Rental Car MPG

[SoobieOut]

I have been working out of town for the past 6 months, so each week I get to try out a different rental car.

One thing I have noticed on the cars that have a instant MPG display, is that the mileage is usually poor until I buy more fuel. All I can figure is that people are filing up these cars with E85 gas, as it is a great deal cheaper than real gas. The difference is about 10 MPG after refiling with real gas.

Amazing thing is that most of these cars are not flex fuel, so I am wondering about the long term damage to the engines and fuel systems running the cars with E85. Also the driving performance is much worst with the E85 fuel.

Just an observation and warning if you consider buying an old rental car.