Ethanol E85

[Valandil]

Anyone here use the stuff?

I didn't even know what it was until about 5-6 months ago. I pulled up at a gas station on the south side, in between stops with my job. Before I could get to the pump, a gas station employee came out to pump the gas for me. Well... that was the first time this has happened to me in Illinois since I've been driving (though I know it's standard in some states - Oregon & New Jersey at least).

Anyway - he tells me my car can take E85 (showed me the sticker) - and started to tell me about it. I had him stop on that pump and switched over to the E85 pump right away. Here's the deal:

* E85 is 85% ethanol and only 15% gasoline.
* You can use it in your car if you have the green sticker saying your car can take it - right by your gas cap (mine is on the inside of the lid that covers the cap).
* If your car is a "flex-fuel" car (meaning it can burn either gasoline or E85), using E85 is actually better for your car.
* E85 burns cleaner.
* It's cheaper - the gas station on the south side was selling it for 20 cents a gallon less than gas - then 30 less... now one by me is selling it for 50 cents less than their lowest grade of gasoline (those are the only two stations I've found in the city that sell it though - and I've only seen one in my usual routes outside of town). I filled up this morning for $1.99 per gallon!
* It doesn't use NEARLY so much foreign oil - and doesn't send as much of my money out of the country to the middle east.
* The ethanol is made from domestically grown corn - which benefits my country's economy and even my regional midwestern economy (from the Middle East to the Mid-west, we might say! ). Illinois by itself just grows an unbelievable amount of corn every year - besides all the other big corn-producing states.

Anybody else have a flex-fuel car? Anyone else use E85? My car is a 2002 Dodge - but I don't think there are a lot of flex-fuel vehicles out on the road yet.