What kind of gas do you put in your PriusC

The Clean Air Act 1990 Ammendments brought us reformulated gasoline to reduce smog and pollution from cars. It probably works overall. One of many R&D questions was: Does ethanol reduce emissions? There was a big joint industry-gov't "Auto-Oil study" and as the early data came in, it looked like ethanol did not help to reduce emissions in new cars. Congress moved quickly at this point to mandate ethanol. It was very controversial so-called "bad science." I do not think any "intellectual" states like CA or NY or northeast bought the premise that ethanol is cleaner burning. It was more farm state politics.

Also the lack of ethanol emissions benefit was a surprise scientific finding for everyone, because ethanol did indeed help older generation cars without catalytic converters. So Congress had already sort of decided to add ethanol, and the new data was just an inconvenient truth to be dealt with as a political issue. When they tell the story today, Congress says ethanol was added to reduce crude oil imports. But that's not true, the original purpose of reformulated gasoline was to come up with the cleanest recipe. Except politics got in the way.

 

I use 87 , just filled my first tank from new , dealer filled it , got 58.88 miles to the gallon.

 

I wasn't referring to NOx. I was referring to N2O, nitrous oxide.

 

I filled up my second tank with 100% pure.

Within 5-10 miles, I felt an incredible difference, really.

For the first 800+ miles, the engine shuttered, was jumpy, was noisy,
sounded actually scary.
I thought and read that the prius makes all kinds of noise and yada yada,
but after filling up, it was very noticeable. Smooth, quiet and Only drove
it today, but I seem to get "easier" mpg.
I gave the pedal more gas in a lot of spots and my mpg seems to be same or higher.

I am not going to come to an conclusions yet, only to give benefit of any doubt,
BUT I will be checking my mpg daily numbers to see how we pan out.

I am only filling up about every 3 weeks, so this will be a long road to do
a few tanks of 100% pure and then go back to 10% just to see any differences.

Oh, station is only a few blocks away, and price I paid for 87 100% was $3.89
87 10% was $3.57

And I will be filling up our 3G with it next time!

 

You don't have to go back to 10% ethanol blends to check what you already know. Completely clear your tank of any ethanol, stay away from it, don't poison your for-gasoline-designed car with ethanol. Keep looking for a station selling 100% pure gasoline at a lower price. There may be a lower priced 100% gas station in Leola. Despite the 32cent difference, your extra mpg might make up the difference in the extra money. But you already know your car performs like a sick baby on bad formula with 10% ethanol blend. That alone is worth the extra cost.

Repeating my post #29 from this thread:

Go to pure-gas.org for addresses to the minority of 5100+(now 5200+) stations(10 in every 350) selling 100% ethanol-free gasoline in the U.S. & Canada, plus a great zoomable map. Get away from ethanol. Don't worry about the brand.

The ethanol industry would like you to believe that 10% ethanol blends only lose 2-4% mpg due to that percentage less of btus in 10% ethanol blends. However, 100% ethanol is best in ethanol engines & 100% gasoline is best in gasoline engines(duh). Several on this Prius site know that ethanol is bad, but not enough. Since switching to 100% pure gasoline, our 3 cars' mpg has increased 8%, 7-8% & 5%. All 3 engines are smoother(1 manual shifter shifts much smoother with less stumbling), quieter & need less downshifting while ascending hills due to extra power!

If you have careful records of your 10% ethanol blends & take careful records of your switch to 100% pure gasoline, you won't go back. A little extra in 4 or 5 categories will make you happy...... really happy.

 

I have no problem paying 8-9% more for the 100%

I may run a tank of 10% every few, to keep clean, as some are saying...
but that may happen when the traveling is in place, or when I just have to stop at
station where I am not familiar with.

I do know that the price of 100% fluctuates, and some take advantage of it,
so I think a tank of 10% here or there may be ok.

I am fully content with paying the extra and keeping my puppies happy!

