90 Octane 100% Gas Fuel Test

[DexTech]

Found a station with 90 Octane 100% Gas no Ethanol Fuel. So I thought I'd run the tank down near empty and fill up to see if I could get better MPG.

First I filled up and reset the on-board MPG and trip odometer. Drove 241 miles mixed highway/city. I live in New Mexico so that would include 75mph driving (legal here).

After 241 miles I went back to the same pump for a fill up. At that time the on-board mpg was 24.1 A hand calculation came to 22.11 mpg.

When I use regular 85 Octane 10% Ethanol hand calculated 20.1 MPG.

What I wanted to find out is if it was "worth" buying the 90 Octane no Ethanol Fuel.

Regular Unleaded 85 Octane is $3.49 a gallon. 90 Octane no Ethanol is $3.91 a gallon. A 42 cents a gallon difference for this test, comes to a 12% difference in price.


High octane costs 12% more, resulted in 10% better mpg.

Bottom line in dollars is the high octane 100% gas costs 7 cents more per gallon. The 4Runner seems to perform better with the high octane, faster/smoother acceleration etc. using seat of the pants measure.

Don't think I'll continue using the high octane no ethanol simply because it's hard to get, I'd have to make a special trip to get it. I have a second tank of the high octane in the truck now and I'll do the calculations again after going over 300 miles to run the tank down. Then I'll fill up with cheaper easier to get mid grade with ethanol and redo the calculations.

Edit: Forgot to mention my vehicle specs. 2006 V6 SR5 4wd

 

[Texas4runnerguy]

Found a station with 90 Octane 100% Gas no Ethanol Fuel. So I thought I'd run the tank down near empty and fill up to see if I could get better MPG.

First I filled up and reset the on-board MPG and trip odometer. Drove 241 miles mixed highway/city. I live in New Mexico so that would include 75mph driving (legal here).

After 241 miles I went back to the same pump for a fill up. At that time the on-board mpg was 24.1 A hand calculation came to 22.11 mpg.

When I use regular 85 Octane 10% Ethanol hand calculated 20.1 MPG.

What I wanted to find out is if it was "worth" buying the 90 Octane no Ethanol Fuel.

Regular Unleaded 85 Octane is $3.49 a gallon. 90 Octane no Ethanol is $3.91 a gallon. A 42 cents a gallon difference for this test, comes to a 12% difference in price.


High octane costs 12% more, resulted in 10% better mpg.

Bottom line in dollars is the high octane 100% gas costs 7 cents more per gallon. The 4Runner seems to perform better with the high octane, faster/smoother acceleration etc. using seat of the pants measure.

Don't think I'll continue using the high octane no ethanol simply because it's hard to get, I'd have to make a special trip to get it. I have a second tank of the high octane in the truck now and I'll do the calculations again after going over 300 miles to run the tank down. Then I'll fill up with cheaper easier to get mid grade with ethanol and redo the calculations.

Edit: Forgot to mention my vehicle specs. 2006 V6 SR5 4wd

I dont think its worth it for two reasons, you have to drive out of the way to get it, and the two mpg increase for the 7cents but you have to spend money to get this gas so depending on the distance from you its more than 7 cents. you should just get better gas like shell or chevron than crappy gas station gas, but if your happy with it, get it, as long as your happy thats all that really matters.


my .02

 

[SMEE]

The ethanol free Chevron gas station I use is down the street from my house, half a mile. Here in Mississippi, the ethanol free stuff is only $.05 more than regular unleaded with ethanol. A fill up costs me 1 dollar more than the gasoline with ethanol, and engine performance afterwards is like it should be: better mpg's and horsepower.

 

[DexTech]

the no ethanol fuel is expensive for I think two reasons. First it's hard to find so they can charge more for it. Second it's 90 octane. At the price I paid, didn't expect it to come out cheaper. the 42 cents a gallon more it costs is real sticker shock when you first look at it. I wanted to see the real world difference in cost mpg.

another issue is I'd have to constantly be price watching to see if the gap increases. on the day of purchase the difference on 90 octane no ethanol was 12% more expensive than regular. If it dropped to 10% or lower it would be worth using.

 

[message]

I'm in the heart of ethanol country and most every station here still carries non-ethanol regular 87 and premium 91-93. Almost all ethanol offered is mid-grade 89/90 w/10% ethanol. Also have the option of E85 and now a new 15% ethanol mid grade. I run the 10% most of the time since it's 10-15 cents cheaper. I have tried a couple tanks of the non-ethanol and have noticed little/no difference.
If I want to get good gas mileage I keep it under 70 and slow my take offs.

 

[DexTech]

interesting how different parts of the country vary in what is available. here in Northern New Mexico I've only found 1 station that sells no ethanol fuel.

For this experiment I tried not to change the way I did anything so I could compare fairly.

 

[Uneek]

Ethanol has a lower BTU than gasoline.