Price difference before you buy e10 over 100% gas?

[BigBuck]

I have been filling up with 100% gasoline at the local Pure gas station ever since I have gone off to school. It is usually 5 to 7 cents more expensive. I needed to fill up yesterday, but I noticed the Pure station was 20 cents more expensive in the morning, and about 15 cents later in the day. I ended up buying fuel with ethanol in it.

What price do you guys decide the price difference isn't worth it?

 

[The_Jeff]

If I could get it I'd pay 5-10% more which translates now to 20-40 cents.

There's a guy just over the NH border who sells it for 80 cents more. I'm afraid it's stale because of its extreme price delta so it's keeping me away.

 

[Boomer]

That can be very vehicle specific IMO and you need to collect data. For example, my 2007 Frontier calls for premium gas to develop the most HP and stay in overdrive on grades. After about a year of taking data, on my truck I determined that the cost per mile (what really counts) was lower on premium gas than regular as regular induced a fairly large mileage drop. Yet I am aware of other Frontier owners with the same engine who see no difference in mileage on their vehicles.

So take some datat. Run about 5-10 tanks striaght of pure gas. Then run the tank pretty low and fill up with ethanol/gas blend. Run about 5-10 tanks. Take careful mileage data using the miles on the odometer divided by the gallons. The calculate the dollars spent per mile drive. You'll have your anwer!

 

[JHZR2]

The question is if you see really better MPGs with it. When we were down in FL, there were places selling it, so I bought some. Didnt see any practical difference, which surprised me. I was expecting to see something aligned to the thermodynamic basis of energy content.

So we went back to buying based upon price. We log every tank.

 

[HerrStig]

It's a good choice for gas you store for your generator or seasonal power tool. Doesn't go to bleep like the greenweenie alcohol sodden stuff.

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
The question is if you see really better MPGs with it. When we were down in FL, there were places selling it, so I bought some. Didnt see any practical difference, which surprised me. I was expecting to see something aligned to the thermodynamic basis of energy content.

So we went back to buying based upon price. We log every tank.


Same here. I use pure gas 3 of every 4 fill-ups, but after 2 years of logging every tank there's no noticeable difference. I still buy pure gas, mainly to support the indy business that sells it--but if that wasn't a consideration, I wouldn't spend any more than a couple of pennies for it. It just doesn't seem to make a difference in my car.

 

[Kestas]

about 16¢

 

[Eddie]

Technically e10 will yield about 4.3% less mileage than pure gas. So if your paying $3.00 or so for e10 then pure should be about $2.88 to get the same cost per mile. However; demand and greed upset the logic.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

I live in an area where both are offered, and in the past I've run on non-ethanol gas for a couple months and tracked my mileage to see if there was a significant difference.

I've never been able to tell a difference that wasn't within the margin of error created by the variables in daily driving and my left foot. Therefore, my selection is always E-10 since it's markedly less expensive than non-ethanol gasoline.

Now that E-15 will soon be available I look forward to using it, assuming it will also be price competitive in our market.

 

[Samilcar]

As others have already said, I can't tell the difference in the two vehicles in which we log mileage from tank to tank. It's possible that there could be a ~3% reduction with E10, but I can't pick up that small of a difference just with simple tank logging. 3% would be a difference of 30mpg and 29.4mpg with one vehicle, and 20mpg and 19.6mpg with the other. There's no way of picking up a decline that small and attributing it to any one factor outside of carefully controlled laboratory conditions. In my part of the country, E10 sells for about a 5% discount, so I think it's a wash.

However, in my very few tanks of testing E30, I've picked up a definite 15% decline in mpg.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Broad blanket statements do not tell the story. E10 affects many cars mileage even more than the so-called "law" of thermodynamics suggests. Highly platform specific, and even varies a bit among otherwise identical vehicles.

Most any recent car is going to enjoy it without a hiccup, but many of us hate the stuff for real reasons. These include degradation in storage, damage to fueling systems in small engines, and poor mileage.

 

[Sunnyinhollister]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Broad blanket statements do not tell the story. E10 affects many cars mileage even more than the so-called "law" of thermodynamics suggests. Highly platform specific, and even varies a bit among otherwise identical vehicles.

Most any recent car is going to enjoy it without a hiccup, but many of us hate the stuff for real reasons. These include degradation in storage, damage to fueling systems in small engines, and poor mileage.


In the left coast (kaliforia) we don't have a choice in the matter. Everything is E10. Now, having said that, my 2010 F150 with the 5.4L V8 is getting a little over 20 mpg so I can't say it's causing me a significant loss in fuel economy. And I haven't seen any issues with the fuel systems in my small engines. Maybe because that is because it's not all that humid around here?

 

[zrxkawboy]

I've had cars where the mpg would consistently drop 10% on E10, and cars that showed very little, if any, difference. Shouldn't technically be that way, but it is.

 

[Kestas]

There have also been documented cases where, in the past, there was a significant drop in fuel economy when switching from E0 to E10. The drop was so great that the political argument of burning less gasoline was lost even with ethanol out of consideration.

I can only imagine some engines were designed using pure gas, but went wonky with E10. The sensors weren't calibrated for alcohol. We'll never really know excactly why, but few could argue with the documented results.

 

[smithph]

Locally E0 runs about 40 cents a gallon more than E10 regular at the few stations that carry it. But E0 is 90 octane not 87 like regular E10 is in these parts. I pay the extra for E0 for use in my mowers and 2 cycles etc. but not for my daily drivers. It would need to be priced closer to mid-grade 89 octane E10 for me to use it in the daily drivers, which runs about 15 cents a gallon more than 87 octane regular E10.

 

[mechtech2]

We can't get around chemistry. E10 or it's ilk have less energy/gallon.
Whether someone measures it with highly variable driving is not valid.
Note that most E10 pumps say UP TO 10%, NOT exactly 10%.

 

[Mamala Bay]

We had fresh E10 fuel from Costco some years ago NOT from the storage tanks. Fresh fuel ready made and delivered. DID make a difference lively performance.

On the other end meany complained of Costco poor performance fuel, rough idling and lack of "KICK". Costco fuel was spotty here some batches performed terribly...old fuel purchased with a discount. I get better MPG with Tesoro(non top tier) at certain locations..not all Tesoro are equal.

How many gallons of non E-10 are sold...it must be low volume. How old are non E-10 fuel that are sold?

Fresh fuel makes a difference..to compare fresh E-10 versus fresh non E-10 would be a better comparison.