Lower milege

[Walker1]

I have read several posts that say cold weather knocks the MPG down by about 10. I can't seem to find the answer to that question. Can someone tell me this is?

[Hallowday]

Originally posted by Walker1@Feb 14 2006, 07:52 AM
I have read several posts that say cold weather knocks the MPG down by about 10. I can't seem to find the answer to that question. Can someone tell me this is?

[snapback]209132[/snapback]

I am averaging around 49 mpg in 30 degree temps. 52 mile roundtrip commute each day. 10 sounds high but I hope that is the case. There are several people out there that have historically tracked their mileage. Attached below is a link to the historical mileage for a 2004 in Seattle.

http://priuschat.com/index.php?act=A...e=post&id=2030

[efusco]

Originally posted by Walker1@Feb 14 2006, 06:52 AM
I have read several posts that say cold weather knocks the MPG down by about 10. I can't seem to find the answer to that question. Can someone tell me this is?

[snapback]209132[/snapback]

I'm sorry, what's the question you can't find an answer to? You stated a fact then asked for an answer.

[tomdeimos]

Mileage drop in winter can be way over 10 mpg! Last winter I had a tank at 38 mpg. My normal summer mpg is over 55 and virtuallly always over 53.

But some of this is in your control, and I am staying up around 48 mpg this winter. Of course this is partly due to our global warming and winter temps 20 deg above normal mostly!

You can find plenty here on how to improve winter mpg. Search on radiator blocks, block heaters, and how to use the car's heater.

[Walker1]

Originally posted by efusco@Feb 14 2006, 09:26 AM
I'm sorry, what's the question you can't find an answer to?  You stated a fact then asked for an answer.

[snapback]209156[/snapback]

I was asking why cold weather lowers MPG. I don't know the answer.

[Walker1]

Originally posted by tomdeimos@Feb 14 2006, 09:53 AM
Mileage drop in winter can be way over 10 mpg!  Last winter I had a tank at 38 mpg.  My normal summer mpg is over 55 and virtuallly always over 53.

But some of this is in your control, and I am staying up around 48 mpg this winter.  Of course this is partly due to our global warming and winter temps 20 deg above normal mostly!

You can find plenty here on how to improve winter mpg.  Search on radiator blocks,  block heaters, and how to use the car's heater.

[snapback]209173[/snapback]

Are you saying the cars heater is the main reason for lower MPG in the winter? I live in S FL and we don't get many cold days. Today it was 36 degrees @ 6 AM. Way too cold for me. That's why I left CT.

[priusham]

LOL! Good one Evan! I was wondering what the question was too!

Walker1, here's the facts... http://prius.w8kc.com

It has mostly to do with having to run the heater and defroster - and we've read about "winter-grade" gasoline, but I'm not sure if there even is such a thing.

[Tempus]

Previous Discussion

[tomdeimos]

Originally posted by Walker1@Feb 14 2006, 10:00 AM
Are you saying the cars heater is the main reason for lower MPG in the winter? I live in S FL and we don't get many cold days. Today it was 36 degrees @ 6 AM. Way too cold for me. That's why I left CT.

[snapback]209179[/snapback]

No. The cars heater might be the main reason. It all depends how cold it is where you are and how much heat you take from the heater.

There are lots of reasons for low mpg in cold weather and these should be well explained in the referenced threads. Which dominiate depends on what you do, how fast you drive, where you are, what kind of fuel you can buy etc.

There's not much that cold doesn't affect and which has an impact on mpg: engine, battery, air density, etc. Read up on this. All has been covered before.

But if you are down south you have much less to worry about. Things start to get bad under 50degF, but not really bad till you are under 32 deg F. Then super bad at 0 deg F.

[keydiver]

I'm just a few miles north of you in Jupiter, and it was almost impossible to average 50 mpg coming to work today. Remember, the colder it gets, the longer the engine takes to warm up. The fluids and oil are colder, and thicker, and the computer runs the car richer in warm-up mode than normal (remember the choke on your carburetor years ago?), and everytime the engine starts out from a light it often has to warm up again somewhat. Just be glad its only going to last a couple days, not a couple more months!