scrubbedexpat091

My car say's to use 87 as well.

Normal range here is 87/89/91 with some brands offering 93 as well.

I use Chevron when available, if not then Petro Canada, then Shell, and then anyone else.

Apparently our top tier gas brands are Chevron, Petro C, Costco, Shell, Temp, Esso, and Co-Op.

I was surprised to see Husky not on it since they are a fairly large chain on the west coast, 2 in this town alone.


Does ethanol make a difference in gas? The low octane has 10% ethanol in it, but places like Shell and Chevron don't add ethanol to their high octane gas, but don't know if ethanol makes any difference. Some people swear they only buy the high octane because they don't want the ethanol because its bad for the car, but they can never tell me why it's bad.

My handbook from Mazda say's 10% ethanol is fine, but anything above may damage the engine.

Gas in Canada varies by region, so not all area's have ethanol added, but coastal BC they do add it.

Pulaski

For the engine maybe, that, and only using Mobil 1 full synthetic engine oil (almost all other "full synthetic" oil is not fully synthetic! There was a bizarre court case a few years ago that Mobil 1 brought, and lost. ) But the gas and engine oil has nothing to do with everything else, so I attribute the longevity of everything else to some combination of original quality, that we live in an area where very little salt is used on the road, driving style, and that every journey we make in that car is relatively long.

Walmart is about six miles away, but most journeys are a minimum of 31 miles, and most are 40+, so the vast majority (I estimate around 90%) of our Accord's miles are interstate/major highway driving at 50-75mph +/- in 5th gear. We are light users of the brakes as we drive a manual, but otherwise drive fairly aggressively - I usually take interstate on and off ramps at 15-20 mph over the "recommended speed" (even in my F250 truck! ), and we cross a (not so) level crossing an average of once every 50 miles (it is hard to go in any direction without crossing at least one), and we take them at 40-45mph unless behind a slow-poke, which some people would have you believe will destroy the shocks and springs.

Pulaski

Ethanol is bad for fuel economy and I believe explains most of why our Accord's fuel mileage dropped from 34-35mpg to 30-31mpg. The main problem though is that it attracts water and rots the fuel lines. In cars older than about 7-8 years were designed to run on close to pure gasoline, not gas blended with watery ethanol, and it would mean replacing just about everything the fuel comes into contact with to stop the "gasohol" from causing major problems.

scrubbedexpat091

You should see one off ramp we use to get home, its so short and a stop sign at the end, plus a sharp turn, you have to brake hard, its the most stupid off ramp I have ever seen, not safe and hard on your car to go 50+ to 0 without any real way to slow down but brake hard.

I avoid using it whenever possible.

I suspect our car won't see that many miles, our drives are so short the car hardly even gets up to full operating temp.

Car averages 15-20 mph over a 10 day period, according to the car's computer.

It does get to travel the highway once a week on average about 40 miles, but its a mountain highway lots of curves and turns, and constant speed changes, so probably not healthy for a car either.

We use this oil:

http://www.castrol.com/en_ca/canada/...-titanium.html

That is what Mazda uses and recommends, not sure if they have Mobil 1 since Mazda doesn't use Mobil oil.

Beaverstate

My mileage also drops around 10-15% during ethanol season.

Pulaski

There are plenty of insane ramps on to and off the "parkways" in NY north of NYC, and into Connecticut. Some were about 100ft long, so merging onto the parkway was, er, interesting, even in our Mustang GT that is good for 0-60 in 6 seconds. It was a matter of hitting the gas hard in second gear as you turn onto the ramp, and shifting up near the end as you hopefully reach something close to 60 mph, and praying that there is enough of a gap in traffic to merge into. Bear in mind that at the time I was dealing with such idiotic road designs I was also trying to come to terms with shifting a manual with my right hand. Oh so many times I depressed the clutch and reached for the door handle!

Thankfully I didn't need to drive on the parkways to get to work when I lived up there.

Guindalf

Why DO we park on the driveway and drive on the parkway????????

MMcD

scrubbedexpat091

I wonder if money could be saved by using premium non-ethanol. Costs more but might last longer so may end up being cheaper?

Runs about 30 cents more per liter. Several brands don't use ethanol here in the premium gas. The others contain up to 10% and is generally in gas year round here.

Pulaski

There's a season? ..... I thought the federal mandate effectively made it year-round 10%?

Beaverstate

Winter months...

10% Ethanol Blend Mandated in Oregon Beginning Tuesday - Salem-News.Com

scrubbedexpat099

Ethanol year round in Colorado.

I buy Ethanol free for my small engines,normally about a dollar a gallon more.

Pulaski

The way I read that article is that prior to 2008, gas stations in Portland sold E10 during the winter months, but since the dates specified all gas sold is E10. ...... Which is my understanding - that almost all gas sold in US is E10.

The way the rule works is that congress specified a certain number of gallons of ethanol that must be blended into gasoline. Unfortunately as cars and trucks have become more efficient the amount of gasoline being sold has declined, such that it is becoming difficult to meet the x gallons of ethanol mandate without putting in more than 10% ethanol.

scrubbedexpat091

That could run afoul with car manufacturers and warranties if the car company can prove it. My handbook from Mazda says not to use over 10% and doing so will void the warranty potentially.

Now does more then 10% damage the engine/systems or is it a way for car companies to deny warranty work?

Bob

April Vacation, or spring break for a lot of places in the north east...