E85 Myth
Some of you may or may not know this about me, but I'm somewhat of a car fanatic. I spend too many hours reading about cars, reliability, mileage, what to buy, what not to buy. My knowledge is geared towards cars today and generally cars I can actually imagine myself driving. That would mean I know a bit about cars under $40,000. Not that I would ever buy a $40,000 car with 4 kids, but maybe someday. One never knows.
Recently, Aaron's car was on the fritz... he drives a Ford. His Focus is actually a decent car but lately there seems to be some clutch issues that arrived about 50,000 miles too soon. I in turn utilized a corporate discount and rented a vehicle I would never buy: a ridiculously large Chrysler Aspen.
Now, Chryslers are crappy cars packaged to look pretty. They consistently test poorly and demonstrate even worse reliability. Recently on the Consumer Reports Car Blog a test driver for them purchased a Chrysler Sebring and quickly experienced some wiring problems. The opened the hood and discovered that: THE WIRES WERE DUCT TAPED TO THE INSIDE OF THE CAR!!! hahahaha! Go GM! And they wonder why people are buying 'yotas and Hondas.
So, anyhow this giant SUV* was able to run on the E85 fuel. E85 is basically 85% ethanol and 15% regular gas. This fuel is sort of the first step towards ethanol/bio-fuel running vehicles. It cuts way back on emissions, but you lose a lot of efficiency. Like 25% less. Basically, E85 makes you feel better about driving your tank to the office every day, but it will cost you more cash to do so. Oh, and right now there is exactly 1 gas station in the entire state of Massachusetts that even sells it. Connecticut has a few. You can find out where there E85 gas stations near you here.
So, the E85 option was a bust for me. I imagine it is for most people. Some benefits of the fuel include a 105 octane rating, your engine runs cooler and cleaner and there is a supposed increase in performance. I was driving a Chrysler, so an increase in performance was hardly going to happen. As for the octane giving you a boost - if you're interested in cooling off the ozone and preventing the world from burning up then going from 0-60 in a half second faster probably isn't your thing.
So... what's the deal then with this fuel? It's a band-aid for the bleeding hearts out there who don't really want to sacrifice their living room on wheels. It's for those people who can't seem to cram into a smaller vehicle or more economical one but want to feel good about themselves. Look, if you want to drive a fricken monster truck, then just do it! Seriously! You look stupid anyway... adding that little yellow gas gap and an E85 plaque to your wide load won't make me respect you.
So, there you go. E85 will go the way of DIVX and beta players... as soon as the world figures out how to make a truly electric vehicle that can be plugged into a windmill in our backyards. This is not an easy battle. But as long as we can subsidize their research, more power to us!
*More on the Aspen: It looked pretty at first. Wood grain trim, shiny black with chrome. It actually drove pretty nicely for a fancied up Durango. I had driven a Durango when they first came out and found it huge and unwieldy. I had huge problems trying to judge where I was on the road and parking was a joke. This was much improved in the Aspen. What really grabbed me were the exposed bolts, wires and virtually NO fit and finish. If you look inside the door near the hinges, better cars and trucks will have things look "finished". It's sort of like that extra coat of top coat on a great manicure. What's the point if the shine isn't there right?
Okay, so even the bolts could be overlooked. What was the real deal breaker??? Two things: mileage and blind spots. I average about 12 miles per gallon on a mix of city and highway. 12. Miles. Per . Gallon.
The blind spots were so numerous that in order to navigate this beast through a parking lot with a lot of curbing, I had to basically stand behind the wheel. The column that runs between the windshield and the driver's side and passenger side doors was like a damn tree trunk. You just can't see around that thing. So things like, oh, pedestrians stepping off a curb are completely unseen. Parking lot lines? NAY! What a pain in the ass.
I actually missed my minivan. I also felt totally stupid driving that thing. It was just so big and so ridiculous. My kids LOVED it though! Plenty of space, lots of cool little storage things and the automatic tailgate was truly wonderful. I didn't completely hate the Aspen, I just couldn't love it.
Recently, Aaron's car was on the fritz... he drives a Ford. His Focus is actually a decent car but lately there seems to be some clutch issues that arrived about 50,000 miles too soon. I in turn utilized a corporate discount and rented a vehicle I would never buy: a ridiculously large Chrysler Aspen.
Now, Chryslers are crappy cars packaged to look pretty. They consistently test poorly and demonstrate even worse reliability. Recently on the Consumer Reports Car Blog a test driver for them purchased a Chrysler Sebring and quickly experienced some wiring problems. The opened the hood and discovered that: THE WIRES WERE DUCT TAPED TO THE INSIDE OF THE CAR!!! hahahaha! Go GM! And they wonder why people are buying 'yotas and Hondas.
So, anyhow this giant SUV* was able to run on the E85 fuel. E85 is basically 85% ethanol and 15% regular gas. This fuel is sort of the first step towards ethanol/bio-fuel running vehicles. It cuts way back on emissions, but you lose a lot of efficiency. Like 25% less. Basically, E85 makes you feel better about driving your tank to the office every day, but it will cost you more cash to do so. Oh, and right now there is exactly 1 gas station in the entire state of Massachusetts that even sells it. Connecticut has a few. You can find out where there E85 gas stations near you here.
So, the E85 option was a bust for me. I imagine it is for most people. Some benefits of the fuel include a 105 octane rating, your engine runs cooler and cleaner and there is a supposed increase in performance. I was driving a Chrysler, so an increase in performance was hardly going to happen. As for the octane giving you a boost - if you're interested in cooling off the ozone and preventing the world from burning up then going from 0-60 in a half second faster probably isn't your thing.
So... what's the deal then with this fuel? It's a band-aid for the bleeding hearts out there who don't really want to sacrifice their living room on wheels. It's for those people who can't seem to cram into a smaller vehicle or more economical one but want to feel good about themselves. Look, if you want to drive a fricken monster truck, then just do it! Seriously! You look stupid anyway... adding that little yellow gas gap and an E85 plaque to your wide load won't make me respect you.
So, there you go. E85 will go the way of DIVX and beta players... as soon as the world figures out how to make a truly electric vehicle that can be plugged into a windmill in our backyards. This is not an easy battle. But as long as we can subsidize their research, more power to us!
*More on the Aspen: It looked pretty at first. Wood grain trim, shiny black with chrome. It actually drove pretty nicely for a fancied up Durango. I had driven a Durango when they first came out and found it huge and unwieldy. I had huge problems trying to judge where I was on the road and parking was a joke. This was much improved in the Aspen. What really grabbed me were the exposed bolts, wires and virtually NO fit and finish. If you look inside the door near the hinges, better cars and trucks will have things look "finished". It's sort of like that extra coat of top coat on a great manicure. What's the point if the shine isn't there right?
Okay, so even the bolts could be overlooked. What was the real deal breaker??? Two things: mileage and blind spots. I average about 12 miles per gallon on a mix of city and highway. 12. Miles. Per . Gallon.
The blind spots were so numerous that in order to navigate this beast through a parking lot with a lot of curbing, I had to basically stand behind the wheel. The column that runs between the windshield and the driver's side and passenger side doors was like a damn tree trunk. You just can't see around that thing. So things like, oh, pedestrians stepping off a curb are completely unseen. Parking lot lines? NAY! What a pain in the ass.
I actually missed my minivan. I also felt totally stupid driving that thing. It was just so big and so ridiculous. My kids LOVED it though! Plenty of space, lots of cool little storage things and the automatic tailgate was truly wonderful. I didn't completely hate the Aspen, I just couldn't love it.
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