E10 or regular unleaded?

[gollygirl1]

Ok so I have my new Yaris - not even a week yet - but went to the service station (petrol station) and I noticed inside the petrol compartment when I opened it, it says E10.

So I raced in to the petrol station to ask which bowser I use?
My previous Honda Accord (1995 model) used straight out unleaded petrol.

I have read it is safe to use either "unleaded" or "Unleaded E10" in the tank - but wonder if it is better for my car to use the E10?

The yaris is the new 2013 model.

I did ask the dealership and told him my regular BP station does not have E10 and he suggested finding another station that does.

[bronsin]

You are blessed to have plain regular unleaded gas in Australia!

E10 will cost more (it does here) and give you less miles per gallon. (or km per liter)

By all means put regular unleaded in your Yaris!

Not a problem!

[dragoonmc]

Pretty much every gas station in the US sells E10 blend normally and the nonethanol blend is more expensive because there is a government subsidy to use Ethanol here.
E10 does have less energy in it so it will give you less MPG

[mirapatec]

In my area of the USA, most everywhere has E-10 gasoline. Luckily, I also live where E-0 (non-ethanol) gasoline is sold. It is listed as "marine" gas. It does cost a little more, but I do my best to fill up with E-0 whenever possible. Though, I have run E-10 several times with no issues. I am still evaluating the cost-effectiveness at this point.

[gollygirl1]

Thank you - I last filled up with E10 and still have half a tank - should I let it get low (or empty) before refilling with regular unleaded? Or does that not matter if they are mixed?

[bronsin]

Doesnt make any difference.

[gollygirl1]

Thank you

[ardvark2175]

I was curious about the e-10 fuel also. I ran off a tank of e-10 on a 180 mile trip I do three times a month. I use this rout to check mpg, and run the route with the cruise set at 60 and 65 in the same areas. I got 40 mpg with e-10. I drove 20 miles out of town, and arrived at a gas station I know sells non ethanol fuel. I have to by the premium to get the non ethanol. I then drove back to the start point where I make my 180 mile run and reset the mpg meter. I got the exact same mileage. 40.2 mpg. So I guess ill just stick with using 87octane e10, and not worry about it. Other people may have had different results, but that was my experience.

[bronsin]

Hmm now that oil production in the US is beginning to rival that of countries like Saudi Arabia Im wondering what the justification for ethanol is?

[dj92]

E10 is a bit cheaper here in Germany, about 3%.
I tried it once when I had to fill up in Germany, and the loss of power was unbearable to me.
Sad that Toyota didn't add a sensor that detects the mixture of fuel like Ford does :(

However, I usually go to Luxemburg to fill up, it's only about 10km and standard fuel is 15% cheaper than here (but still almost twice what you pay)

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by dj92

(but still almost twice what you pay)

I feel for you. There is a fair amount of variation between some states here. I paid (per US gallon - gas for my Yaris) $3.699 USD in Spring Valley, New York at night on October 24th (one of only 2 stations under $3.83 USD per US gallon on RT-59 between Nyack, NY and Suffern, NY (about 12 miles between the two towns - both could be classified as suburbs of New York City). On October 28th at night I paid $2.999 USD per US gallon in Anderson, South Carolina.

[tk-421]

Originally Posted by bronsin

Hmm now that oil production in the US is beginning to rival that of countries like Saudi Arabia Im wondering what the justification for ethanol is?

Giant corn subsidies due to decades of incessant lobbying by corn growers. There is no other reason that is immediately obvious. Corn ethanol does not help with fuel economy or performance, and it certainly doesn't help the environment.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by nookandcrannycar

I feel for you. There is a fair amount of variation between some states here. I paid (per US gallon - gas for my Yaris) $3.699 USD in Spring Valley, New York at night on October 24th (one of only 2 stations under $3.83 USD per US gallon on RT-59 between Nyack, NY and Suffern, NY (about 12 miles between the two towns - both could be classified as suburbs of New York City). On October 28th at night I paid $2.999 USD per US gallon in Anderson, South Carolina.

I just paid $2.819 here in the Houston area a couple of hours ago (over a dollar less per gallon than most of the prices in NY suburbs of NYC a week ago).

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by tk-421

Giant corn subsidies due to decades of incessant lobbying by corn growers. There is no other reason that is immediately obvious. Corn ethanol does not help with fuel economy or performance, and it certainly doesn't help the environment.

I feel you must be absolutely correct. On two trips this year (in August and this month) to get to other places I wanted to visit, I drove by lots of farmland in a total of 32 states. I hadn't been through any farmland in any of those states since 2010, and I was overwhelmed by the dominance of corn among the crops.

[BEEF]

The road taxes in the US are put on the price of gas. i live in north carolina where the road tax is relatively high compared to surrounding states. my parents make special trips to virginia to buy gas as it is usually 30+ cents cheaper per gallon. just not cost effective enough for me. my tank is small and my time is important.

Also, mixing e-10 and e-0 is fine. you'd end up with something in the middle (e-5 for example). i have heard that ethanol can produce more power than gasoline in a purpose built motor. it would need to be very high compression ratio (i've heard 17:1). though i don't know of any vehicles built this way (other than diesels), it would be cool to see it implemented. the flex fuel cars just advance and retard timing from what i hear.

[dj92]

Originally Posted by BEEF

Also, mixing e-10 and e-0 is fine. you'd end up with something in the middle (e-5 for example). i have heard that ethanol can produce more power than gasoline in a purpose built motor.

That'd make sense, here in europe (or at least in germany) we have about 5% ethanol even in the standard gas.
I also heard (!) that the Yaris was designed to fit european needs?! (or was it the Aygo?)

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by BEEF

The road taxes in the US are put on the price of gas. i live in north carolina where the road tax is relatively high compared to surrounding states. my parents make special trips to virginia to buy gas as it is usually 30+ cents cheaper per gallon.

This reminds me of what my ex girlfriend's parents do. They live in a SE suburb of Seattle. They like to entertain. They own a minivan. They drive to Portland to fill up the minivan with alcohol (for human comsumption , at Costco IIRC) mainly because there is no sales tax in Oregon...although I think partly because they don't have state run liquor stores like in Washington. When all that alcohol is gone, they repeat the procedure. They also save any big ticket retail purchases of a manageable size (TVs, cameras, computers, etc.) for these trips because of the no sales tax policy in Oregon.