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I run 87 octane 10% (more or less) ethanol fuel in everything except the diesel truck.
For the lawn/garden equipment I put Sta-Bil in the gas cans before I fill them. The garden tractor, zero-turn riding mower, weed whacker, mini-tiller, and chain saw have always started and run just fine.
The two-stroke-cycle engines get Opti-2 as well as the Sta-Bil. I have used fuel that was more than 2 years old, no trouble
The Subaru, PT Cruiser turbo, Jeep, and 1966 Chevelle get ethanol 87 octane.
The Ford V10 in the motorhome gets Sta-Bil at the final 87 octane ethanol fill in the fall, then sits all winter. The on-board generator is run for at least half an hour after that last fill to ensure its fuel system has Sta-Bil in it.
Never a problem.
That constitutes my "accurate data"; that is, personal experience.
Ethanol-free premium, 91 octane, is usually 20 to 30 cents more per gallon around here. I will not buy it, and I will not buy a vehicle that requires it!
I try as best I can to avoid 85 octane as well.
There are only a few stations selling E0 in my area. One is fairly close by; but only on what they call premium (90 octane). They charge close to $3.00 when the E10 87 octane around town averages $2.25 -- so the price difference is much more than .15/gallon. I was going to try some of it in my '15 BMW 328i, but that car specified 91 or better octane. I'd have had to mix some 93 into the tank with the 90, which would have meant going to another station.
That car is gone now, and the '16 Buick's engine is not high-compression enough to take advantage of 90 octane. Still it would be an interesting experiment to see if the E0 really would get better mileage. In '07-'13, when I drove a 3.8L Park Avenue, the E0 really did yield enough of an improvement to make the extra .20/gallon (then) worth spending.
Ethanol free gas gets about 15% better MPG or if you lead foot, it will get a little more HP, but not better MPG. If you let your car sit for long periods of time, Ethanol Free will not gunk up your fuel delivery system like ethanol does. Supposedly Ethanol free does not absorb as much water as well. I have not seen this difference, but I have seen it claimed.
Otherwise no meaningful differences.
Most high octane gas has ethanol. There is not much else they can do to increase octane without massively increasing the price.
I don't even think gas companies benefit selling Ethanol gas since gas is so cheap now. It cost more money to blend them but they can't just stop doing it because there's the Ethanol mandate law which is supposed to help farmers and subsidies. But now, it doesn't pay to blend it as it is cheaper just to give 100% gas. Modern cars don't need ethanol because many uses low viscosity engine oil which makes starting in the winter easier.
Ethanol provides more oxygen, which helps reduce some emissions. Ethanol has nothing to do with winter starting or the type of oil used in a car.
I used to be able to buy 93 octane, ethanol free gas at several convenience stores in my area, for a number of years, versus the 10% ethanol blend, that's commonly sold everywhere else. However, about a year ago, the octane rating of the ethanol free "premium" was dropped back to 90. This presents me with a dilemma, as I prefer the ethanol free gas, but 2 of the cars in my "family fleet" require a fuel with 91 octane or greater. For the moment, I'm mixing the 90 octane, ethanol free gas with the 93 octane, 10% ethanol blend, as best as I can....
I run ethanol-free fuel in small-equipment and my 'enthusiast' cars that sit for weeks, and sometimes months, at a time. E-10 is fine for my daily driven vehicles.
The automakers make their vehicles to run on the basic gasoline witch includes ethonal because ethonal free gas is not avalaible everywhere. so if tou use only ethonal free what happend if you are on a road trip and need gas, you going to run all over the place to try and find it when your gas light is flashing.
Ethanol removes oil film on moving parts anywhere it touches them.
This is baseline for any stipulations.
Also, ethanol is lesser efficiency fuel, than gasoline.
This is second point.
You have a better running engine resulting in better mpg, due to more power.
To say that ethanol free gas will harm your engine is ridiculous.
If 15 pennies to gallon makes you difference, then sure don't do it.
If it does not - absolutely use E free on ALL of your engines, especially the small ones, like mowers. They are clearly suffering from E gas.
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