Gas versus E85

[Ranger R61]

Maybe this has been beat to death but today I happened to look at the Chevy website. http://www.chevrolet.com/m/06/quickf...9_Suburban.pdf

They show what the 1/2 T. Suburban gets 14/20 MPG with gas and 10/15 with E85.

At 1.80 a gallon it costs .09 a mile for gas and .12 a mile for E85. It costs us a lot more to drive and at the same time our groceries that use corn products cost more. So much can be said for gov intervention. Seems like their goal is to reduce us to 3rd world status.

Perhaps I just don't understand the data from the Chevy website.

[magnum500]

You have got it right. Your MPG drops if you use E85. It is better for the enviroment(so they say) but the loss in MPG and problems that can arise from its use are not worth it. In my truck if I use regular unleaded blended with ethanol(10%0 I get about 1 MPG less than with straight gas. It just doesn't make sense to me.

[LMBarnett]

Its all about getting independant from those OPEC @holes,a nd use "green" fuel. But the problem with E85 right now is it all comes from corn, and it is not that "green" because it takes so much farm fuel/fertilizer/labor to grow corn, it all comes out in the wash.

[fish_4_all]

It also takes a lot of fuel to make it. From what I have found it takes 4 gallons of gas to make 5 gallons of ethanol. How much of it is true who knows. I do know that the farmers selling their corn for fuel are making a fortune and I hope our incoming president takes away their farm subsodies like he said he is gonna do.

As for it being a viable alternative, I have a carberator to sell. :D

Uses tons of water to produce, pollutes even more in the long run then gas. They can keep it. Hydrogen is the future and battery power. We as a nation have the experts to make it happen so lets do it. At the same time we revoke all patents so the gas tycoons who bought them up can't force the price through the roof.