CAUTION E10 fuel

[bushman]

Recently put some RON 98 / ethanol 10% blend into my poor 77TSTI.
Do not use this fuel type whether 95 or 98 RON.
Fuel consumption up by at least 10%
Power down by a similar amount
Lesson learnt

[Feeine]

Can agree 100% on this, mum accidentally put e10 in her v8 disco with similar results. Stuffs garbage.

[wai]

Yes. This is how it works. Ethanol has 30% less calorific value than petrol. Using a 10% blend gives you 3% less energy in E10.

Then the ethanol molecule has oxygen atoms whereas petrol does not. So, when E10 combusts, the oxygen is released and this has the effect of leaning out the mixture. This causes the engine to run lean and increases the combustion temperature significantly. This has a benefit on reducing unburnt hydrocarbons, but increases NOx hugely (approximately 3 times). The result of all of this is a minimum 3% loss if you have the engine retuned. In practice, no matter what you do, you usually end up with a 10% loss in efficiency.

So, stay clear of any ethanol blend unless the engine is specifically retuned for that blend. You will use more, so from an environmental point of view, you are using as much petrol PLUS you are burning 10% ethanol, AND you have all the energy costs of growing, harvesting, and distilling the crop. There is only a very small amount of carbon that the crop recaptures.

Oh and you will think you have a new engine when you go back to straight petrol

[AndrewBurns]

Always ran 91 unleaded (not E10) in my Camry for that reason. It's not even cost effective because E10 isn't 10% cheaper than 91 unleaded.

[nomadx38]

Also like to add that VW specifically says to never run ethanol blends (or bio diesel) in these cars (mines a 77TSI but I'm sure it goes for all turbo models).

I have a massive sticker on my filler cap saying not to use it. You then have the the obvious problem of less power and it destroying your engine all for 1.2c off per litre - yep no thanks!

I guess it will stop the engine pinging on hot days with its high RON octane rating though :p

[ill0gitech]

Yours says no Ethanol on the sticker? From memory mine is 98/(95) RON/ROZ sticker - and if E10 is being advertised as 98 RON then I can see some confusion.

(That said I drive a GTI, I'm only putting in non-Ethanol 98RON in mine anyway)

[pontiff]

Yours says no Ethanol on the sticker? From memory mine is 95/98 RON only sticker - and if E10 is being advertised as 98 RON then I can see some confusion.

(That said I drive a GTI, I'm only putting in non-Ethanol 98RON in mine anyway)

Mine says the same thing on the sticker and I must admit that I have put in on occasion as the 7-11 around the corner has it and no 98 and not noticed the difference, but if VW forbids it (thanks for the tip on that), then i'll stop using it and stop being lazy and fill up at a station that does have proper 98.

[AndrewBurns]

With all the engine miseries that have happened in the past with these cars, always using 98 is cheap insurance against future warranty claims IMO.

[Lemonskin]

I thought 98 was the minimum to use across the whole Polo range

[Eaglehawk]

95 RON for the petrols. Obviously diesel for the TDI...