My son runs his car on E85. That's 85% ethanol I presume. His gas mileage goes down, but it's lots cheaper for him to buy E85 than normal gas. And the E85 station is right around the corner from his house. Overall, his cost-per-mile is cheaper running E85 than running whatever our "normal" gas is around here (E10 or E15 I'd guess?) As a bonus, he gets a significant horsepower boost running E85. It's like a gain of 35 to 50 horsepower, I can't remember exactly the number that he said.
I don't think most cars can switch between gas types, and if they can, they aren't going to be cheaper on E85 like my sons. They're going to be more expensive. And I also believe that E85 is rougher on components than normal gas. But my son has special components in his car that will run whatever gas he puts in there without damage. His is some kind of hopped up rally car. Special engine block, turbo, other components, and stuff. Part of that is a "tune" for maximum power given the exact components that are installed. The tune (along with the specific components installed) also gives him the ability to switch between normal gas and E85 at the touch of a button on the cars computer. He normally runs E85 because it's cheaper and gives him more power. Who wouldn't? But I think that's unique to his car's components/tune.
On weird for E85 that my son mentioned is in extreme cold weather. With a cold engine, you start it, and it doesn't run perfectly. So you turn it off and restart it. Then it runs perfectly. That super slight bit of engine heating is what does the trick. This is a known anomaly for E85 in whatever engine setup he is running. It only happens with a cold engine in frigid temps. No harm done. Just an E85 anomaly. Maybe it's caused by the specific tune he has, that is optimized for running performance rather than starting performance. I don't know.
Anyway, my roundabout point was - ethanol mixed in gas is not always a bad thing. Depending on what you are doing with it and what you're putting it in.
(FWIW, my sons car will blow our V8 Mustang away. Absolutely obliterate it. And his car is tuned for rally, not straight line speed/acceleration.)
I don't think most cars can switch between gas types, and if they can, they aren't going to be cheaper on E85 like my sons. They're going to be more expensive. And I also believe that E85 is rougher on components than normal gas. But my son has special components in his car that will run whatever gas he puts in there without damage. His is some kind of hopped up rally car. Special engine block, turbo, other components, and stuff. Part of that is a "tune" for maximum power given the exact components that are installed. The tune (along with the specific components installed) also gives him the ability to switch between normal gas and E85 at the touch of a button on the cars computer. He normally runs E85 because it's cheaper and gives him more power. Who wouldn't? But I think that's unique to his car's components/tune.
On weird for E85 that my son mentioned is in extreme cold weather. With a cold engine, you start it, and it doesn't run perfectly. So you turn it off and restart it. Then it runs perfectly. That super slight bit of engine heating is what does the trick. This is a known anomaly for E85 in whatever engine setup he is running. It only happens with a cold engine in frigid temps. No harm done. Just an E85 anomaly. Maybe it's caused by the specific tune he has, that is optimized for running performance rather than starting performance. I don't know.
Anyway, my roundabout point was - ethanol mixed in gas is not always a bad thing. Depending on what you are doing with it and what you're putting it in.
(FWIW, my sons car will blow our V8 Mustang away. Absolutely obliterate it. And his car is tuned for rally, not straight line speed/acceleration.)
