[DeserTBoB]

It's nearly impossible for the "average Joe" to discern effects of fuel mixtures by driving around town in their daily lives. Only by doing the same route under similar atmospheric and driving conditions can any basis in fact be shown. I have something almost as good...a biweekly trip up the length of California on Cal. 99 from Lancaster to Chowchilla and return. This happens on Sundays, and traffic is minimal, allowing cruise control operation. This is a very old car, a Chrysler M-body with California emissions package and the 318 "P" engine. Since the state banned MBTE (itself a corporate scam that turned out to be both insidious and carcinogenic) I've been able to screw around with various fuel mixtures on a vehicle in excellent condition with baseline tuning settings.

Basic timing was set at 8° per factory specification, and all parts of the Chrysler SCA-II system are in operating condition as tested. Here's the verdict. At a near-constant 65 MPH except for departure and arrival times, MBTE-laced 89 octane fuel would reliably yield 25.2 MPG overall. These cars were well known in their day for being stingy with fuel (and with power) and high road mileage was common, as long as they had the 2 bbl. 318, lockup Torqflite and the 2.21:1 rear end. E10 showed up, and the mileage instantly plummeted to 21. Inspection of all three catalytic converters showed them to be in fine condition, with no appreciable extra back pressure, and all facets of ignition and carburation were checked and rechecked. The mileage stayed anchored at around 21. Then, after hearing the baloney that ETOH has a higher octane than regular gas, I switched to 87. The car barely made it to 18 MPG, as the knock detector was working overtime retarding the timing under load to prevent ping. Disconnecting the sensor yielded dangerous levels of detonation. For further runs, I switched to 92 octane, and ping is STILL a problem, which it never was before. Only by using premium E10 and jacking the basic timing up to 10° was I able to get up to 22.5 MPG average, and detonation on a dry day is a continual problem. That goes away for the most part on more humid days, proving that the fuel is the problem, not the engine.

WAKE UP! This ethanol scam showed up under the guise of "helping farmers" thanks to the constantly corrupt Bush Administration. Surely, something had to be done about MBTE, but this was a reward directly targeted at Bush's (and the right wing Republicans') corporate base. The great San Joaquin Valley of California, formerly "America's Breadbasket", used to planted on both sides of Cal. 99 with vegetables and table fruits. Now, acre after acre, even in the current drought, are being planted in feed-grade corn. There's a reason for this...screw people, let's make MONEY! Food prices and scattered shortages are already being reported. This isn't Brazil, people...we don't have enough arable land to replace our crop growing farmland with ethanol producing, water wasting corn!

On the upside, emissions are down even further than before, with the 25 year old catalytic converter still working as intended and CO and HC levels even further below California limits than before. CO is a paltry 5% of allowable! The cats are devoid of any deposits whatsoever, as are the plugs an piston crowns. MBTE used to, among other things, leave nasty little hard deposits all through the combustion and exhaust tracts, which just isn't there anymore. We won't even get into the damage MBTE did to synthetic rubber parts! Engine oil stays even cleaner than before, as well.

Bear in mind, this is a carbureted vehicle with only perfunctory engine management technology based mostly on single O2 sensors varying a solenoid controlled main jet, but the answer is clear and backs up the experiences of many others. E10 is responsible for a 15-25% DECREASE in fuel economy on these vehicles. Just to prove the point, I did as others have and made my own "E30" as a test of the octane and mileage "optimized mixture" claims. They're bull. Octane goes DOWN with further addiction of ETOH, and mileage on it was down to 17.8 MPG for that particular trip, worst of any.

America has once again been bamboozled by the powerful oil lobby (who controls the ethanol cartel) and used Dubya and his much smarter criminal VP to foist this scam on the country. Of course, the Republican farm lobbies are rolling in dough...YOUR dough! Note, however, that cars with modern engine management equipment MAY experience less of a loss in economy, but most likely at commensurate loss of power production.

More later on a 2008 Dodge Avenger with the 2.4L Itsachitty engine and CA tuning. Early tests there show less of a loss, but the unavailability of "E0" in California is complicating matters considerably.

Oh...part of what's happening to your "E10"? A LOT of it is winding up in your evap cannister on a hot day. My Chrysler has a hard time running after that thing purges, something never experienced with MBTE-laced gasoline.