Van Nostrand: ‘Getting the most out of every drop’

When I go grocery shopping, I can stuggle with deciding what box of cereal to purchase. Having grown up with cereal, I can’t stay away from it as an adult. But the choices of cereal we have now is far more greater than it was 40 years ago. Society’s strong grasp of diets and continually evolving eating habits have influenced the industry so much, it’s no wonder to see stores dedicate nearly an entire aisle to cereal.

That mentality of purchasing cereal is starting to effect my choice in gasoline.

Yes, gasoline.

It seems silly to think that knowing there are only three options for gasoline I can use, compared to three dozen kinds of cereal. Having owned a car in Iowa, I totally get the creation and promotion of ethanol gasoline. We rule the country in corn production so it only makes sense we turn the corn into fuel.

So the question to answer when purchasing gasoline is, “How much ethanol do you want?”

Creston is one of the few towns I know that has stations offering 88 ethanol, which is just a bit more ethanol content than regular unleaded with ethanol. Regular unleaded has a 10 % blend of ethanol while the 88 is 15 %. Having more 15% ethanol pumps is being pushed by those in the corn and ethanol business. My wife’s car is able to run on e85, which is an 85% blend ethanol, but we have never used that.

Fortunately, my vehicle can run on both blends of ethanol, 10% and 15%. I’m experimenting to see what fuel makes my vehicle run better and get better gas mileage since I have access to 15%. Others tell me premium unleaded is most effective when used for highway driving. And it’s by far the most expensive. Besides, it’s normally suggested for luxury models, which I don’t have. I have not used it mainly because of price.

The variables in my experiment may not be the same with a tank of 10% or 15%. I may not drive the same distance or manner on each tank purely by coincidence. What I mean by manner is mainly speed. I also don’t have “jack rabbit” starts; where you think you are in a drag race when leaving stop signs and stop lights. I am proud to not have had a speeding ticket during my driving years.

The gearheads I have known over the years, (my best friend grew up in his grandpa’s garage) are a little cautious of ethanol. He fears the chemistry is more damaging to an engine’s internal parts than non-ethanol gasoline. But he also knows I live in corn crazy Iowa and understands ethanol is going to be everywhere.

Others who have tried the higher ethanol blends have told me they get less mpg. Sure, they save a few cents or bucks, but they don’t get as far.

I do wonder how ethanol works in cars knowing car manufacturers have their own details and design with the engines. Of course, use and age of the car could also play a part with mpg. I’ve read where chemists wonder how accurate the blend when the ethanol gasoline is created. Even though it specifically reads 10% how accurate is the manufacturing process maybe causing one tanker load to have 12% ethanol and another have 8% ethanol? Have we had more or less than 10% longer than we thought, we just didn’t know? Is every drop of gasoline made by all the companies the same? There’s another factor.

Here’s what I mean about two different cars and two different results.

Twelve years ago I had a 1997 Ford Escort with a four-cylinder engine and five-speed, manual transmission. I had that car for a job I commuted about 30 miles one-way. It was the perfect commuter car as the route was all on traditional highways. That car continually reached mpg in the high 20s or flirted with the low 30s. The best mpg I ever had with that car was 41 as I took it halfway across Iowa and back for a Thanksgiving/Black Friday trip. I don’t know how that mpg happened, but it was fueled with 10% ethanol.

The strange thing is the car had less mpg with non-ethanol gasoline during the same commute.

Years later, I had a different, used commuter car that was three years news, bigger, had a larger engine, automatic transmission and had more miles. Because of it’s size it didn’t get the same mpg as the Escort, as I expected. There is one skew. But mpg dropped during the winter months no matter how I drove. That’s what puzzled me but I kept thinking it’s age and use were showing. It consistently had mpg in the low 20s; and slightly lower in the winter. I sold that car last summer.

On Sunday, May 2, when I filled up the 15% ethanol was about 1.5 less with mpg when compared to the previous tank that was 10% ethanol. Last Friday I switched back to 10% ethanol. What has already got my attention is I have gone far more miles based purely on the fuel gauge reading compared to the previous two tank fills. So, right now, I’d say 10% ethanol is the better buy for what I drive and how I drive.

With the summer, travel season approaching and some people feeling more confident to travel, I expect gasoline prices to stay where they are in the coming months. But oil companies probably want to make up the lost revenue from a year ago when far fewer people were traveling. And now a cyber threat to a major pipeline along the East Coast is yet another risk for high gasoline prices.

So maybe my experiment will help me determine which gasoline is best, and where to buy it. I just can’t leave the motor running while running into the store to buy cereal.

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