Measurements have been performed on a time-of-flight setup at the Jyväskylä K130 cyclotron, aiming at energy-loss straggling of heavy ions in gases. Theoretical predictions based on recently developed theory as well as an empirical interpolation formula predict that straggling can be more than ten times higher than Bohr straggling in the MeV/u regime. Our measurements with up to 9.3 MeV/u Kr ions on He, N₂, Ne and Kr targets confirm this feature. Our calculations show the relative contributions of linear straggling, bunching including packing, and charge exchange. Our results for stopping cross sections are compatible with values from the literature.