Hello from up north
 

Hi,

New to the forum. Gotta say, what you are all doing here is inspiring.

While shopping for a new car last fall, I stumbled on this forum. I have lurked around for awhile and thought it was time to introduce myself.

I bought a 2013 Nissan Sentra 1.8 CVT (SR trim) in November.

After reading the tips, and trying to apply them to my driving habits, I've been able to get my fuel consumption down to 5.5L/100km.

Where I live(Winnipeg MB, Canada), the winters are brutal. Very cold and very snowy and icye winter and my consumption was around 8.5-9 L/100KM. The CVT just would not "downshift" in the winter. I was driving at above 2000rpm for 20-30 minutes before the engine would warm up. It was frustrating, but I don't think there's any way around it.

Any thoughts or comments, or tips on the winter RPM issue would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Gremlin

Gremlin,
Welcome!!!

others will jump in on the snow issues....

But think about getting a scanguage to give instant feedback(see link in my sig)
and bump up the tires to 40+ psi.

Welcome to the site!

Instrumentation is always a great place to start. You don't know if you're doing better or worse unless you can measure it.

Next, I'd recommend blocking up your grill for sure. In winter, you can probably block most of it off without any issue. This'll help your engine and transmission warm up faster.

After that, I'd look into getting a block heater. That gets you warm even faster.

Eh
 

Welcome aboard :)

Ya, all cars are sold with block heaters up here. I like the grill blocking idea though. Thanks for the tip.

The car came with a consumption display, but are those not to be trusted? Perhaps I'm getting better or worse than what I think.

ahhh Winter-peg.

some times the oem in car displays are not very accurate. so, use it only as a ball park and to see improvments or declines. Hand calculating fuel economy when you fill the tank is the most reliable way.

when its doing that high rpm thing, would the rpm drop if you let off the gas? or would it engine brake?

In addition to the grill block, there are a few other things people on this site have done (and you can look up using the search function): an undertray (or bellypan) which would keep cold air out of the engine bay during the winter as well as help aerodynamics), engine bay insulation, and duct the remaining opening in your grill to feed forced air directly to your radiator. Oh, and an oilpan warmer!

What does "Very cold" amount to in Winnepeg? -25°C? -40°C? At extreme cold temps, conventional oils get extremely viscous compared to synthetic. Research synthetic fluids for the CVT if you don't already use them. (Not sure if there are any problems that would arise from that, I never owned a CVT car). On a manual transmission at -40, I've stalled my engine (350 V8!) in neutral because the conventional tranny oil was so viscous.

Attaching an adhesive mounted heating pad to the tranny may be a wise idea.