Feature
E10 Away Words by Will Beaumont Photos: BMW Press
Everything you need to know about the UK’s new ethanol-rich petrol, what it can do to your car and how to combat the effects.
F
orgive us. Like some conspiracy theorist agitator, we may have added to the panic around the latest crisis. No, we’ve not called into question vaccines or masks, but in the last issue of Straight Six the editor, Jeff, looked back at the destructive fuelgenerated pandemic that affected BMWs (and a few other cars) in the 1990s, the Nikasil issue. Was that feature poor timing, or perfect timing? Because we either caused a stir or sharpened your wits about what could be another fuel disaster, for a small group of cars anyway. A new type of petrol, E10, was introduced at the start of September and it’s not suitable for every car. That means, right now, we’re in the warning stages of this potential disaster. Most of what you read about E10 www.bmwcarclubgb.uk
boils down to this: check the government website (www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-e10petrol) and see if your car can run on this new fuel. If it’s okay to use, don’t worry. If the petrol is unsuitable, use premium unleaded and your car will be fine. I don’t know about you, though, but such vagueness, such basic simplicity, creates even more questions. What exactly is
E10 fuel? Why is it being introduced? Is it damaging to all cars, just less harmful to newer ones that issues are only ever minor? And, importantly, how can we avoid any damage to our precious cars? To get to the bottom of what the change to E10 fuel really means, and to get a detailed understanding of the situation, we’ve spoken to the technical BMW Car Club Magazine October 2021
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