There is a beautiful 08 white 2lt on the lot waiting for me-can't decide if I should wait for the 09's with the engine change and window button relocation.
Any thoughts on the flex fuel engines?

 

You will probably get a better deal on the 08, but if the 09 options are what you want, then wait.

As for the E-85, I wish mine has that option. I personally would use it if at all possible. In trucks they loose 3-4 mpg and that hurts a truck, but in a small vehicle, I have noticed only a 2-3 loss (Taurus/Impala at work) and since it's getting mid 20's already (verses 18) it doesn't hurt as bad. Plus I would rather the money stay in the US verses where the oil came from.

my 2 pennies....

 

solman98
thanks for the reply-I have yet to see any stations even offering the e85 fuel
I hear that they will have to retool,new tanks and such tocarry the e86-have not even heard of one here in central florida

 

Yea the locations are scarce, there is ony one local to me. But they should be more as time goes by. My agency is required to be members of the E-85 coalition so we monitor were stations are located. Looking at my list for FL we show.

Inland Food Store #526 3500 North Monroe Street Tallahassee FL 32304 850-562-1159
Kangaroo Express as of 02-13-07 3500 North Monroe Street Tallahassee FL 32304 850-562-1159

And that's it for now.

 

My dealer told me that unless the E85 was 40 cents cheaper or better than you are better off using regular unleaded.

 

Guess it depends on what country you want your money going to.

 

Okay I'm having a Déjà vu here or I drank too many beers last night. I know I posted to these exact questions/posts before.

Using E85 reduces your MPG by 30%.

So here is an example:

87 Octane gas = $4.00 per gallon

To break even E85 would have to cost 30% less which is $2.80 per gallon.

So to SAVE money you would have to buy E85 at LESS then $2.80 per gallon.

 

my question is this, what is different with the engine that allows you to use the E85?

 

I know what the numbers state they should be, but I know for a fact that on the 06 Taurus and the 07 Impala we have at work they only loose about 10% in mileage using E85 verses 87. So to make that a wash, E85 only needs to be about 40cents cheaper to balance out. Locally, it is about that much cheaper. We have agencies that use E85 exclusively (DOE for one) and their mileages are not far off the "sticker" listed mileage for the same vehicles. Full size trucks seem to loose about 4mpg (from 18 to about 14, 22% loss) so it hurts them more. But our sedans and such only seem to drop from about 25.x to about 23.x in our use. Looking at our inventory, as of today we have 16,514 flex fuel vehicles in our fleet for my region (southeast). So we do have some real world "testing" to work with. They only vehicle we have ever had an issue with running E85 on were Rangers, and that was a manufactors issue, they just didn't run well.

 

Im considering the same thing,
I thought i saw the new HHr motor for2009 say DI direct injection, maybe not, but is the compression going to be raised, I couldnt find any info on that, Does anyone know?

from what I remember if you raise the compression and some timing changes then you will recoup some of the loss of mpg using E85,

the 09 acadia will have if i remember right 11-1 compression and DI, should help with regular gas milage a little but mostly with e85.

oh forgot to add
e85 last week was 2.89
reg was 3.89,
buck a gal difference,