In Sweden E85 fuel has been available since several years and is becoming very popular. Car manufacturers such as Ford, Saab and Volvo offer flexifuel cars that are "adapted" to run on E85.
What is interesting is that many owners of non-flexifuel cars are mixing E85 with ordinary 95 unleaded gas. Most injection engines seem to be able to handle a 50/50 mix of E85 and 95 unleaded. Out of curiosity I have tried it myself for a couple of months with my 2001 Audi.
In contrast to what was stated in another post I have not noticed any power loss. Fuel consumption however is up by approx 10%.
Other than that I have not noticed any differences in engine performance and behaviour. I guess it has a lot to do with the ability of modern fuel injection units to cope with different fuels. People with carburettor aspirated cars reports that a change of the fuel pressure regulator may be necessary to allow for the slightly higher fuel flow when using pure E85 or mixtures with high ethanol content.

There are some concerns on the long term effects on rubber and plastic parts (swelling) but there is no agreement on how much of a problem this is. Drivers of ordinary cars who have used a 50/50 mix of E85 and unleaded 95 for several years have not reported any problems.

Methanol differs from ethanol in that it is much more corrosive causing problems with metal parts in the engine fuel system.

/Red B.