Originally Posted by gumby

gpsman1,
The issue is in recommending greater than E10. This is not even close to widely available at the pump.

True. But if you live a few states either side of the Mississippi river, it's coming to a station near you soon. In months, not years.

And while all that you say may be true, it does not matter to me until manufacturers (& dealers too) agree with you, and stop putting this verbiage in the owner's manual:

"Your vehicle is designed to operate on oxygenated gasoline containing up to 10% ethanol by volume and up to 15% MTBE by volume."

Most of what I read on these boards is about how un-educated and incompetent dealers are. Some are still telling hybrid shoppers they can drive all day on electricty as long as they stay at city speeds. Many say even 10% ethanol is bad for your car. Which tells me to steer clear of dealers unless I have no other choice. Their main goal is to sell cars after all. Not be expert mechanics. And while some mechanics are O.K. at dealers, most GREAT mechanics work for private shops, or open their own. My observations only, yours may vary.

The use of a 10% ethanol mix, does NOT indicate to me, that the engine, valves, fuel pumps, fuel injectors, O2 (and other) sensors, CATs, exhausts, fuel linings, rubber and plastic parts have all been significantly upgraded. If they have been, it's a small step to make the vehicles truly "Flex-Fuel".

It is not a matter of needing a plastic and rubber upgrade. That occurred years ago, and is in all new cars these days. The rubber parts were discontined for other reasons.

It really is a small step to make existing vehicles FFV. ( ~$100. )
I think I have already outlined where the real poblem lies.
More cars are ethanol capable than most people imagine.
All Chevy Trucks less than 1 ton are Flex Fuel as standard equipment, in addition are Tahoe, Avalanche, Suburban, and also the Impala Sedan, and available as "options" on other Chevy cars.
On models where FFV is an option, it is a $0 option, and you only need to specify you want this. The engines, the tanks, 99.9% of the car is identical. On the FFV, it may have slightly different O2 sensors and software. Thats all Folks.

I, for one, will take heed this cautionary message in my HCH2.

If you want cheaper fuel costs, maybe you should buy American cars? Sounds like Japan is behind the times when it comes to Flex Fuel. But in fairness, ahead in the Hybrid dept.