Originally Posted by RobEthanol in the gas changes your fuel economy because alcohol has fewer btu than gasoline. The more alcohol that is introduced to the gas the worse the economy. Cars that get 30 MPG on straight gasoline get something like 16 on E85, so the lesser price is offset by the higher consumption.
The other effects that you may not have seen yet are the damage that the ethanol enhanced gasoline causes in you fuel system. When "oxygenated fuels" were first introduced in the late '80's for pollution control reasons most of the cars on the road were carbureted and did not have neoprene in their fuel lines. It caused a great deal of problems until the rubber hose industry seemed to change their formulation slightly. Currently the fuel hoses etc. are able to deal with the alcohol in the gas. The thing that is deteriorating so slowly that you don't know it is the plastic fuel tank in your car. After a few years of using gas containing alcohol you will see a sediment, almost like sand in your fuel filter if you take it apart. It is actually a very fine sand that is used in the manufacture of those plastic tanks and it is imbedded in the plastic. The alcohol eats away at the plastic and the sand gets stuck in the fuel filter.
Picking apart your post a bit... There are no long term effects to running E10 or E85 in vehicles manufactured after 1990. Fuel tanks and lines, grommets, etc. are all manufactured to specification to withstand methanol's chemical makeup.
There has been a lot of recent discussion regarding the use of E10 or E85 in stock fuel systems, and there are no known side effects on newer cars after E10 was introduced into the alternative fuel market.
This is why we see many vehicles on the road now that are "flexfuel capable". The only difference between a flexfuel capable vehicle and a NON-Flexfuel capable vehicle is the ECM programming. From what I've read, Flexfuel capable vehicles contain map switching in the ECM in that when the mixture's burn is changed via o2 sensor, the map is then changed.
This is just what I've read and it may operate much differently, but I do know for fact that E10/E85 does NOT damage fuel delivery components as once believed in a fuel injected vehicle manufactured after 1990.
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