General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHas anyone tried the flex fuels?
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
(16,230 posts)You shouldn't use it if you don't.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible-fuel_vehicle
physioex
(6,890 posts)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
(52,166 posts)I believe the Top Fuel Dragsters run on Ethanol for that purpose.
Travis_0004
(5,417 posts)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)
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.