Ethanol-free gasoline has pros and cons

By Doug McAllister

Q. Hello, Doug. Love your column in the Daily Herald. It's helped me out a few times. Thanks. I have a question regarding grades of gasoline.

We travel to Iowa about one or two times a month. At one gas station, they sell gas with 10 percent ethanol and gas without ethanol. The price difference is 40 cents more for ethanol-free. Is there an advantage of using ethanol-free gasoline as far as performance and mileage - assuming a car gets about 30 miles per gallon?

A. Thanks for the question. I don't know for sure if you would see a significant-enough performance or mileage increase to offset the 40 cents per gallon difference.

You may want to try it once and see if you notice any improvement. Today's cars tolerate the 10 percent ethanol fine. It is when you put the 15 percent ethanol (E15 fuel) or higher in the tank that you can start having problems, unless you own a flex-fuel vehicle.

I do not recommend using the E15 gasoline in your car or truck unless it is a flex-fuel vehicle. Using fuel with 15 percent or higher ethanol could damage your vehicle and, in fact, if you put E85 in a non-flex-fuel vehicle it may not even run.

So if your choice is between no ethanol and E15, go with no ethanol. But E10 is fine and less expensive. I hope this helps.

• Douglas Automotive is at 417 W. Main St., Barrington; 123 Virginia Road, Crystal Lake; and 416 Northwest Hwy., Fox River Grove. For information, visit douglasautomotive.com. Send questions to underthehood@dailyherald.com.