E85 fuel in Hyundai's

I have a 99 Elantra and a 02 Santa Fe and a local fuel center is
selling E85 at .40 less a gallon than regular fuel.
Can I burn this without any alterations or will I have to get a
conversion kit or am I just out of luck?

 

Cars have to be built specially to handle E-85. They are typically called
"flex-fuel" vehicles.

More and more of these are being built all the time by more and more
manufacturers. As I understand it, the number and availability of tax
incentives to buy these are also growing by leaps and bounds. Hyundai and
Kia will apparently join the "flex-fuel vehicle" rush in 2007.

As for modifying a current vehicle, I won't say it's impossible, but so much
would have to be modified, I doubt any kits will be made available, unless
there are some very committed people out there.

I would also ask people to think carefully before buying a vehicle that runs
on E-85, unless it is a true "flex-fuel" vehicle, meaning it can also run on
regular unleaded. For now, the availability of E-85 is limited, meaning
unless your driving is totally local, you may have some problems finding a
station that supplies it out of your area. As I understand it, that is
changing rapidly also.

Ethanol plants are being built and proposed left and right. I think you
will find that this is a phenomenon that will become a very real part of our
fuel future in the years to come.

But for now, sorry but I don't think this will help your Elantra and Santa
Fe.

Hope this helps.

Tom Wenndt

 

No E85 for you (or me with a 2002 XG350) but I have heard that flex fuel
vehicles get really bad mileage on E85, like if they get 20 mpg on gasoline
they get 10 mpg on E85. This makes that 40 cent a gallon cheaper E85 look
like not so good a deal anymore. I'm not at all sure this is true, its just
something I heard. Anyone out there know for sure? They keep saying that
alcohol burns hotter and faster so I'm not sure it makes sense that the
mileage would be that different, maybe E85 should even be better???

 

its only around 10-20% loss of fuel economy, E85 doesnt have as much bang as
regular petrol.

 

I'll vouch for that. I recently drove a GM car, a rental, rated at
approximately 400 miles on a tank of gas, 300 on a tank of E85. There
is less energy in a gallon of ethanol than a gallon of gasoline, so
any price benefit would be lost to the lowre mileage.

 

Not to mention the amount of oil it takes to grow and process the corn
used to make the ethanol. The chosen claim a net 20% gain over just
using the oil to make gasoline. That requires a level of recycling
energy that far exceeds current practice. The real net result is much
more likly a net loss in efficiency but a net gain in ADM's bank
account.

 

Another item you may want to consider is that all vehicles will get less
MPG when using E85 fuel. You would want to weigh the .40 savings
against that.

 

I prefer to look at it this way.

Even though the cost of E85 would be about the same when you factor fuel
economy loss. E85 is renewable, hence a $1 hike in one month is not as
likely as it would be with regular petroleum. Also, if more people
switch to E85, petroleum manufacturers would sell less forcing them to
FINALLY reduce the prices of their EXPENSIVE gas.