Big article, read the part that has the title fuel consumption or similar title [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel]Ethanol fuel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
And the source for the 3% hit comes from an unknown Australian source... RAA Motoring Car Advice & Information Ethanol in Petrol I like my brother's experiments better... And remember wikipedia's popular disclaimer "Wikipedia cannot guarantee the validity of the information found here"
Well you may like your Brother's experiments better, but Ethanol has 34% less energy content by volume than gasoline, so it's logical to assume pure ethanol would deliver 34% less mileage than pure gasoline and a 10% blend would deliver 3.4% less than pure. Most people burn reforumulated or oxygenated fuel because it burns cleaner. (you don't have a choice obviously) Oxygenated fuel while burning cleaner, also contains less energy per unit volume than pure gas, again only slightly so the mileage hit of E10 is only about half when compared to oxygenated fuel. Then to really screw things up, the ethanol percentage is hit and miss. Where I get fuel is the local jobber, he pumps the fuel directly from the pipeline and he is the one that blends the ETH and other additives. Ethanol is not pumped through the pipeline with the gas. According to him when gasoline was $4 a gallon there was almost always enough ethanol available to ensure every gallon of gas had 10% ethanol in it. Now that gasoline is much cheaper, there is a lot less ethanol being used here locally, so many trucks leave with no ethanol in them. The stickers here in Ga. on the gas pumps say that the fuel MAY contains as much as 10% ethanol, they do not say the the fuel contains 10% ethanol. I believe however there are several states that mandate ethanol use. I assume that in those states the fuel will always contain 10% ethanol. If you really want to know how much ethanol your fuel contains, it's a simple test. All this is required is a graduated cylinder. I used to use a Ball Mason jar or there are several testers available. Not lab accurate, but cheap. this is a video of one being used.
Good to know it can be tested in a cheaper way. In Indiana, gas stations are not required to display the ETOH sticker on pumps, but I believe all gas sold here have it. Gas America and a few others have the sticker saying "enriched with 10% etanol", so I assume those station really have 10% on it, but would not know until I test it myself.
Inspired by a64pilot's run, I'm giving it a go in my 2010. I have a few things working against me: E10 gas, a 9 mile (each way) commute to work, and at least three 1 mile trips each day. But it will be fun to see how far I can go. I've only gone 53 miles so far. Hopefully I can get to 800 before the cold weather sets in! Bryan
892.2, if I had known, I'd have made it to 900+ Somebody that knows what they are doing and has the commute for it could go over a 1000. Been done several times in Gen II's I'm sure