First Tank of E85

[crashz]

Well the price was $3.29/gallon for E85, $3.53 for regular and near my house I can get regular at $3.34, so if I see any drop in mileage, it won't be economical. With that said, I wouldn't be able to buy E85 on a regular basis since the nearest station with it is at least an hour away.

We don't have much for alternative files available in New England, so this really was a first time that I could try it.

 

[crazyal]

We use to have enough places around that sold non ethanol regular gas so I could swap back and forth between it and E10. I noticed the same thing, normal driving wasn't really effected but you just needed to give it a little more to do the same speeds. Starting off was where I really noticed it, it's also where you use the most gas. I really needed to use more throttle with e10 where the non ethanol just had more pep. Since there's no e85 pumps around I don't have the option but I kind of thought that it would be more of the same.

 

[94BULLITT]

We use to have enough places around that sold non ethanol regular gas so I could swap back and forth between it and E10. I noticed the same thing, normal driving wasn't really effected but you just needed to give it a little more to do the same speeds. Starting off was where I really noticed it, it's also where you use the most gas. I really needed to use more throttle with e10 where the non ethanol just had more pep. Since there's no e85 pumps around I don't have the option but I kind of thought that it would be more of the same.

How much different was your fuel economy? I think to get the most performance a vehicle should have a special tune for e10 but the fuel economy will be worse than gas. I think a lot of e10 has more than 10% ethanol.

 

[Monster5601]

E85 drop my average MPG by just over 5 MPG compared to E10 on my 2003 L59 (engine) Tahoe.

 

[PhilY]

I've heard running E10 as compared to standard gas will drop your mpg by about 5%. Has anyone determined what the actual difference is?

 

[Diamondpilot]

I've heard running E10 as compared to standard gas will drop your mpg by about 5%. Has anyone determined what the actual difference is?

Thats about right.

Running E85 its roughly 35%. I have tested it in a Ford and Nissan and my co pilot tested it in his GM and all three had better than a 30% drop.

Chris

 

[dodge man]

Let me correct something someone else said. With E85, most vehicles will not make more power. You can build an engine to make more power with E85 since it has a high octane, but unless you have a high compression engine, most vehicles will not make more power.

 

[94BULLITT]

A naturally aspirated street engine will make more power with E85 but the power increase is very minimally in most cases less than 10hp with a proper tune.

 

[SSdoxie]

I've heard running E10 as compared to standard gas will drop your mpg by about 5%. Has anyone determined what the actual difference is?

That 5% is very clsoe to what I have seen on my 2011 Silverado 5.3l. When I first got this truck, I checked actual fuel mileage myself to compare with the computer. Computer was dead-on. I tried 2 tanks of non-ethynol and first tank I purposely run tank down so fuel warning light had been on for awhile. With E10 it averages 17.6 mpg. Filled up with non-ethynol and made a run to Little Rock, AR averaged 19.1 (mostly highway @ 80mph). Had to use E10 to get back home. Second time was making trips to Knoxville & Chattanooga (lot of hills) and had similar results. This was runnig with empty truck so not anything saved $ wise with extra cost of non-ethynol, but if I had to make those runs loaded or pulling, I would pay the price for straight gas.

 

[94BULLITT]

Here is another link to a e85 dyno on a car with a e85 tune.

http://vmptuning.com/forum/showthread.php?t=833