Originally Posted by shorebreeze
$75 manufacturer add-on for an oil pan heater on a Chevy Sonic. Unfortunately I don't have anywhere at home to plug mine in, and nobody in the Midwest south of Minneapolis seems to have heard of them anymore, which is ridiculous, so I punted for now. I'll consider installing one on my next trip north. In SoCal, you'll want to be sparing with its use as you'll be starting from the kind of temperature where just minutes would be sufficient, as opposed to the several hours of heating you might need in 20-below Canadian border midwest weather. Accordingly, you might see if the lightest possible weight motor oil would be sufficient (see below).
First off, did you change your tires? I noticed when I did a little more looking into replacement tires for my own vehicle that the Michelin Defender that I recommended to you in an earlier thread only goes to 44psi; Goodyear's Assurance Fuel Max goes to 51, though does not have as high a tread life rating. If you have not already bought new tires, or if you are in a return period and don't like what you got, you might consider a high pressure LRR tire if your wheel rims allow for such a high pressure. Also LRR tires in general produce benefit even in city driving. Even some new econocars are not supplied with LRR tires -- in the case of one popular OEM tire, the Hankook Optimo H428, it's the opposite of LRR, a real fuel hog. When I was researching my Chevy Sonic, I came across a test in which testing the car rolling slowly with an H428 brought it coasting to a stop in HALF the distance compared to another popular tire -- not what you want for fuel efficiency.
On the subject of other mods, consider light synthetic engine oil (0w cold rating, whichever out of 20 or 30 for the boiling point viscosity the manufacturer recommends). Even at 75 degrees, 5w oil can be kind of syrupy on startup; 0w synthetic oil is not just for cold climates.
Perhaps you don't need to carry the spare for regular commuting, if you have breakdown coverage on your insurance, AAA membership, or some other kind of roadside assistance. Just keep a close eye on tires, and remove 40 to 50 pounds of deadweight.
Retuning the engine can also help. Both your vehicles are OBDII compatible. There are both performance and "eco" tunes out there from aftermarket suppliers that can be loaded into a car's computer through the OBDII port, and even for some vehicles tunes that have both a performance and an eco setting. For many vehicles there is Windows-compatible software to do your own tune (not for the inexperienced!), while a good mechanic that's into mods might also be able to help custom-tune for economy.
Talking of OBDII, instrumentation such as a Bluetooth OBDII transmitter that links to an Android app, a WiFi OBDII that links to an iPhone app, or a ScanGauge II, can really help improve driving skills by showing instant MPG consumption -- and also show essential information such as whether the coolant temperature is staying low enough for you to get away with cutting off more air flow through the engine compartment for aerodynamics.
That pretty much covers everything cheap and non structural that I can think of.
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