acupower

I recently began filling up V-power premium gas from Shell. It is one of the few Ethanol free fuels available in Toronto.

Has anyone noticed any benefits to using Ethanol free fuels in the 4th Gen TL (i.e. improvement in fuel consumption, performance, engine sound)?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^it's really simple science.

Ethanol free fuels WILL give you better mpg and better power

acupower

So I've been paying the same for crappier gas in the past? I guess I'm only buying from Shell from now on.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

USA loves the corn.

Sucks for us.

the_tl_man09

non ethanol gas where you live is the same price a premium???????? or did i just read something wrong

acupower

Yup. As far as I know Petro Canada/ESSO and CT gas stations have ethanol in their premium gas. Their premium gas costs roughly the same as Shell V-Power which is ethanol free.

lift3d_

Cool, thanks for the information! I honestly had no idea. I've been going to Esso for the Aeroplan points on my VISA, but I may just screw it and go with Shell from here on out. Their cigarettes are cheaper anyway haha

the_tl_man09

interesting...non ethanol over here is 20 cents more than premium. i'd have to pay 4.20 for non ethanol around here. your a lucky man lol

acupower

I had no idea about this but after reading a couple of threads on the redflag forums I thought I'd give v-power a try.

I suspect very few people know about the benefits of ethanol free fuels up here in Canada. Maybe Shell has determined that it is not viable to put a premium on their V-power as a result.

012TL-GLM

I've only run Shell since purchasing the car, never had another fuel in the tank, except whatever it had from the dealer. My average MPG recently shot up by 2 which I can only attribute to a recent tranny drain/refill. That's all that's changed

DefMunkie

Sucks everything here in Texas that I've seen has "up to 10% ethanol" in it, this includes Shell V Power and Chevron w/ Techron.

Using my but dyno and throttle peddle feel, to me it feels like Chevron premium works slightly better than Shell V Power.

HeartTLs

iTrader: (5)

Justn, what I understood from the OP is that he filled up using ethanol free gas which isn't premium (91-93), because ethanol free premium was not available. In that scenario, I think it is but just want to confirm that ethanol free reg/mid grade is > regular 10% ethanol 91-93?

acupower

I filled with Ethanol free premium. Shell v-power is 91 octane here and it is the only Shell fuel without ethanol. The regular and mid grades have 10% and 5% ethanol, respectively.

And to clarify further, previously I used to fill 91 or 94 premium from other gas stations that HAD ethanol content. The premiums from other stations cost just as much as the Shell v-power. So if the conclusion is that Ethanol free fuel is better than the one with ethanol, it becomes an easy decision for me.

HeartTLs

iTrader: (5)

Ah okay. Thank you for the clarification. Justn can you still weight in on the question?

v8eatr

actually fuels with ethanol make more power. Not sure on Honda's ratings but if you look at Chevy's ratings for HP/TQ its rated higher on E85. I know that's not the E10 stuff being discussed here but ethanol has a higher octane rating than regular gas. You won't notice a difference with E10 to ethanol free gas.

jim_c

I am not aware of the octane comparison. Are you sure ethanol has a higher octane rating?
For certain though, ethanol has less energy content per gallon than gasoline. That's what Justn is getting at. Ethanol is C2H5OH.
Gas is C8H18. Many more chemical bonds in a molecule of gas than in a molecule of alcohol, thus more energy content to be released upon combustion. Alcohol for fuel is one of the dumbest ideas we have ever come up with. (Alcohol is for drinking.)

the_tl_man09

[QUOTE=(Alcohol is for drinking.)[/QUOTE]

v8eatr

Well E85 is about 105 octane. That's why a lot of turbo guys run it, its $2.5/gallon race gas It's not as efficient as gas, hence why it needs more of it to make the same energy but it is higher octane. Look up an EVO or STi or something like that doing a dyno with 93 and then E85, its incredible. Like I said I don't think E10 will make much of a difference though.

Reorge

Find a station.
http://pure-gas.org/

HeartTLs

iTrader: (5)

I've seen that, the closest one to me is 50 miles away .

Buffa

That's a great site. Same here though, the closest one to St. Louis is 67 miles away. Next road trip in the vicinity, I'm going to have to try a tank. What a bunch of political crap to force 10% ethanol on us.

1black_seven

iTrader: (2)

I switched to pure gas a month ago and I've noticed between a 1 and 1.5 mpg increase. E-fuel is cheap and I hate it when some gas stations offer free gas credits for buying convenience store crap like they're doing people a favor.

Tonyware

Shell 91 gets the engine very quiet, especially during long highway trips. After a couple of fill ups things get very smooth. I guess the lubricants they use are very effective. Also, with no ethanol, the gas burns slower and that adds to the smoothness.

But in the past I haven't seen any performance difference from either Petro Canada 94 or Esso 91 when compared to the Shell 91.

What makes a huge difference MPG-wise is a bottle of gumout fuel system cleaner every oil change. Just some experiences...

andrewcjduong

Win. Ultramar is ethanol free. That means cheap Thursday's is still a go

LNJ

Is it the price of mid-grade on Thursdays?