Mitaka

I have been fueling my cars at HESS and I noticed a considerable loss in MPG this winter. Then I noticed a big sticker on every pump "10% Ethanol" that expalined it. I wonder if it is bad for the engine. I see some cars such as Chrisler even Mercedes can run on Ethanol completely. What's up with that

ryoung

Even though ethanol is very high octane, it contains 1/3 less energy per gallon than gasoline. The resulting poor fuel economy will do some damage to your wallet.

BTW: The few cars that can run on either gasoline or E85 (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) are called "Ethanol Flexible Vehicles". Notice on page 18 of the Fuel Economy Guide that these cars have significantly reduced range and increased fuel costs when using E85.<ul><li><a href="http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/FEG2005.pdf">2005 Fuel Economy Guide, pdf</a></li></ul>

QuickA8

Everything out there has ethanol in it.

skiracer

add extra oxygen to the fuel/air mixture to theoretically "reduce carbon monoxide emissions". In reality, every car with an oxygen sensor (which is every car made since at least 1980) in the exhaust automatically adjusts the fuel/air mixture. Which means the addition of oxygen in the fuel doesn't do diddly-squat to carbon monoxide emissions in 99% of the cars on the road. The only thing it does is reduce gas milage and provide a subsidy to the corn farmers. BS!!!! End of rant ;-)

Boulder_CO_S8

Conoco at 75th and Arapahoe in Boulder sells real gas without any ethanol added.

TP