 

new to the site, glad to be here!

pretty sure that i am going to be pulling the trigger and picking up a C3 this weekend, and i have been reading this thread intently.

i live in fort lauderdale, and there are no stations selling 87 octane 100% nearby (there are some marine stations, but prettty sure the C doesn't have a floating option to allow me to get to the pumps). there are a bunch selling 90 octane 100% ethanol free.

so the question is what is preferable for greater mpg and performance: 87 octane 10 % ethanol or 90 octane 100% ethanol free?

this forum is great, y'all seem to be really knowledge. can't wait to get my new car and contribute a bit... thanks to prius dan in arkansas for pointing me to the site, and thanks to y'all for the knowledge boost!

 

he means me! i'm famous!

 

Only one station that supposedly has 100% ethanol in 90 octane (hasn't been updated since March). Unfortunately, the station is unattended and when I visited today, all 4 pumps claimed "may contain up to 10% ethanol."

 

There is a station selling 87 octane 100% ethanol-free gasoline at Lighthouse Point Marina. You really need to use 100% ethanol-free gasoline in your engine designed to run 100% gasoline. Your engine was not made to run ethanol. Ethanol needs ethanol engines with much higher compression ratios than gasoline engines. If pure-gas.org doesn't list a station selling 87 octane 100% pure gasoline in Ft. Lauderdale, start demanding 87 octane 100% pure gasoline. Lots of stations carry 100% pure gasoline. Get them to carry 87 octane 100% pure gasoline. Your engine will thank you for 100% pure gasoline.

 

thanks! that's not too far from me; do you know if they will let me fill a car there or is it boats only?

 

Throw some 105 octane E85 in there Just dont go over half a tank of E85 blended with E10 or it'll cost you less to fill and get the same mpg as straight E10 Shhh, dont tell the Ethanol haters this they'll tell you its all a big lie

Mike


iPhone

 

e85 is pretty hard to come by in florida...

 

The stations are pretty spread out in that state It's not recommended in the Prius anyhow. I run it straight in my Saturn Vue and get 23.5 mpg highway & 19.5 mpg city driving every week I've run 5 gallons per tank of regular gas in rental Prii with no loss in mpg averaged over a whole tank. It works but is not recommended in the Prius Oh well...

Mike


iPhone

 

Originally Posted by litesong
There is a station selling 87 octane 100% ethanol-free gasoline at Lighthouse Point Marina.
////////////////////
smedvin wrote:

thanks! that's not too far from me; do you know if they will let me fill a car there or is it boats only?
///////////////////
litesong wrote:
I'm in Washington state. Hold on.............
No, can't help you. Google Earth only shows cars, boats, a parking lot & trees in the Marina.

They may be like Oregon. You can fill up 5 gallon gas cans, but not your car. It sounds round-about, but 100% ethanol-free gasoline is worth it & is what your gasoline engine was designed for.

 

If people doubt that the Prius was desinged
for 100% non ethanol gas
remember this:

The EPA conducts their MPG test with
regular unleaded gas in the Prius and
no Ethanol

 

I was looking for more info on how the EPA does its tests, and I found a section at the US Government's official Fuel Economy website which gives comparisons of the MPG of various vehicles; here's the page which includes the Prius c.

What's interesting is the column titled Our User's Average MPG, which on some of the cars which has a Show Details link to real-world mileage numbers. This page has a further Show Details link giving the average MPG, the state, and the type of driving.

There's a page on the site where you can contribute your own numbers for this section.

 

i use the cheapest gas at chevron. regular.

 

Even though it is NOT recommended to run E85 in a Prius, try a E85/E10 blend that calculates out to E30 to E40 and come back and post your mpg increases It works but many have not tried it as we all know what the gas cap says on the 2012's There is a difference from E10 to E85. In the middle called E30 to E40 is a peak in mpg in many vehicles, the Prius included. Don't ask me how I tested this

Mike :tea:

 

I tried a couple of tanks of premium. Didn't notice any difference in how it runs or in mpgs. I'll stick to regular.

I've gone back and forth with 10% and regular fuel in the Camaro. I always get an mpg or two less with 10%. That's about the same spread between what I get with regular and premium. I usually use regular. I never use 10% ethanol in anything any more.