Some farmers are makin' some money, and geopolitically ethanol isn't a bad
idea either.  At today's prices, the sultans and oil company sheiks are
still gettin' theirs though.

AJM

10% ethanol is hard to notice. That's 0.1 * 0.3 = 3% less performance
and economy. Again, because of the increase in octane rating, it might
only be 2.5%. With a 400HP engine that's 10 hp. Hard to notice. With
the current 28mpg highway rating it's 0.7mpg less. You're right that
driving habits make a far larger impact.  E85 will be more than 100hp
and 7mpg less. THAT will be noticeable.

But the environmentalists have lost very few battles in the past. Who
can argue against baby seal eyes. Facts don't matter. Say ethanol is
good for the environment. Doesn't matter that we will erode farm land
that took thousands of years to develop. Doesn't matter that it takes
a lot more energy to grow it than to refine oil.  Doesn't matter that
it puts more CO2 into the atmosphere than oil. JUst say it's good for
the environment and that should be enough. Ethanol is here to stay.

And the news on the TV this moment is how oil companies are
rethinking increasing gasoline production since the President has said
he wants to decrease usage by 20% and replace it with ethanol. No
matter that this would take all the farm land currently used to grow
corn for food resulting in skyrocketing meat prices. The oil companies
are listening and shelving plans to increase production meaning gas
prices will increase drastically in the future when we don't see that
20% decrease in demand. Sometimes you just want to scream "WAKE UP
PEOPLE!!!"

</rant off> 10% Ethanol is safe to use but I will gladly pay 30 cents
more / gallon for real gas.

Snip

If there were not to many kids in the WRX it would have beat you
anyhow. ;-)) You sound like you're a better chemist than you are a
drag racer. :-((

Can't speak to the C6 but I do have some C4 &
C5 experience that tells me we are hunkering
down a dumb path.  Excess amounts of this
stuff causes brain damage.

First off: I favor occasional, small amounts
of ethanol -- from an Oak barrel, aged 8-12
years. Also OK in malt beverages or in a
glass of wine. Also good for sterilizing the
skin prior to a blood draw.  Don't care for
Everclear or for putting it in my gas tank.

As a Californian, I pay a good share of the
tax hit to support the current 'Ethanol
Party.' It's a sort of charity since the
stuff doesn't transport well enough to add to
the California fuel supply.  We use just
enough to replace the MTBE that we lost a
couple of years ago. (6-7% Ethanol blend is
typical here).  For this we take a 5% hit on
mileage in comparison to when we used MTBE.

BP is working on ethanol from Calif.
sugarbeets which will probably put the screws
to our beef industry.  In exchange for this
"good deal", BP and Shell want to drop the
refining capacity in this state by 10% --
another good deal at the pump.

In addition to federal taxes, I also pay at
the pump since total gasoline consumption is
higher and our cost of gas augmented with 6%
ethanol is about 10% a gallon higher than
what most of the U.S. pays.  So, there's not
much to be said for the goodness of Ethanol
out here.  Oh yeah, the air is dirtier since
we started using this stuff.  (and the Feds
have been yelling at us for a couple of years
over that problem.)

I think that -rev's 50% hit on C5 performance
may be a bit high but, I notice a definite
performance hit on desert hill climbs with
the C5.  The enrichment that -rev is talking
about is significant and probably saves the
engine.  On a hard climb, using Calif. fuel,
I occasionally hear that single ping as the
retard takes effect.  Never have that happen
coming back home with Nevada or Utah fuel
even though the return trip is usually more
"heat soaked" with higher loads on the engine
and a/c.

As rev says, "it gets worse..."

Our Ethanol-drunk politicos have cut off the
major research dollars for an MTBE
replacement.  Such a replacement would have
given us cleaner air than ethanol, better
fuel economy and for the C5, better
hot-weather, uphill performance.

Get a good read at:

< http://www.idavette.net/hib/fuel/index.htm >

Halvorson does a good job differentiating
between pre-L98, L98, LT1/4 and LSn cylinder
heads and sound fuel choices for each.

No BS, just Halvorson's opinions based on
sound science and experience.

--
pj