Buying a 2011 VE

[gossie]

Your VE is designed and built by GM for running on 10% ethanol fuel if you wish to. Regular unleaded is also suitable. It's all up to you what you wish to run it on.

Have you read and digested your books that must have come with the car?

 

[PIR4TE]

I'm confused. Is this the general concensus?

From what I read most people think its **** and speak the most wonderfully creative rubbish about how evil it is. Do a quick site search for e85.

I always thought that it was a dirty fuel that wasn't good for your car.. or is that only true for older vehicles.

No its the cleanest fuel, made in Australia (Dalby, QLD for United), cheap as (no tax), and is has nothing to do with corn juice, here we make it sometimes from spent sugar cane but there are huge Sorghum crops supporting it mainly. You can use e85 which is 85% pure alcohol, with 15% petrol to make it start easier in cold weather.

Mine might be made to run with that stuff?

Yes e10 is probably the most economical in terms of cost benefit being 94-95 RON and about $1.40. e85 is fairly rare, is cheaper but depending where and how you drive you will use more. Still works out cheapest for me.

Should I be using Ethanol instead of Premium Unleaded?

e10 definitely, e85 maybe.

And should I stop using the fuel doctor mixture?

I don't know, you would need to weigh up cost benefit but I wouldn't use it without knowing exactly how it affects the tune. There are lots of things you can do to the tune of the engine and car body to improve fuel economy, but magic pills and octane boosting petrol potions will not work with alcohol, only the petrol component. I wouldn't bother, go for the high cheap octane e85 from the pump and go easy with your right foot.

 

[JoeRogan]

Thanks everyone.. and by comparison to my old 2008 3.6L, the new 2012 3.0L has equal amount of power. I read the other peoples posts, but I just can't tell that there's any difference behind the wheel.
The gearbox seems to change smoothly. There's none of the reported change happy gearbox behaviour that is suggested.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. Anyone else agree or disagree?

 

[JoeRogan]

Have you read and digested your books that must have come with the car?

Yep I've had a read of the book. I like to hear peoples opinions though.

 

[Ian Johnston]

Never driven a 3.0, so cant comment. Had a 3.6 VE SV6, and it wasnt too bad.
But as long as you are happy, thats all that matters.

 

[Shorty33]

I had a VZ 3.6L, 4-speed auto sedan, and I was happy with it.
I got the 3.0L, 6-speed auto, because I wanted the extra fuel economy that Holden promised.
I was not disappointed !
The difference in economy is significant, on the highway, but not so much around town.
In performance, I think that the only difference is that the VE is tiny bit slower off a standing start than the VZ -
I base that on a STOP sign near home, where I have to do a right turn into a busy six-lane arterial, so acceleration is essential -
I still get through OK.
I only use 91.RON in mine, but occasionally when 91.RON isn't available, I use E.10.

"Sizzle Red" - I wish mine was that colour !

PIRATE: my car is a 2010 SIDI, and the sticker says E.10 is OK. Later, Holden brought out the E.85-compatible motor.
I had always assumed that my car is not suited to E.85 ... maybe I'm not correct in that assumption ?
but what puzzles me is this - is an E.85 car only suited to E.85 fuel, or can you run other varieties of ULP through it as well ?

 

[PIR4TE]

PIRATE: my car is a 2010 SIDI, and the sticker says E.10 is OK. Later, Holden brought out the E.85-compatible motor.
I had always assumed that my car is not suited to E.85 ... maybe I'm not correct in that assumption ?

Mate I don't know either sorry. I thought all 3.0 sidi series II ve were flex fuel capable, apparently not until late 2010 / early 2011. Apparently your engine loves high octane and is ideally suited to high ethanol blends - has all the hardware except maybe the flex fuel sensor. Check if that ($150 part) exists as per the later model updated car (because it may have capability just not approved) then the only obstacle would be the tune, which comes in the form of hiring an OBD flash unit for a couple of hundgy.

Don't think you have e85 in NT BTW? Thats a bastard because the climate is ideal for it, roads, so's your car.

but what puzzles me is this - is an E.85 car only suited to E.85 fuel, or can you run other varieties of ULP through it as well ?

No an e85 capable car will run on 100% petrol or 100% ethanol and anywhere in between. It uses a flex fuel sensor mounted near the fuel tank to determine the ethanol content.
The flexible fueling capability is termed Flex Fuel, and Caltex call their high ethanol blend eFlex as a result.