Flex Fuel Vehicle Questions

[Orangecnty250r]

I may buy a used 2013 flex fuel Yukon. I have never owned a flex fuel vehicle and I just tried reading up on them. Anything that I should know? I live in the Northeast (pretty cold winters). Any typical headaches or are they pretty reliable?

[hoosierlogger]

E85 costs more per mile than gasoline. Yes it costs less, but it doesn't deliver the same power or fuel economy as gas.

[El Camexican]

I'm on my second GM with this feature and as hoosierlogger said running E85 seems to cost more. You can expect 12 to 14mpg on the E85 and up to 19mpg on regular gas when running between 75 and 80mph. It should go up a couple mpg if you can hold it at 60mph.

On the plus side GM says my 2013 5.3L engine makes 15HP more on E85. As far I can tell the main cost of the Flex fuel system is because you get a corrosion resistant fuel system and with all the crap that fuel seems to have in it now that can't be a bad thing. Also note worthy it seems my truck gets slightly better mileage on the 87octane than 91.

[bkm]

My 2010 5.4 F-150 is flex fuel, but has never had a drop of the e85 in the tank and I've had zero roblems.

[Orangecnty250r]

Thanks everybody! I just wanted to be sure there were no hidden demons in these vehicles

[YTZ drew]

I don't know about NY, but there's no E85 to be found here in Mass, at least not that I've seen. There is very little difference between a FFV and a standard one, just the corrosion resistant parts as ElC mentioned. Oxygen sensors may be different, larger injectors usually, and different PCM programming, that's it.