Adventures in E10

[twenty]

As you're all very aware, standard petrol in the pumps is going E10 from September.

Here in London, the Esso where I refuel my E30 has already started selling E10.

I've forever been using Esso Supreme 99 as it's ethanol free (call me paranoid), but when I dropped in to refuel last week, I decided that I'll do a little experiment - instead of filling up with the usual, fill up with E10 instead.
I decided to risk this because last year the car had a complete fuel system refresh, new tank, lines, hoses etc. Everything was changed in the good hands of Barry and his team at BMR Performance.

Even though I knew what was coming, the results still took me by surprise. The car sounds and feels a lot better. High octane fuel was always going to be wasted on a 30 year old car. Since the ECU doesn't know how to handle high octane petrol, it was burning more fuel - with E10 it's almost like the ECU knows what's going on and the result speaks for itself.

It's a shame really, what I want is cheap low octane petrol with no ethanol but what I have is high octane fuel with no ethanol (or E5 if you don't use Supreme 99+). I'm going to use up the current fill as soon as I can (I'm still paranoid about E10) and go back to Supreme 99 but also considering checking out additives like Castrol Classic Valvemaster to see if a permanent E10 switch is realistic.

Ultimately, it seems that what the community needs is a chip that can deal with high octane fuel.
I know Mark D'Sylva does a fantastic chip however his one assumes a o2/lambda sensor as he's from north America. The other option is going via the Megasquirt route but that feels too involved.

[ChrisHC]

Although garages are marking the pumps for E10, as I understand it, they will not actually be selling E10 until September.

[onthames]

That's what I heard too when I asked the guy at the garage to look into it for me as their pumps were still marked e5 and I wanted to see if it was E10. He told me there putting the labels on theirs next week but it won't be e10 fuel until September.

[martauto]

Although garages are marking the pumps for E10, as I understand it, they will not actually be selling E10 until September.

I had to buy some e10 from morrisons last week as they had no alternative so surely this was illegal as it was not what it said it should be ??

Mart.