol and that's about two thirds of all fuel sales for motorists,' said Michael Roth from the RACQ.
LPG is the cheapest, but prices can fluctuate dramatically and the up front cost of conversion can be prohibitive.
Diesel is also competitive, although the cost can also vary.
Automotive engineer, Natalie Roberts said, 'Diesel passenger vehicles offer an improvement of about 20 per cent when compared to a comparative petrol vehicle.'
Most people use unleaded.
So which is best for your car?
The first rule, is to follow manufacturers specifications
Michael Roth from the RACQ says, 'We've seen more Eurpoean cars now coming in in the new vehicle market and a lot of these Eurpoean cars they specify on premium fuel.'
The RACQ says that can be trouble.
'Premium fuels tend to sell for ten to foutreen cents a litre more than regualr unleaded. We believe that's too much,' said the RACQ.
But if your car does run on any unleaded, the cheaper E10 ethanol blend is not always best even though it's generally two cents cheaper than regular unleaded.
automotive engineer, Natalie Roberts,'There's a difference in the energy density between ehtanol blended fuels and regular unleaded.'
According to the automotive engineer because you get less energy per litre the cheapest fuel could cost the most.
'The motorist who fills there car only on e10 blended fuel will in fact on average pay maybe fifty to eighty dollars more per year,' said Natalie.
The RACQ wants to see the cost of e10 lowered,'Five cents is a point we make because motorists aren't saving money unless they get a five cent a litre discount.'
