Quote:
Originally Posted by gblaue
Actually, Ethanol has less BTUs per unit than gasoline. Summer blend of gasoline has approximately 114,500 BTUs/gallon compare to 111,836 BTUs per gallon for gasoline with 10% ethanol.
The reason that people believe that "winter fuels" get worse gas mileage is not so much an issue anymore. Most areas are running gasoline/ethanol blends year round. The real reason is that car simply needs to run richer in cold weather. Cold air is denser and contains more oxygen, thus runs leaner. That means more fuel is needed, which in turn means a drop in fuel mileage. In addition, cars run closed loop longer during the warm up period, which means even more fuel.
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I hear everyones scientific reasonings and weather related reasons for loss of mileage and yes I guess people are correct Did I really buy it for the great fuel mileage?..... OK you got me I would have went back with the 6 cyl like I traded in.. BUT I am just bringing to light the fact that one minute I'm riding along getting over 17 mpg --- I stop and fill up my gas tank... once I roll back onto the hwy the car struggles to get 15-16 mpg.... EVEN AS I TRY TO BABY IT TO SEE IF I CAN ACTUALLY HIT THE 25 MPG TOP MPG RATING ON THE WINDOW STICKER JUST FOR KICKS... (ya know get it slowly up to speed then let the cruise take it on a flat open piece of hwy with no traffic lights so the AFM kicks in) I'm just sitting there going WTF? somethings not right.
Since then it has settled at around 14.4 mpg when a few days before I was around 17.6 mpg. NO COLD weather since its been just about the same temp (around 55-60) no warm ups... no change in driving habits or anything like that. Within 10 minutes time and one fill up I saw a difference Nothing else mentioned really comes into play except the difference in the oxygenated fuel.