summer vs winter mpg

[craveman85]

I was wondering about how much fuel economy most of you guys lose in the winter. Northern winter not what you southerners consider winter. I'm losing about 25% off my average summer economy. Only thing different is the 300 pounds of lead I bolt to my frame so I can make the hills. It frequently gets below zero with the worst being -34 without the wind chill. Oh we get plenty of snow too. Vehicle is a 08 ranger rwd

[Daox]

I'd say 15% is normal for me.

[roosterk0031]

I lose 8-9% with my Cobalt xfe, but I have an attached garage on 2 sides and heated floor sometimes plus a long commute.

Looking for something else I found the EPA stated winter gas has 1.7% less energy than summer gas.

[craveman85]

My commute 34.4 miles each way. So not much city traffic

[NoD~]

I've noticed this. Starting mid-summer 2012, I figured my average mileage per season (last tank registered Feb 2015)...

Spring: 49.5 (7 tanks)
Summer: 51.2 (11 tanks)
Fall: 48.0 (9 tanks)
Winter: 39.9 (8 tanks)

My average commute is 3.7 miles. Winter is a double whammy: Your engine cools down quickly (can't plug in block heater at work or other places really) and your overall resistance is higher. Spring and Summer, I take a lot more long-distance trips, which usually contributes to higher MPG tanks in general.

Here in Idaho, winter is usually -10 to 40 degrees F (pending time of day and how much nature hates you), where summer is 70-100. Spring/Fall is usually 40-80.

[craveman85]

40 in winter? Must be nice. We didn't have anything above freezing from mid November to late March. We actually had a record here in February for coldest month on record for ny. The records go back 150 years. I've still got a 6" snowbank clinging on for dear life. Wish I had that determination. My work schedule may also a effect my mpg. I drive to work at 2pm when it was 0-25° and drive home at 2am when the warmest temp was still in the single digits. We also had 19 days in a row below zero. Sorry for the weather rant. I prefer winter but really wanted to work on my boat.

[NoD~]

I'm currently working on a coolant-storage tank, insulation for the engine bay, and a warm air intake for my setup. Why? On my way to work this morning... my block heater and new oil heater got the engine coolant to ~100*F. I got to work (3.7 mile drive) with only about 115*F temps! The pure P&G+Eoff method is great for overall MPG gain, but it never warms up the engine much (on top of that, my Neon never has warmed up fast). Leaving from work is even worse, because it has sat for 8+ hours and is no warmer than the temp outside at that point. So doing those 3 mentioned mods should make a little bump in my daily route and help quite a bit in winter.

So for cold times, start with these things...
-Check tire pressure (obvious)
-Park in garage (keeping your vehicle warmer, even things like the grease to the bearings getting cold hurts)
-Block heater
-Oil heater
-The 3 mods I mentioned earlier in post

[chefdave]

Hi
mine takes a 0.3 mpg drop but at moment weather is 4 seasons in one day. Heavy snow or freezing fog in morning then rises to 15c by afternoon. Last month had a spell of summer weather and mpg climbed by 0.1 mpg every couple days. O well at least i have 6 months of mpg figures to know im going in right direction with mpg. Have gone from an average of 37 to 41 imperial mpg.

[JRMichler]

Winter sucks. Even with tires kept at 50 PSI summer and winter, glide distances are much shorter in cold weather.

When it's below zero degrees F in winter, I'm doing good to get 20 MPG on the ScanGauge driving 3 miles to work. In summer, I expect to see 35 MPG, and show 40 MPG under ideal conditions on the same route.

[jakobnev]

52%.. Short trips and a V6 in a tiny car.