Ethanol Mix Fuel

[Turbogst]

Ok so the gas station by my house has both regular fuel and the ethanol blend. And Since everywhere in the US now has this in fuel I wanted to run a little test.

Driving with regular fuel I have been averaging 22-23mpg every tank. When using the ethanol blend I get 17 every time.

So Gas $ goes up MPG goes down, Awesome!




Background on my truck
04 SE 4x4 111k miles
all fluids, belts and maintenance has been done. I go by the books premium maintenance suggestions.

[Towncivilian]

I just filled up with non-ethanol 90 octane fuel the other day at a Valero station. I paid $4.099 per gallon vs. around $3.55 I would have paid for typical 93 octane elsewhere. Quite a big difference - hopefully the mileage will improve enough to offset the cost. If it doesn't, I'll just continue to use E10.

[Turbogst]

I think it is stupid to put it in our fuel and the cost to produce it cost more. Another great idea from Obama. The only reason I can get it by the house is because we live by the lake and it will destroy marine engines. Sorry just venting a bit.

[Towncivilian]

I got 298.7 miles out of 16.582 gallons of 90-octane ethanol-free fuel from Valero. This calculates to 18.01351 MPG. My average of the previous 5 tanks, with an average of 16.708 gallons per fill up of 93 octane was 16.70352654 MPG.

I paid $4.099/gal for the ethanol-free fuel, resulting in a fill of $73.84. I paid $3.559 for the previous fill of 93, resulting in a price difference of $12.77 between the two for a ~1.31 MPG increase. I don't know what exact math to do to calculate which one is overall better value, and it's too late for me to think this much. And of course, the ethanol-free MPG is based on a sample size of one so it may very well be inaccurate, at least in comparison to the 93 octane samples.

[Chuck Tribolet]

Divide $/gallon by MPG to get $/mile.

Ethanol-free: $0.2275 per mile.
E10: $0.2130 per mile.

You get off cheap. E10 premium is right $4.00 gallon here.

Chuck

[Towncivilian]

Great, I'll stick with E10 then. I usually fill up at a 7-11 station which has a sticker on the pump "LESS THAN 10% ETHANOL" so I'm probably getting somewhere less than E10.

[zach7685]

Wait how much is your regular per gallon? Here I paid 2.69 at QT

[Towncivilian]

87 octane here is about 3.15/gal. I fill up with 93 octane always though, which is around 3.51/gal currently.

[Chuck Tribolet]

Wait how much is your regular per gallon? Here I paid 2.69 at QT

Regular is typically .20 less than premium. I don't buy much regular, just for the lawn mower, chain saws, etc., and the
boat. The PF and 'vettte, and Adm. Linda's Passat get premium.

Chuckc