Flex fuel vehicles....

[Gary A]

Are there any advantages? My wife is very happy to be paying 20 baht per liter for E85. The main advantage that I see is that the vehicle is not at all particular with whatever you put in the tank. I can't see any major difference in overall cost. With several hundred kilometers on the vehicle, the E85 uses considerably more fuel. I didn't bother with detailed calculations but if E85 saves any money, it is negligible. Maybe the main advantage is that the tree huggers feel better about the pollution factor.

 

If I were buying a new benzine powered vehicle, I wouldn't worry about whether it can use E85 or not. Diesels are still by far the most economical.  As far as diesel cars, it would likely take MANY kilometers for any payback. The payback would likely be for better resale value.

[Kwasaki]

It's a good call but we use E20 in the car because we can, we don't really think about the savings it's just cheaper than E10,  mileage differences are negligible in our usage.

 

Oil servicing also of all fluid changes,  tyre checks,  brake,  shocks,  bearings etc are more important me's thinks.

[juehoe]

It depends on the engine technology. Modern engines don't loose power with E20 or E85. But the fuel consumption can be significant higher than with E10 (Gasohol 91 or 95). So it depends on the costs per kilometre.

For my Mazda CX-3, E20 is the most economical option so far. I currently try E85 for more kilometres so that I can make a better solution.

We own also a Mazda CX-5 with Diesel and we are very happy with its powerful and economic engine.

I could try a Mazda 2 Diesel for one week and was also impressed of the power (low rev torque) and the fuel economy.

[juehoe]

The pollution factor of E85 is not good. The production of CO2 is higher than conventional fuel when you put the production in count. The production of ethanol also uses a lot of water soil.

Only the production of ethanol with organic waste makes ecological sense.