non-ethanol fuel?

[Fiatlanta]

Noticed a few stations in my area are carrying non-ethanol fuel for around $3/gallon. Premium is around $2.80, which is what I've been using...if there is some benefit, I wouldn't mind the extra .20/gallon. I think I read somewhere that 91+ octane is preferable, but the non-ethanol is 90, compared to 93 for premium. I've been getting 18-20 mpg in mostly surface street driving, fwiw.

Thoughts?

[klweimer]

I'd go for the non-ethanol if you can get it. Especially if you don't drive the car a lot. The ethanol can be corrosive to a variety of fuel system components. I think this is less of an issue if you keep fuel going through the system, but if you don't turn over the fuel often, you may have more issues.
Kirk

[Fiatlanta]

Thanks for the info. It's my every day driver currently, so I guess it's not as big an issue.

[Dawgme85]

If your engine is stock, it doesn't need Premium fuel. I run 89 octane in mine with no pinging issues, though I could probably get by with 87. Higher compression engines need higher octane, but the later models only had about 8:1 CR. If I had >9:1 I would probably run 92 octane, which is what Premium is around here.
I also run non-ethanol gas from the local Grange station and the engine runs noticeably better than when I (occasionally) have to fill up with "good quality" (Chevron, Shell, 76, etc) oxygenated gas. Try a few tanks and judge for yourself.
LeRoy

[Fiatlanta]

Cool, yeah, it's stock. Guess I'll give it a shot.

Thanks.