So i filled up my car in Crofton md this morning.. I was driving back home to PA. I noticed a sticker on the pump that said may contain up to 10 percent ethanol.. didn't notice anything in the way of performance but what i did notice was a HUGE drop in mpg.. i averaged 31 mpg over 130 miles from B-more to Breezewood.. I put half a tank in at breezewood and consuption returned to normal.. anyone else have similar results? I averaged 68 mph on the highway same as I did on the way to bmore on monday and I got 39.4 mpg as I said mpg returned f to normal consumption levels rom Breezewood to franklin, typical 200 mpg on half a tank.. anywho thought I'd vent and see if anyone else has similar issuses with this blend of gas.. I got it has sunoco on MD-3 Craine highway in Crofton.. peace

Breezewood and Franklin are like 1,000 feet higher in elevation than Baltimore. It's because you were driving up hill on your return trip!

Seriously though... Gas in urban areas typically has additives and ethanol to reduce emissions. It can reduce your mileage. It should only be a few percent, not 20%. You could have been ripped off- maybe the pump calibration was wrong.

Since you specifically mention Sunoco- my xB has gotten some bad mileage using Sunoco gas. I won't use them unless there's nothing else around.

When you say you averaged 68 MPH... Were you changing speeds more frequently around Baltimore? It probably had more traffic congestion than most of the roads you took in PA.

I see your point on the elevation changes but its up and down hill both ways... you climb into the hills outside of bmore.. then go down them up into the laurel highlands then back down into pittsburgh.. so the elevation shouldnt have played a big role.. naturally there is more congestion in the city but I never stopped and or changes driving habits unless I had to avoid being smeared on the highway.. crazy MD/DC drivers! I guess it was just surprising to use that much gas in that short of distance.. once i was on the turnpike (and its all hills and turns) i returned to my normal consuption.

reason sounds about right

naturally there is more congestion in the city but I never stopped and or changes driving habits unless I had to avoid being smeared on the highway.. crazy MD/DC drivers!Yeah, did you have your hazard blinkers on driving only 68? Most highways around here flow 20 MPH faster than the posted limit in the far left lane. Of course, coming from PA, I bet you mistakenly thought the left lane was only for passing! And you probably let people merge and expected them to do the same! :silly:

yeah it was a war zone out there.. i don't know why people are in such a hurry.. i should have stopped at the armery and put some machine guns on the front of the box.. It felt like i was playin a video game.. like frogger

look dude, nearly all gas in the united states is blended with ethanol. it is actually legally mandated that all gas sold in the US have some ethanol. but this time you actually saw a sticker that told you this, not all of them have them. the first time i noticed this was when i filled up at a sunoco in olney md.

anyway, the ethanol is not the reason for your fuel consumption going down. true, ethanol does have less energy than gasoline, so it does burn faster, BUT! a vehicle with a flex fuel engine that can run on E-85 or regular gasoline gets 25% fewer mpg on e-85 compared to regular gasoline.

so look, it takes a mixture of 85% ethanol gasoline to get a 25% reduction in mpg in labratory conditions, so this 10% ethanol blend in no way shape or form can reduce your mpg over 20%.

straight up, it was climbing the hills on the interstate. you say "well, for every hill i climb, i roll down the other side blah blah" no, it doesn't work that way. how what is the longest decent down a hill you have ever experienced? it would never be more than a mile, so even if you rolled down a hill with the engine off, you would only be going 1 mile without using any gas. but climbing up that hill, takes alot of effort on behalf of your engine.

how do i no this? i have been driving from laytonsville md to frostburg md every week since 2003 between work and school.

driving up to frostburg, up all the foot hills and such, i tend to use alittle more than 3/8ths a a tank of gas, while the drive back to laytonsville is usually about 1/4 th a tank. elevation plays a huge roll, inclines means your car is not only propelling itself forward againt its own inertia, but uphill means it is fighting gravity.

so thus thusly, you blamed the gas for your poor mpg, and that is wrong. sorry, it is all about elevation and effort climbing hills.

if you want to challenge me and my 5 years of commuting accross half the state from 270 to 70 to 68 to frostburg, be my guest. but i have filled up at every single different brand of gas station depending what exit i need to fill up at, shell, chevron, sunoco, exxon, sheetz, bp, citgo. the mpg stays the same.