Vacation miles per gallon
We left Harrisburg, Pa., on vacation Friday, driving up to Prince Edward Island in Canada for a week. Because it is a journey of a thousand miles (the single step was into the car), we took my wife's 2005 Toyota Prius instead of my larger, somewhat less fuel-efficient 2007 Honda CR-V. The Prius gets 45-50 miles per gallon on the highway, the CR-V about 27 mpg. On a trip that long, it is a significant difference.
The Prius averaged 47 mpg on the first tank of gas, which I purchased in Harrisburg just before we left. I didn't fill the tank again until we were in Massachusetts. As I did, I noticed that this gasoline contained 10 percent ethanol. Fine, I thought. That's what Gov. Rendelll wants everyone in Pennsylvania to be using in the very near future. Lets see how it runs.
Unfortunately, alcohol in the Massachusetts gasoline caused the Prius mileage to drop to 40-41 mpg. That's still good in the greater scheme of things, but you can't get past the fact it represented nearly a 13 percent decline in fuel efficiency. I drove most of that Mass. gas out of the car by the time I refueled in northern Maine. What I bought wasn't gasohol, and gradually the fuel efficiency climbed back toward 47 mpg.
I'm not willing to write off ethanol based on one tank of gas, but the experience was sobering to say the least.