10% ethanol has been part of the scenery around here for a long time. It'* hard to compare gas mileage with and without it, as most of the ethanol blends seem to max out at 91 octane. Can get 93 from the ones without it. I show about a 1-2 mpg drop when using the ethanol blends over the Shell Top Tier gasoline. So does my friend with a stock 2000 SSEi.

I read some claim MPG losses greater than the % ethanol. I fail to see how that is even possible. Say the ethanol didn't even burn, you would lose 10% mpg. But it does burn, so... those that claim higher than 10% have other issues, I would think.

x2

Anyway to get away from the dependency is good in my book. I'll gladly take a hit on MPG just for that reason alone.

I won't get in to my politics about gas prices though.

Oil dependency? Did you know more fossil fuels are used to distribute the grain, process the ethanol, then distribute it to the refineries than you get out of it when you use it?

I agree. I have no particular dislike of ethanol blends, and a 1-2 mpg hit is not significant enough for me to worry about. I do like that I can get the 93 octane without it, but would not avoid an ethanol based 93 octane blend. What needs to be done is find a more efficient way of producing and transporting it.

As for the two 2000 SSEis, they are both fully tuned up, O2, LTFT, KR, and timing all well within the norm.

Maybe now. But don't ya think when we start making more ethanol, all the overhead will be powered by ethanol? Maybe the trucks that transport it will be running off of bio diesel.

Give it time.

For the sake of argument, I found this link:
http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/questions.php

I recently purchased a 2007 Yukon which is an FFV (Flex Fuel Vehicle). The paper Will mentions at the opening of this post is compelling, but not the only side of the argument. There is also a lot of misinformation circulating as "common knowledge".

One thing I found interesting was the statement that you could run a tank of E85 once in a while with no negative effects. Considering the octane is even higher than premium gas, I wonder if that one tank would produce any performance gains in a bonneville.

In any event, though I am contributing to the deaths of a portion of those 200 people, and my mileage is about 15% less than when I run gasoline, I'm still appreciating the cost differential. I am saving about 30-35 cents per gallon.

Personally, I'm all for more ethanol and bio-diesel plants, cause that leaves less ground for hay. This year, and probably next year, hay prices are finally gonna catch up with the times. Since the 70'*, hay prices have stayed about the same, while everything else has doubled, tripled, even quadrupled in price. There are other forms of agriculture that are feeling the higher feed prices, but food prices are slowly climbing too.