Worst case mpg scenario?

[RicoOnTheRocks]

Well, this past tank of gas has been pretty terrible with respect to mileage. While I have yet to refuel, I am sitting at about 215 miles with 3/4 used. 95% of the driving has been city miles. The versa has 2015 miles on it and this is really the first time that I have driven more or less in town exclusively.

The question is: Would an extremely short commute to work each morning plus the cold contribute to this poor mileage? I live only about 2.5 miles from my job and typically just drive from home to work and back. Some days it is my responsibility to go home for lunch and take the dog out, so you can double that mileage. I suspect that the engine barely even warms up by the time I get to my destination and is just sucking pure fuel.

Thoughts?

[RicoOnTheRocks]

Oh fyi, I have averaged 28.5 mpg on all of my highway trips up to 3 hours (200miles), so that lends further credit toward the short daily commute killing it idea.

[proxim2020]

Cars operate optimally when they are warm and at a nice consistent speed. You're on the opposite end of both of those. You may only be averaging 24 mpg on your short trip because of the accelerating, decelerating, and idling on that 2.5 miles. When you add a bunch of 24 mpgs together to calculate gas mileage, it will definitely hurt you. When the engine isn't warm, you aren't help your gas mileage either. But in this situation, you're in a loose/loose. Sitting in your driveway waiting for it to get up to operating temp will cause you to waste gas. If you let the car warm up while driving, well you're pretty much getting to work when it's nice and toasty. Best solution, walk, run, bus, train, car pool, ride a bike or something. You'll save money now and you're not putting uneccessary strain on your car.

[ilusha55]

2.5 miles?

I would walk or take a bus. Its not worth it.

[campersand]

2.5 miles?

I would walk or take a bus. Its not worth it.

Walk? Yeah. Take a bus? I don't know. Most places I've been, it's much more expensive to take the bus than it is to drive, especially if it's only a short distance.

[versainchicago]

I do only city driving in my Versa-Chicago and I drive 10 miles one way to work or 20 miles a day in city driving. I have averaged 23 mpg --last week it was 21 because of the cold. I have read the postings and attempted to drive even more conversatively, however, this is what is. So your posting above does not surprise me.

[leighvan]

We're all in the same boat. I just went over 1000 miles, almost all suburban driving, 25-45 mph, averaging 23.75 mpg for 3 measured tanks.

[OKVersa]

Well, in our cold weather - which I'm sure is nothing like yours - I go out and warm up my car for five minutes before I leave for work. We don't have a garage. Driving around town we get about 24 or 25, including the time it warms up.

Now, compare that to summer, when I'm driving 70 down the highway in 104 degree weather with the a/c on full blast.

I got 33-34.

So you aren't the only one who is confused about cold weather MPG.

[themanfromvlad]

Well, in our cold weather - which I'm sure is nothing like yours - I go out and warm up my car for five minutes before I leave for work. We don't have a garage. Driving around town we get about 24 or 25, including the time it warms up.

Now, compare that to summer, when I'm driving 70 down the highway in 104 degree weather with the a/c on full blast.

I got 33-34.

So you aren't the only one who is confused about cold weather MPG.

I've been told by Service Managers, mechanics, and by CAA (AAA in Canada) that you don't need to warm up your car for five minutes with cars made in the last decade. They say that it is better on the engine to wait 30 seconds, then drive easy and slow for the next few minutes.

Anyone hear otherwise?

[motoguy128]

I agree that your only NEED to warm up the engine for 10-30 seconds, but I like having my car warm going to work. In the winter, I need to defrost the inside windows or melt ice off the car most mornings. So 5-10 minutes is typical.

In may I plan to tow my motorcycle to Colorado form Iowa and back. I'll let you know how low it can go. I'm guessing somewhere around 22-28mpg for the trip.

[OKVersa]

Well, it takes that long to defrost my windows. I don't like scraping

[luchobucho]

most places bus fare is a fixed price. Buy a bus pass, you'll save money in the long run. Buy a bike and ride that 8 months out of the year.

[RicoOnTheRocks]

actually, i had taken the bus for about 1.5 years before this (i work for a university and get a free city bus pass). both my wife and I worked near each other, so it wasn't a problem to do the split duty of going home at lunch to take our puppy out. whoever was going home would get the car and the other one would take the bus. recently, she moved a considerable distance from her old job location and it was no longer feasible to share the Toyota. Hence one of the many reasons we bought the Versa. I suppose that I should probably take the bus on those days that I'm not going home at lunch. after trying to catch the bus, get home, let the dog out, eat, and get back to work, I came to the conclusion that the afternoon bus schedule simply wasn't accommodating enough for me to make it back here in time. The bus only runs every half-hour after about 11 am, which severely hinders my ability to move back and forth.

For the time being I might consider the aforementioned re-adoption of the bus. I know 2.5 miles doesn't seem like a long way to walk, but I don't know if I would want to do that in the middle of winter twice a day. I'm a fairly fit, youngish dude, but I'm always running late anyway. I can only imagine how that would compound the situation.

At least I know that this situation isn't isolated. thanks for confirming the worst case scenario!

[proxim2020]

Agreed with all the suggestions about warming up. One reason for the warm up is for the engine to sufficiently lubricate itself. The colder the weather, the thicker the oil and the more times it takes for it to circulate into a nice thiner lubricant. But even this can be achieved in 30 seconds or so with no problem. This is probably enough time for you to get in, check the mirrors, buckle up, get the music on, set the temp, with time to look around and figure out how that fingerprint got on the windshield directly in front of your view. Another reason for a warm up is for metal expansion. Different metals expand at different temps. This is why you want to take it easy the first few minutes. So add in the time you're taking it easy, a warm up can take about 2 minutes or so.

Warm up times vary when you account for how long the car has sat and the outside temp. A car sitting in the freezing cold for 12 hours will require slightly more time than a car that sat 12 hours in the 40's. There used to be a chart somewhere that had the suggested warm times. The columns were amount of time the car sat and the rows were ambient temps. The middle gave the suggested warm up time. Most were in seconds to a few minutes.

[RicoOnTheRocks]

ended up being 22.4 mpg on the scenario described above.

[obet_07304]

In my case, first fill up before the gas light went on was 270miles, second time 300miles, now i have 1/4 to empty & i only have 205miles I don't think i will even get to 250miles before i fill up. I do most of the time warm up till the blue temp light goes off but maybe driving mostly 60MPH to 75MPH (alot of highway driving) hurts my fuel economy. But 250miles before the gas light goes on is just ridiculous. I hope gas mileage improve by the time I hit 1500miles. Bytheway, how many more miles can you drive w/ the gas light on? Thanks.

[BBISHOPPCM]

I somehow managed 21 mpg once... I believe that was a fluke, since I filled it, reset the trip, and filled it again 30 miles later. Average 27 mpg.