Can I save the planet?

[Perrin]

So since I now own a flex fuel vehicle, I decided if saving the world from my personal greenhouse gas was within my budget. I have decided that is a resounding NO!!!

I found a station selling E85 for $2.75 compared to $3.29 for regular unleaded. In my burb tank, that's a huge difference. Being as I needed fuel anyhow, I put half a tank in to see what would happen. Drove home last night and back to work today( a total of 110 miles) with only a small detour to the Home depot two blocks from my office and HOLY CRUD......I know the avg economy reading on two trip meters display isn't accurate, but it is at least consistent. 15.9 mpg with regular fuel and 13.7 with E85. That's insane......After doing some searching online, I find out that it's "normal" to lose between 5-30% of your fuel mileage when using E85. Anyone else try using this stuff?

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to all the people in the world at this time because it is just not within my budget to save the planet yet.

Thank you and that is all

 

[ezdaar]

Run E85 a few taks every 6 months or so to clean out your fuel system and top end. Other than that, dont waste your time unless your Turbo or supercharged

 

[StevenFromTexas]

After doing some searching online, I find out that it's "normal" to lose between 5-30% of your fuel mileage when using E85. Anyone else try using this stuff?

No, I have not tried that crap. I want it outlawed, and if any damn politician gets in front of my Tahoe and tells me he's a supporter of E85, he or she may become road kill.

 

[brassknucklemafia]

doing an e85 swap-over in a small econo car is a great idea, but trying to run e85 in a non turbo truck the size of ours is a joke. you burn more more fuel, get less economy from it, so they charge you less, ok i get that, fine. but you also have far less hydrocarbons coming from the tailpipe, my major problem is this, in trucks as large as ours, knowing that we will burn more faster, have to fill up more often and get less gas mileage than with regular petrol, even if e85 is significantly cheaper, is it really? if you have to to the filling station twice as often as before? think about it. in my honda, i plan on the e85 changeover (it makes sense ), but for now, i will continue to burn the shit out of barney the big dead dinosaur thank you kindly, knowing that my carbon footprint will be put right up your pruis's ass if you dont move out my way on the highway.

 

[domin8]

Ethanol just doesn't produce the same energy as gasoline. It's as simple as that. I wish they'd get it out of the gas. No more E10. I want E0. Not only has corn driven up the cost of gas, but it's done it to everything else too.

 

[Perrin]

It was amazing to me while searching for a station near me that some places gouge the hell out of people who want to use it. Regular gasoline in my area averages around $3.28 per gallon. The E85 is all over the place. Like I said, I found two places near each other that were charging $2.75. While most places were not as cheap as that, they were still about $.10 less than regular fuel. There are always people that will try and make you pay for being different though, and that showed in a cluster of stations in south fort worth charging upwards of $3.89 per gallon.

I'm all for doing our part to save the environment, recycling, solar power, etc... I'm even looking into a wind turbine for the house since we live on top of a small hill. But damn, why do people try and make it so hard to do the right thing....

 

[TheFuzz]

I'll echo everyone else's opinions on here. E85 is great for smaller vehicles that are already fuel efficient, that won't take as dramatic of a hit on their fuel mileage.

For bigass heavy SUV's and trucks though, it's pretty pointless. Whatever emissions reduction you gain from using the stuff is all but negated when you burn through it 30% faster.

It does have a higher octane rating (the 94-96 value is pretty accurate), so maybe it'd be good for the strip if your truck actually has some balls but you don't want to pay for straight up race gas (and gas mileage doesn't matter anyway)...but other than that, I'll pass.

Hey, at least it makes the hippies feel good about themselves...

 

[OHSIXX]

You will lose HP and fuel mileage with E85......my buddy throws it in his Sierra and loses about 3-4 MPG....

 

[db9938]

Last time I looked into using it, the cost per mile benefit of using E85, means that it would have to be less than $2.00 a gallon, compared to the $3.50-something a gallon for regular.

I have yet to do it with the Yuk, but I had an s-10 that I hand calc'd the MPG for Reg, MID, and Premium. Interestingly, I got the best cost per mile from mid grade.

Unfortunately, with most green agenda things, they don't take the economics into consideration. I looked at what it would cost to have solar panels installed on my house, it was in the neighborhood of $50k. To see a ROI, it would take 13.8 years, with the average life expectancy of the panels being 8-10 years. It just doesn't make good money sense.

 

[The 'ER]

Remember this as well to make E85 they use a ton of water to distill it. I have a buddy who runs it in his built rice burner but he also planned to do so. It makes some good power but don't waste your time with it. I also hear it trashes your filters, this is all 2nd hand horror stories but from people I trust.