[Starbuck]

Probably everyone has heard that the ethanol being mixed with fuel (up to 10% where I live) will slightly lower your MPG, right? I've also read that the resources used to produce ethanol make it much more expensive to produce and less efficient than uncle sam would like you to believe. I'm not the expert.............however the SHELL stations around here have signs posted on or near their pumps stating "Our gasoline contains NO ethanol". Myself and my friends buy our fuel there.
My friend tracks his mileage and states that since he started using the SHELL, it has gone back up several MPG.

 

[Wildweed]

Thats great .. I can't find many stations here in central arkansas that DON'T have ethanol. They all seem to have it now.

 

[Starbuck]

Forgot to add........they add nitrogen to their fuel................not sure how it benefits things. My car and scooter seem to run well on it. It used to be the Texaco station here, now it is Shell. They merged sometime back. 8)

 

[DonPaulB]

I use shell and mobil. My average is 34.5 mpg - 35.5 mpg

 

[Square1]

Most of the stations here have a sign saying there may be up to 10% Ethonol so I never know for sure. I don't think our gas here is oxygenated like it is up in WA, at least it was when we lived there. I don't buy any particular brand although I use to always run Chevron, but we don't have any Chevron stations here. Now I pretty much run whatever I find at the lowest price with no particular station as a constant. As I posted in some other threads, my cube is consistantly in the mid to upper 30's according to the computer. During the first 1,000 to 1500 miles or so it started at about 27.7 and has gradually crept up to where it's at now. I have about 3500 miles in it as I write this. - Dan

 

[ewraven]

Yeah, Ethanol does cost more to produce than regular gasoline. I think a lot of the reason is that the farmers who grow the corn for ethanol are heavily subsidized by the government. E-85 does lower the gas mileage of a car quite a bit but it is also cheaper to buy because not only is the farmer paid more to grow it, but at the pump it is cheaper because of yet even more government subsidies to the retailer.

I've caught myself filling up at the local Sam's Club way to much, now I'm sure that is some poor quality gasoline. lol

This might be of an interest to some of you...
http://www.toptiergas.com/

 

[ChristineK]

Corn gas is considerablely less fissionable than petrol. Thus the lower MPG. My Titan had 2 MPG ratings posted on it,one for petrol one for ethanol, and an entire section in the manual on using ethanol. Below is the Cubes take on it. No Corn for us. :no:

Section 9-3:
Do not use E-85 fuel in your vehicle.
Your vehicle is not designed to run
on E-85 fuel. Using E-85 fuel can
damage the fuel system components
and is not covered by the
NISSAN new vehicle limited warranty

Reformulated gasoline
Some fuel suppliers are now producing reformulated gasolines. These gasolines are specially designed to reduce vehicle emissions. NISSAN supports efforts towards cleaner air and suggests that you use reformulated gasoline when available. Gasoline containing oxygenates Some fuel suppliers sell gasoline containing oxygenates such as ethanol, MTBE and methanol with or without advertising their presence. NISSAN does not recommend the use of fuels of which the oxygenate content and the fuel compatibility for your NISSAN cannot be readily determined. If in doubt, ask your service station manager.

If you use oxygenate-blend gasoline, please take the following precautions as the usage of such fuels may cause vehicle performance problems and/or fuel system damage.
. The fuel should be unleaded and have an octane rating no lower than that recommended for unleaded gasoline.
. If an oxygenate-blend, other than methanol blend is used, it should contain no more than 10% oxygenate.
(MTBE may, however, be added up to 15%.)
. If a methanol blend is used, it should contain no more than 5% methanol (methyl alcohol, wood alcohol)
. Itshould also contain a suitable amount of appropriate cosolvents and corrosion inhibitors
. If not properly formulated with appropriate cosolvents and corrosion inhibitors, such methanol blends may cause fuel system damage and/or vehicle performance problems.
At this time, sufficient data is not available to ensure that all methanol blends are suitable for use in NISSAN vehicles.

 

[BC]

i may have misunderstood, but i think some get 2 things confused... E85 is 85% ethanol and the rest gas, this can be used in some vehicles, but usually only if they are classified as dual or flex fuel. the up to 10% stuff is actually e10. e10 is designed to be run in vehicles that are labeled as unleaded fuel only. Here in Oklahoma City most of our stations dispense e10 (you will see a sticker on the pump that says may contain up to 10% ethanol.) i personally will not use that in any car unless i have no other option.

In the last few years since they have been pushing e10 i have run it in my 06 dodge ram v6, 96 Chevy lumina v6, 2002 ford f150 v6, 2006 ford f150 v8, 2008 Chrysler sebring convert 2.4l 4cly and my 09 cube and with every vehicle running e10 has created a rough idle, a marked difference in acceleration, lower mpg, and even hesitation when accelerating. who knows what all else is going on inside the engine.

E10 has been pushed alot latley here becausee it is cheaper than normal unleded. however i have done the math and alltho i dont have the numbers, i do remember they werent good for e10.here is what i did; try it yourself and let us know:
i filled up with a tank of the e10, and tracked the millage.
once that thank was gone, fill up with regular unleaded and track the millage
then take the $$ amount it cost to fill up with the e10 and divide by the # of miles you got, this will give you the cost per mile, then do the same with unleaded.
what i found was that altho the e10 is on average about 10 cents less per gallon i also got lower mpg which resulted in a higher cost per mile than the unleaded fuel. add that in with extra wear and tear on the motor and well... i just stick with the manufacturer recommended unleaded fuel.

Again, I'm an computer expert, not a car or a gas expert so don't take my word for it and definably correct em if I'm wrong on anything.

 

[torgrot]

Currently in the Chicago, Northwest Indiana region all gasoline sold is required to have 10% ethanol blend.

 

[freekwonder]

I hate it, sure a few cents cheaper at the pump, but in the long run between my taxes going to government subsidies, lower MPG and my car not running as well, it doesn't really seem cheaper to me. Either start importing sugar which makes more fuel than corn or stop subsidizing corn so much.