Is Ethanol in your gasoline?

[LinuxGuy]

Ethanol is replacing MTBE in gasoline in the US!
http://www.seco.cpa.state.tx.us/re_ethanol_mtbe.htm

5-10% Ethanol content would also have an impact on fuel economy of the Smart. We do know that E85 causes about a 29% decrease in mpg as you use 1.4 gals of E85 for every 1 gal of gasoline. Using this data, a rough estimate of the effect of 10% Ethanol on mpg is 3.4%. Now 3.4% of 41 mpg yields a decrease of approximately 1.4 mpg.

What do you think?

[Old smart]

It may already be accounted for. I'm sure that the mileage testing was done with the recommended available pump gas, probably with 10% ethanol.

[chubhunter]

I have stopped using ethanol when ever possible. Mileage difference is to great not too.

[OC1Dave]

We use ethanol (actually methanol - almost the same thing and interchangable) in our race car and get about 3/4 mile/gal! Ethanol hurts gas mileage because it has less energy "in" it. On the other hand, it is usable at much a higher compression ratio, and if an engine is built for ONLY E85, it can be smaller in cubic inches at the same horsepower, thereby negating the lower MPG. The E85 engines now being built (by GM for instance) have to have a lower comp ratio so that they can also be run on gasoline without detonation, and have a horsepower and fuel mileage disadvantage.