jtslade

Does anyone know if the 2010 Audi A4 (gasoline) US-Spec can handle the new E10 Ethanol gas that is being offered in all German gas stations?

Has anyone here tried it? Any difference in performance?

Moviela

E10 (10% alcohol by volume) is a way of life in California. The car runs fine with it. There is a slight decrease in performance, but it is not really noticeable unless you are seriously tracking your car. Alcohol is not so kind to some parts of the fuel distribution system, but Audi and other makers have been using alcohol resistant materials for several years.

The motor electronics have been tuned by the Germans for use in many locations where fuel quality is not so good. The timing and injection duration can be automatically adjusted to compensate for different octane numbers you might encounter in the wild.

As long as you continue to buy premium fuel you will be fine. It is false economy to use regular fuel. The performance will plummet and the mileage will suffer. You will pay more per mile to run regular than premium as long as the difference per gallon is less than twenty-five cents.

quality_sound

You tell him E10 is fine but regular gas is the devil??? E10 is WORSE than regular for mileage and power. I just run Super Plus over here. I will NOT run E10 if I can avoid it.

johnny ro

I envy anyone who can avoid E10. In New England, its mandated for cars driven on public highways so real gas seems to be unavailable.

+1 on using premium. I lose like 30-50 miles per tank with regular (E10).

HyrePower

Well thanks to corporatism we get this crap shoved down our throats.

alk

I'm driving E10 91 octane in Denver and average 25 mpg in my 2011 P- Avant. It's mostly highway driving about 60 miles per day at around 65-70 avg MPH. The car seems to tolerate E10 just fine.

Interestingly, I was getting about te same fuel economy on my '98 Grand Prix GT 3.8L V6 under the exact same conditions but with 87 octane.

quality_sound

The manual in my 2011 expressly says E10 is fine. Given the choice, however, I'll take premium or premium plus. Corn isn't fuel, dammit.

pilot4300

I am fortunate to have one of the only gas stations that sells fuel without ethanol located just a couple of miles away from me. However, it is "no name" brand fuel.

Which is better for my 2010 A4? "No name" premium fuel with no ethanol, but probably not much extra in the way of additives or detergents? Or "top tier gas" from Shell (V-power premium) or Exxon that has 10% ethanol?

I've been filling up mostly at the non-ethanol station whenever possible. My A4 does seem to average at least one MPG better without ethanol.

VivAvant

Anybody know if Quick-Trip (a top tier gas) is ethanol free? I'll look next time I'm there but thought I'd ask if anybody knew.

dmacneill

Below is a quote from a section of the Top Tier Website. It looks like ethanol is required for gasoline to qualify for Top Tier fuel.


1.3.1.2 Base Fuel. The base fuel shall conform to ASTM D 4814 and shall contain commercial fuel grade ethanol conforming to ASTM D 4806. All gasoline blend stocks used to formulate the base fuel shall be representative of normal U.S. refinery operations and shall be derived from conversion units downstream of distillation. Butanes and pentanes are allowed for vapor pressure adjustment. The use of chemical streams is prohibited. The base fuel shall have the following specific properties after the addition of ethanol:

1. Contain enough denatured ethanol such that the actual ethanol content is no less than 8.0 and no more than 10.0 volume percent.


http://www.toptiergas.com/deposit_control.html