Ethanol Hunt Day 4 It took a few days for me to run through 20 gallons of regular gas in the Tahoe. Even with an average of 12.5 miles per gallon it took more driving than I'm used to in a test vehicle to get the needle towards E. This was during a mix of city and highway driving but I usually give people a disclaimer that "city" driving in Chicago is much harsher than what a suburbanite might consider city driving. In the last mile on my drive home there is a stop sign or light at EVERY block. And to get to the grocery store is three miles of pretty much the same treatment. When the trip computer told me I had 100 miles left on the tank I headed out to Villa Park, a western suburb of Chicago. I turned into a Marathon station found via www.e85fuel.com and pulled up to the old school pump. Unlike the modern pump in the city this one was devoid of any language about the benefits of E85. But better still, two attendants came out to help me. You have to love that. The younger attendant wanted to make sure I was going to use the E85 and told me which pump was faster. The older attendant, most likely a manager who looked like he knew his SUVs, wanted to check out the new Tahoe. He opened up the door, without asking, and leaned way in to check out the cabin. Go right ahead. 
He turned out to be pretty friendly though and told me he owns a 2003 Suburban and was really looking forward to the new model. He assured me he would buy one as soon as it hit the dealership. He also told me he used E85 in his 2003 all the time and related the mileage difference to me as going from 12.2 for regular to 11.8 on E85. Not too shabby. Unfortunately he had received word that ethanol prices would most likely rise soon because of the new popularity and PR push from the Bush administration and major manufacturers. OK, he just told me it was due to the popularity and I added the PR push part. I enjoyed talking to a real world E85 user and felt much better about myself as I climbed into a SUV with a full tank of mostly Ethanol. If I did the math right at the pump it was much closer to 11 mpg on regular gas and I don't like being a gas hog even if it is for educational purposes. Back to Chicago to see how much my mileage changes on the E85. 
Cost difference in Villa Park: E85 7.4% less than regular unleaded. Anecdotal mileage report: E85 gets 3.3% worse mileage than regular unleaded. Ethanol Hunt Day 1 The Great Ethanol Hunt Begins Dave Posted - April 04, 2006 Permalink |
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