Something to note for MPG's (E10 vs 100% gas)

[Donnyd21]

Guys, I have been doing a lot of MPG reading on here and some say "I only got 26 MPG HWY" or I got "32 MPG", keep in mind that your going to get LOWER mpg's with E10 gas, (10% ethanol), if you are trying to get the best mpg's always fill up with 100% gas, I dont know about other states but here in Oklahoma there is a law now that gas station have to post if there gas is E10 or 100%, E10 will net about 10% LOWER in MPG's, for our cars thats about 30-40 miles a TANK! 100% gas here is only ~15 cents higher than E10 so it still works out to be a bit better, just something to note.

[petrified.rabbit]

yes, that has been mentioned when people question the epa rating.

[Donnyd21]

Ok, cool, just wanted to let everyone know. Most states do NOT have to post that they have E10 and most states only sell E10 now. Luckily @ some gas stations here its 100%

[exodus0784]

Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

For your pure gas pleasure.

[djmarch]

Hmmm I'm wondering what gas stations have ethanol free gas...I believe every pump I've been at here in Virginia sells 10%

[faithjr]

Hey donnyd21,
Well here in good old NY we don't have any pure gas and on top of the E10 they also put winterizing additives in the gas and they lower your mileage further still. In the winter I get about 26/27 mpg in summer its around 32. E10 is crap it is tuff on engines and just one more example of government gone big brother. Oops sorry I forgot no political rants please forgive LOL

[Daox]

E10 really doesn't hurt your mileage that much. You're talking like 3%. I can't even tell when I use it vs not using it. Also, every engine made in the past decade is made to run on it so its not "hard" on them.

While you may not like it (for whatever reason), ethanol has some great benefits as its essentially a home grown domestic fuel. So that means we don't have to import it from countries that hate us. It is grown and refined here creating jobs. It has a higher octane rating than regular gasoline. Some guys are doing E85 conversions and ending up with higher horsepower ratings than running just gasoline. It burns cleaner. They've even recently removed the subsidy that used to artificially lower the cost of it (unlike gasoline which still has tons of subsidy's that lower the cost of the fuel via taxpayer dollars, so yes you're paying for your neighbor to drive his hummer). Thats a lot of plusses to the minus of ~3% mileage.

Honestly, with the building of cellulosic ethanol plants right around the bend (they're being built as we speak), we're going to see the cost of ethanol go down. That means we're only going to see more ethanol use. In fact the EPA has already approved E15 for use in 2001+ vehicles. When that actually gets around to being at gas stations is a completely different issue, but its coming.

/my rant

[petrified.rabbit]

gas for my car > feeding the hungry > the price of corn :P

food as fuel imho is only "ok" when everyone in the world has enough to eat.

and while i agree e85 is a good fuel (google e85 versus race fuel) and is "cheaper" I definitely notice a large difference in mpg with my style of driving. But the other additives make mpg suffer more it seems, like winter fuel, cheap additives in cheaper brands etc. Unfortunately i think PA is 10% ethanol statewide.

[JPD]

My Aveo was sold by Chevrolet Thailand to run on gasoline 91, 95 or E10 91, or 95 or E20 - which is 95RON - whatever that means. The car had various parts modified to cope with the ethanol and some people had suggested that running on E10 would get better economy as the difference in price is only 1baht per liter. I tried this with several tanks of E10 (using scangauge e to measure economy) and it's untrue; it's the same economy as E20.
E85 is only sold at a handful of stations in Thailand but some companies are selling E85 conversion kits - they don't really do anything to prepare the engine for E85; they just plug into the ECU and fuel injectors, I don't think it's a good idea. It's also a matter of economics; if a company could sell a car to run on E85 and afford to warranty it, it would save heaps of sales tax and thus boost profits. An example in Thailand of this would be the new E-class Mercedes NGT which is now around $6000 cheaper just because it's now E20 compatible instead of only E10 as before.

[wylee]

1 says 10% loss, the other say 3% loss. My personal experience was closer to 5-6% loss, but that is not what pisses me off about Ethanol...it's the food for fuel crap that rabbit is referring to. The Ethanol subsidies have driven up the price of corn...thus driving up the cost of many foods.

Gasoline subsidies? You mean special interests tax exemptions similar to mortgage interest deductions or outright handouts like the child tax credit?

I'm actually surprised there are any 100% gas stations left, I thought Ethanol was a required additive and the discontinuation of MTBE.