Has anyone tried the flex fuels?

[dsc]

I was filling up today and noticed a flex fuel that was 50 cents cheaper per gallon. I can use it but didn't try it. If you tried it how was it. Did your mileage go down? Were there any issues with performance?

[drm604]

1. Do you have a flex fuel vehicle?

You shouldn't use it if you don't.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible-fuel_vehicle

[dsc]

2. yes I do

[physioex]

3. Never have.....

But I have read fuel economy drops but the engine runs better because the fuel is of higher octane (probably not something the average driver would notice).

[dsc]

4. well that is an interesting trade off

[physioex]

7. Indeed....

I believe the Top Fuel Dragsters run on Ethanol for that purpose.

[Travis_0004]

5. Here is some fuel economy data

2015 Chevy Impala flex fuel vehicle gets 22mpg on gas, or 16mpg on E85 (source fueleconomy.gov)

So flex fuel gets 27% less fuel economy. If gas is 2.60 where you live, then unless E-85 is 27% less, or 1.87 you are not saving money.

Even if I break even with E-85, I can get 330 miles on gas and only 240 miles on E-85 (assuming 15 gallons). I'll take the gas, and fill up a bit less.


There might be some differences between vehicles. I randomly picked chevy, looked up 2015 E-85 models and assumed the impala was the most fuel efficient on the list (not knowing that only the high performance impala is E-85) Results may very depending on the exact model. Why not look up your car and see where your break even point is (but even breaking even, I would use gas, for longer range)

[dsc]

6. thanks

It looks like the flex fuel costs me a bit more. Range matters sometimes but not others for me. But apparently across the board the gas is cheaper on a per mile basis for me. I still might try the other fuel just to see what it does.