Comment Re:NOT ok if your car is new (Score 1) 432
You make a very dubious claim, and that you chose to post as an AC further heightens my doubt. You say that this was a "recent road trip". Since that implies you were not buying from a local dealer that you knew could provide regular, just how did you determine that you were getting regular without alcohol? How did you find sellers providing pure gas while on the road away from your home? And if you were seeing such a sharp difference, why would you buy more than one tank full of "pure gas"? I've found that even pumps that do not contain the 10% alcohol warning usually are selling 10% alcohol gas (I've seen this "recently", within the last few months). And gas that "may contain up to 10% ethanol" will occasionally (but rarely) not contain 10% alcohol. Plus you're talking about getting 300 or so miles out of a tank or well over 450, but you're not giving actual MPGs. I can make a big difference in how far I can go after a fill up depending on if I stop filling when the pump first cuts off or if I squeeze in every last drop that I can (and on a road trip you can expect different pumps to cut off at different points). And I doubt that you are running those tanks to empty, making those distances on a "tank of gas" even less precise.
You also didn't state if this road trip was on consistent roads or if some parts were major Interstate highways and other parts were conditions that could be expected to provide poorer mileage such as secondary roads, higher speed limits, major congestion, or sharp up-hill driving.
Plus, lets state the obvious: You're the only person that I have ever seen make such a claim, and there seems to be no rational reason why one would see as much as a 50% improvement on mileage after adulterating gasoline with lower energy ethanol.
So, to put it simply Mr. AC, I believe that you either did very poor measurement to obtain the results that you claim, or you are simply reporting a falsehood.