Help Me with Hypermiling.

[JockoT]

I only have an Trip Average mpg display on my Jazz, but I know that from a cold start, and mainly highway driving, it drops for the first 7 miles before recovering. In the winter, I leave the temp control in the car set to Blue until the low temp indicator light goes out. Only then do I ask for cabin heat.

[oldtamiyaphile]

Originally Posted by puddleglum

He doesn't have a Hybrid either which isn't a fair comparison IMO.

Prius owners regularly complain about how bad they are on a cold start. In our Texas like climate, I've found the exact opposite

Also, his trip is 5.85 miles I think. He said 11.7 round trip. I agree that warm weather reduces the penalty but there is still a penalty. My mileage has been much better since the weather warmed up.
All that and I've still missed re-explaining my point. What I was getting at, and I still believe to be true, is that if all other conditions are equal, a car will burn more fuel from a cold start than from a hot start. That's all. Try that 1 km drive in your van you were describing, after it's had a long run on the highway and tell me if it's not any better.

Economy will always be better with a fully warmed up car, but keep in mind that a 'cold' start might mean 40*C in some parts of the world. My economy is best in winter- although I actually find it very hard to tease any seasonal variability out of my graphs - and we do have the odd 0*C morning.