I think this post ran away all on it's own. Been running about a 50/50 mix with a Cobb tune, fbo, no jb4 since October last year not every time I fill up though. Car ran 11.76 at MIR with street tires and a 60ft of 1.94. The driveability and dependability has been great. This is my only car. Approx 8-10 full tanks and again zero issues.
If I had to use my subjective experience to draw a conclusion about the safety/reliability of e85 I would say it is safe and reliable BUT I do know there are enormous amounts of variables that I haven't accounted for and many that are unknown to me. So I cannot make that statement because that would be like me stating the following premises and conclusions:
I drink Gatorade a lot.
I drank Gatorade yesterday and fractured my ankle.
Conclusion is that Gatorade is dangerous because it predisposes me to ankle fractures.
This is simplistic but we do it ALL the time. U hear about a mod that "changes the whole feel of a car", "transforms the car", " I'm aware of every nook and cranny on the road" , etc. etc. we know that these are subjective statements. We all make them in varying degrees. They are important, if they weren't, u would'nt be reading this forum to gain insight but instead would read an engineering,physics or chemistry textbook, or some maintenance Manual etc where everything is objectively stated.
Objective facts and subjective exp are both important.
Anyways thought I'd say this since I see a lot of folks here who share an experience which sometimes is not worded correctly and they get Hammered. I am not a very smart dude and i am not totally knowledgeable on our cars but I know that even someone like Terry does'nt make recommendations specifically to you, he may give you advice but will always give you a couple of options for You to make the decision.
This thread was not a closed yes or no question. It was not even a question but advice based on an opinion. The comments or answers should not be stated as objective facts. Reliability; how do we define this? Is there a specific metric that we need to use? I do not want a a reliable car that runs 14 sec 1/4 mile times. So reliability is relative to what we want or need. Safety; another one of those terms that means something diff to everyone on this forum.
If anyone is looking for dependability please allow BMW to do the research and testing and go with that since they have deeper pockets than any individual here or our entire forum combined
. In other words leave ur car the hell alone!
In short, u just wasted a little of ur life reading my opinion which is just that and maybe completely inaccurate. Moral of story, use the forum to ur advantage but as technical as a thread may sound , if u read it critically, u will spot a bunch of objective BS in it! And that's ok, we love BS, we are ADDICTS like the forum calls us. Just be gracious when commenting and have fun.
Now I'm going to go watch a bunch of NFL " analysts" speak a bunch of BS during the pregame show. But I will watch it completely and it won't mean crap to me , some of these "analysts" will get hammered by others.
Lastly, this hasn't been stated so I'll have to say this: 1 thing I DO Know about E85. "Since I began using E85 my sex life has dramatically improved! I even think that anatomically I've made some gains". I'm sure many of u will agree with me, it's an aphrodisiac if u find the right mix and have the proper bolt ons.