E-10 in Prius - is it OK?
 

I just filled my third tank in prius, and after fillign it, I realized that I had filled in E-10 (not to confuse with E-85) .. is that fuel OK? It was rated 87 Octane ...

I am a little apprehensive now .. anyone to ease it? or god forbid, confirm it :(

BTW. my second tank was 61.9 MPG (mostly highway driving with A/C set to 80F - my wife was with me). The hand calculation gave 60.6 MPG ...

Re: E-10 in Prius - is it OK?
 

No problem. BTW, good mileage too!

Bob Wilson

Re: E-10 in Prius - is it OK?
 

It's hard to avoid E10. In NJ I think it is the standard, now that MTBE (sp?) is gone.

Re: E-10 in Prius - is it OK?
 

The way I understand it, EVERY modern car can take E10 (you might get a little less fuel economy, however). The other "E" blend is E85, which only a handful of cars can take. Unless you live in the Midwest, however, it's unlikely that you'll ever accidentally fill up with E85.

I think E85 is destined to be a niche product anyway. I read an article on Hybridcars.com that essentially said that every 15% increment of our crop-growing capacity could replace 2% of our fuel use. So even if 100% of America's grain production was geared to make ethanol (not gonna happen), it would give us only 14% of our fuel needs. Using excess production in the Midwest isn't a bad idea, however.

Re: E-10 in Prius - is it OK?
 

Yes, it is MTBE ..
MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether)


Look at the website for more info:

http://www.epa.gov/OUST/mtbe/index.htm

Re: E-10 in Prius - is it OK?
 

Thanks Bob!

BTW, I had a lot of warp stealthing at the highways though .. although, I let my wife drive the car while I was sitting in the front passenger seat. She is going to start her school soon, which is a 27 mile ride one way, and I will let her drive this car (OOOH .. do I hear some people taking deep breaths ..:)).

She has an impression of Prius being this high-tech gadget car, and I wanted her to build her confidence driving it while I am beside her so I can answer her questions regarding the different features of the car, ALL THE WHILE my secret agenda behind it all being to try to ingrain, if not much, at least a few fundamentals of good driving techniques with the Prius :D. I told her about P&G, and she could glide the car a few times when we were on the local city roads (she has not mastered P&G yet .. but she tries .. she is pretty heavy with her foot on the pedal though :(), but regardless, she was very enthusiastic with her 'gliding' achievement.

I wonder whether Prius is biased with the female gender. If they glide the car once in a while, they still manage 60+ MPG number!! I glide it all the time, I could get a measly 2 or 3 MPG more than the number .. :)

Re: E-10 in Prius - is it OK?
 

Could I try E10 then switch back to regular with the next tank if I didn't like the E10's mpg?

Re: E-10 in Prius - is it OK?
 

Try searching on E10 here. There are lots of threads about it.