Now that the temps are dropping in the northeast U.S. it has occurred to me that actually my garage can help me improve my MPG. Here's why. In the suburban style driving that I most often do, there is now a much longer warm up cycle whenever I start the FFH because of the colder air temps. This can be easily seen in the MPG figures which are reduced because of the longer engine warm up time. Simply put, it takes longer to warm up the car at 29 degrees in December then at 75 degrees in July. How reduced? I don't have a figure on that, and it definitely depends on the length of your trip. Once the FFH is warmed up, it's basically summertime in the car. It's just getting to that point takes more time. And more gas.
One thing that is making a difference is that I now bring the car into the garage. My garage is not heated, but it is actually warmer then the outside air temps simply because it is enclosed and picks up heat from the house.
I've noticed that the warm up times have been significantly reduced by utilizing this simple technique. Improving your mileage by using the garage, sounds crazy, but it seems to work.
Still, I'd like to do better. Warm up is still alot longer then July!
If anyone has any other ideas along these lines, feel free to let us know about them!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The other option is to get a block heater, something that is fairly common especially up here in the north. Small problem, though, if you don't have one factory installed - the parts cost a fortune (not the heater, $80 or so, but the cord connecting the heater to your basic 3-prong plug runs $220 !) Haven't brought myself to do this yet, but so far I am seeing a significant mileage drop since winter hit.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great suggestion, I did not think of this. How much of a mileage hit are you seeing?
ReplyDeleteI'm going to check this out with the dealership and see if there are any after market solutions that are more cost effective then what you are pointing to. I did not think that there would be the wiring cost. That's alot.
Thanks for the suggestion, good stuff.
So the posted rate from Ford is 5.5 L/100km highway. In the fall I could reliably average 5.9-6.1 (higher is worse), even if I am fairly careful. So far in the winter, with temperatures dropping below -20C at night (a colder-than-average December here in Ottawa) it is struggle to get below 6.8-6.9 L/100km average per tank. (Apologies about the metric units, but I don't have a quick conversion in my head).
ReplyDeleteI live in Texas, but we've had some colder weather than usual. I was at 39 for long-term fuel efficiency when the cold weather hit. Now I am back down to 38.6. Not too bad of a hit, I guess. I park it in my insulated garage. But I have a short commute, so by the time the car warms up, I'm already there. Maybe we should all sleep in so it's warmer starting out. Perhaps we could lobby for that as a green initiative???
ReplyDeleteGood one Donna, you got me chuckling over here. Yeah, my experience is exactly the same as yours, by the time I get the FFH warmed up, many times I'm already at my destination. The insulated garage sounds great. We don't have many of those in New England though I wish I did!
ReplyDeleteOn longer runs, the car is fully warmed and behaves very much like during warmer weather, but even then the mileage is somewhat reduced, enough to be noticeable. I'm still trying to figure this one out and what we can do about it.
Keep us informed on that sleep in initiative. . . !
Richard