Here in Iowa, the three main gas types are E10 (10% ethanol 87 octane), 87 octane regular (no ethanol), and 91 octane premium (no ethanol). Several years ago the gas distributors started screwing us consumers. E10 use to be the cheapest grade with plain regular just 10 cents more a gallon. Plain premium was 40 cents more a gallon than E10. The distributors use to ship 87 octane regular here, mix 10% ethanol to get the E10 blend (this would give it an 89 octane rating). Now they ship an 84 octane regular, mix 10% ethanol to get the E10 blend (it has an 87 octane rating). To get the plain 87 octane regular, they mix the 84 with the 91 premium that they also ship here. What this does is drive the price of plain regular and premium way up. E10 is still the cheaper gas, but now plain regular cost 30 cents more a gallon and premium cost 70 cents more a gallon than E10.
Also here in Iowa, some gas station sell all their gas with 10% ethanol, and the only Shell station for me does that. It gives their premium a 93 octane rating but they sell it for 20 to 30 cents a gallon more then other top tier premium gas. I don't buy it because I don't like using any kind of gas with ethanol in it.
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