Has anyone tried using mixed fuel in TCH? I seemed to read in the booklet that up to 10% alcohol additive fuel can be used in the TCH

 

The blended fuel is pretty much all we can get here in Minnesota. I was really hoping the Toyota would come out with an E85 ready Hybrid. Ford is supposed to have the E85 Hybrid Escape in 2008 from what I've read..

 

All modern cars can run on E10. That's pretty much what's available all over. The advantage to E85 is that ethanol is a renewable, home-grown product. However, it is not a panacea. There are very few stations outside the midwest that carry it. Most of the supply of ethanol is already used to fill the demand for E10. It is not less expensive than regular gas and a car will get lower mileage with it, since it doesn't contain as much energy as gasoline, making it more expensive to use.

I don't mind spending more to reduce our reliance on foreign oil. I just don't think E85 is going to do it.

 

Most of the time I use E10 super (89) because it is the cheapest here in Iowa. Sometimes premium (91-92) but I didn't notice any difference. I never tried regular (87) though.

 

I believe all conventional gas engines sold in this country (in cars) can run on up to 10% ethanol. In fact, many high-pollution regions of the country that previously used MTBE in their gas now use ethanol. My area has been using ethanol since just before I got my TCH in June. It's all I've used in it because there's no alternative here. HTH

 

Try 87 octane. Your performance won't suffer and you'll save money. The TCH engine does not require anything above 87 octane.

 

I have ONLY used 87 in mine for the now 9,000+ miles.. It performs just fine. During a recent trip to the mountains many 'regular' grades were only 95 octane. (I was informed by this forum that it is not uncommon for lower octanes in higher altitudes.).
Nonetheless, performance never suffered and a 5,000 mile trip yeilded 36.2 average.
:-)

 

Thanks and I would, but in Iowa 89 (E10) is about $0.2 cheaper than 87 regular. Probably because a lot of the ethanol comes from corn made here.

 

So mid-grade is mixed with ethanol while 87 octane is not? And that makes mid-grade less money? That's unusual. In Virginia all fuel is E-10 and I'd especially expect that to be true in the mid-west. I'm also surprised that E-10 mid-grade is cheaper than 87 without the ethanol.

Anyhow, you won't hurt anything running 89 octane, so go with whichever is less expensive.

 

I am not sure if all 87 octane fuel in SC is E10 or not. How can I know which one is and which one is not without pulling up to the pump and checking the fine print? Will the regular 87 Octane gas get better mileage than the 87 with 10 % ethanol? If so will the increased cost of the regular 87 octane be worth it?