A long drive that brought a wide range of weather conditions. Lite drizzle in Pennsylvania, freezing rain for a section in Ohio, dry blowing snow in Indiana, sunny skis in the Chicago area, subzero temperatures and snow in Northern Wisconsin and Michigan. The one constant was the 20 mph north and northwest winds. This killed my mileage and produce worst ever "mpg" figures. This induced an additional 300-500 rpm in my vheicle at similar vehicle speeds. Never before have I had long interstate drives with sub 25 mpg. During this trip I began with around a 30% ethanol concentration. 60 miles into the trip, I added 1 gallon of E0. 220 miles into the trip I added 7.5 gallons of E10 and the mileage (MPG) dropped an additonal 1.5 mpg! Nearly 400 miles into the trip, I mixed a blend of E85 with E10 to obtain an added fuel blend of around E20. My mileage actually increased nearly 1.3 mpg. I later stopped where one could add premixed E20 (Renew Station in Cedar Grove, WI) and my mileage increased another .3 mpg. Finally, in Northern Wisconsin, I returned to a 27 mpg+ figures despite temperatures dropping below zero. The heavily forested land blocked the winds and my rpms returned to near normal levels.
One might conclude from this report that my vehicle runs well on the E20 mixture and produces improved mileage when compared to E0 or even E30. My sweet spot must be E15-E25 mixtures. The Renew station's E20 pump sure makes life easier to mix ethanol blends.
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