Rental cars - "E85" gasoline?

[cigar95]

My last two trips, my rental from National has had a note both on the rear bumper and on the gas tank cover that this car takes "E85" gasoline - presumably something related to the ethanol content.

What does this mean? Are there stations that sell a special type of gasoline? Both times I have refilled the tank with regular 87 octane from Hess - the car ran fine, and National didn't come after me about messing up their engine.

Any Florida locals or others who are familiar with this - insight would be appreciated.

 

[jessrose18]

Last time we rented from alamo and our car also had this. We called the alamo hotline and asked what kind of gas to fill up the car with, and she said just regular gas. I am not really sure what it means/or why I have only seen this on rental cars. We were also scared to fill it up w/ the wrong gas and then thought, well why would they not have more specific instructions on the rental agreement if that was the case. At work this week I also overheard a customer telling her business associates that she rented a car and it said e85 and she wasn't sure what that meant either.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Basically they are identifying the vehicle as a Flex Fuel vehicle. You can put any grade of gas sold plus E85 in a Flex Fuel vehicle. Putting E85 in a non-flex fuel vehicle will not cause permanent damage, but it can make the vehicle run rough or with severly reduced economy, long term usage is very bad. E85 is roughly 85% Ethanol and 15% gasoline.

You didn't do any harm putting 87 in the vehicle.

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

The only gas station around Orlando that I'm aware of that sells the E85 blend is the Shell station at the Turkey Lake Service Plaza on Florida's Turnpike. This is about 3 miles north of the I-4 interchange. The price per gallon is cheaper than regular unleaded but certainly not worth going out of your way for considering it's a $.50 toll each way from I-4.

BobK/Orlando

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

DH says..........
Be aware that when you put E-85 in an E-85 vehicle, your gas mileage drops significantly. You can see the difference here :

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm

Also be aware that some of the cars do not actually have a fuel sensor to determine the mixed ratio as you sometimes use gas, and other times use E-85.

For rental cars, the process of adding 1-3 gallons is not accurately recognized by the software and that can cause the car to run bad. You might do this to prevent a fuel charge for returning a car with 7/8's of a tank of gas. "Normal" people don't do this.

As a renter--just put gasoline in the car all the time and you can never go wrong.