Is Ethanol OK to use in VW

[aliasmk2]

Hi all,
I have always tried to fill the car with BP or Shell 98, recently returning from a work trip I had to buy fuel in the middle of nowhere. Being on the north coast of nsw there is a chain of independent gararges (Neumans) that sell a 95 ron with a 10% ethanol blend. I put $20 in the tank as the car was almost empty & was reluctant to put a lot of this biofuel in the car
After 5-10 mins on the hwy the car seemed to have considerable more torque & was reving very smooth. To be honest it seemed to go much better than on BP ultimate
I have since heard that this particular blend is more like 100ron

Has anyone had this experience with ethanol blends

I mut say I am keen to try a 98ron blend but cannot find it anywhere in the area
& there is the question of compatability to my 1991 mk2

[h100vw]

I usually put Ultimate or 98 octane ethanol blend in my Ibiza and A3 turbo. I have to admit the Ibiza goes a little better on Ultimate and I never hear any pinking. The Audi runs good on anything 95 and up.

The cost saving on the local eth blend is pretty good.

On a GTI I wouldn't worry at all and I would even try bumping the timing up a bit in case you can get a bit more performance from the higher octane fuel.

Gavin

[aliasmk2]

Hi Gavin, there is about a 12 cent difference, between e95 & BP ultimate which is great when you use a lot of fuel & I have not noticed any pinging.
I am just concerned that it might have some effect on the materials used in the fuel systems of older cars, as that was the big concern a few years ago when people first started talking about bringing ethanol in.

cheers Ian

[peedman]

The mobil around the corner from my house recently got rid of 6000 which is ron95 for this e10 stuff which is normal ron91 with 10% ethanol which bumps it up to similar octane as ron95 but cheaper. I did a quick read around and its ok with our cars but volkswagen doesnt recommend it, i say run it

My abf will get only ron98 tho

[aliasmk2]

Hi Peedman,
I have noticed that around here too mobil has changed, but I thought it was only 91 ron they were selling.

Have you tried the mobil e10 in your car yet?

cheers Ian

[The_Hawk]

AFAIK there is no premium ethanol fuel in Australia, definately not at BP anyway, being that we run contrcat with them we meet with their reps pretty often and I asked a bunch of question about premium fuel and ethanol.

In Aus all 91 fuel is mandated at 2% ethanol, BP list "up to 10% ethanol" as it vary's between 2% and 10% depending on whats available to them at the time. BP fuels are blended at the tanker, so it's a matter of how much ethanol they have on hand to what they make up, also cost based, but you get the point.

There is no plans to have a premium ethanol.