Ethanol free gas

jrbond007 · Motorer

Ethanol free gas

jrbond007 · Motorer

By the way, I see that there is a little bit of a gas war @ the Union & Walden area.
Delta Sonic, Kwik Fill & Green Frog all at $3.55/gal Reg Unleaded.
Else where, it usually is around $3.73, $3.79
The Delta Sonic does have Ethanol Free Super, only at pump 18 I think, maybe 19 as well.

SPDinNY · Motorer

BJs in Richester just had premium at 3.81 a gallon

jrbond007 · Motorer

The Henrietta BJ's, kwik fill & Delta sonic over there on W Henrietta rd are always battling it out.
When I go curling in Rochester, I always stop there to get gas, cause it is usually cheaper then Buffalo.

gvcmel · Motorist

Fastrack on Jefferson also has 91 ethanol free. the MINI loves it.

Woodlandshores · Newbie (Taking the short-cut)

Introducing myself as a future Mini Cooper Hardtop owner, completed in Oxford and about ready for the long boat ride to the US and then to Mini of Rochester. I am very excited.

I am totally new to this car, came from a Toyota Matrix that I loved for eleven years. My question is about the ethanol free gas. Is it that much better for my new car. The dealer told me that they had no specific preference. My local gas station, the Fastrack in Ovid (Seneca County) has it. I checked it out today.

Am I better using this in my new car, and should you use it for every fill up. I probably will not need to get gas away from home much so should be able to get it exclusively.

I appreciate any advice.

Patty

gvcmel · Motorist

I've tested ethanol/non-ethanol on and off again in the MCS and a normally aspirated car. What I can say is that the average mpg goes up about 2 mpg driving the work loop during summer months in the MCS. Same variable traffic, traffic lights, stop and go. Plus, it feels better. Still looking for a good app that lets me data log the engine and verify the somewhat vague MPG tests I have done. The results were repeatable.

Do you need to run it - afraid my answer would be no, there is no long term benefit. The ethanol burns hotter and a new MINI should be engineered to deal with it. If I was taking a long trip on the thruway I'd fill up with non-ethanol as the MPG boost will really show up there.

Otherwise, Treat your car to a tank every so often. And change the oil on a regular basis, especially if you have a S engine.

Woodlandshores · Newbie (Taking the short-cut)

Mel, I very much appreciate the information. I will certainly try both options with the gasoline. I am excited about the new Mini and will try to figure out how to post a picture when it gets here. I have a lot to learn about these special cars that I have admired for years. So glad there is now a Mini dealer in Rochester. I will probably be asking questions about snow tires shortly. Off to work. Again, thank you so much for the advise.

Patty

Grey Poupon · Member

gvcmel wrote:
Fastrack on Jefferson also has 91 ethanol free. the MINI loves it.

Just found this out last weekend. There's a gas station on the corner of E. Henrietta Rd. and Westfall that sells Ethanol free but it's $1.00/gal than normal. Fastrack is much more reasonable.

jrbond007 · Motorer

Yeah, ya gotta watch the prices. Fastrac is 40 cents more/gal then regular. Most station's 91 with ethanol are selling at 30 cents more/gal.
$1.00/gal more is crazy. I have a kwik fill near me that has 91 at +.50/gal, a Noco 91 at +.40/gal, & a deltasonic 91 at +.65/gal, all ethanol free.
Only 1 pump at the deltasonic has ethanol free, the others have ethanol. Strange why they would do that, although years ago they sold racing fuel (100 octane I think), out of just one pump.

Ghost41893 · Member

theres a pump in Leroy that sells ethanol free gas and its $.70 more a gallon than 91 octane with ethanol, it almost doesn't seem worth it

the_chipmunk · Member

I ran ethanol-free fuel in my r60 last week on about 3 tanks, driving from Roc to Ithaca a few times in just 3 days. No noticeable difference in fuel mileage, with the possibility that it may be worse, as my previous tanks of fuel were from Florida to New York using 93 ethanol-infested fuel, and I was running about 80-85mph the entire way, from Roc to Ithaca is about 55mph or less 80% of the way, but MPG's stayed the same. I know for sure that a MINI (2nd gen, 6speed) running about 55mph for a few hours at a time will get 37+ MPG, on 93oct as I've done this driving down to the Florida Keys before.

Will do more testing once I'm back in NY.

jrbond007 · Motorer

Jack had valve problems, with his 1st gen. The blending didn't seem to be very accurate, since the dealer tested the Ethanol to be 20%. He was filling up at Sunoco.
Maybe the 2nd Gen's are built to better handle Ethanol.
I have noticed that our Mini's seem more comfortable at 70 mph, then 55 & get better fuel economy at the higher speeds as well.

Ghost41893 · Member

I ran ethanol free in my R50 for a month earlier this year and saw no noticeable difference. I get between 28-32mpg all the time, mostly country road driving at 45-75mph.

twisterblu · Member

This is interesting, I haven't known about this years ago.