Summer gas?

since the freezing point of summer gas is so high, it will depend on what area you are in. rumours has it that is this area, its april 15 and my climate is similiar to yours in the winter. not as hot however in the summer.

but you will certainly see a large jump in mileage. also keep in mind that the temp differences play a huge part so the spring weather you are getting now will reduce warmup times and make a huge impact on your mileage especially if you have shorter trips in the 10 min range.

in the summer, my car would be fully warmed up in about 2-3 minutes. in the winter it was more like 5-10 depending on the temp. so the shorter the trip the more the mileage will be affected.

also keep in mind that some areas have "spring" gas... but i would have to assume that that is in the extreme climate areas only.

 

rflagg - where do you get your gas? I also live in the Springfield area, and have not yet noticed the summertime mileage (~56 MPG). Although, most of my driving is early morning or after dark when the temps are still a bit chilly (35-40 F this morning).

 

those chilly temps will make your warm up times much longer. you would best tell if you had the summer gas only on longer trips of at least 30 mins or more.

 

wow!!

that kind of milage in trips of that duration are excellent!

 

That's essentially what I was implying, which makes me wonder what time of day rflagg drives. My commute is ~50 miles each way, so I doubt that trip distance is much of a factor.

 

actually lets speculate on economy.

if when its cold out, it takes 10 mins to warm up and we get say 25 mpg. travelling 60 mph (used for easy math purposes) then we got 10 miles using .4 gallons

then we go another 50 miles at 50 mpg so its 1 gall.

so we used 1.4 gallons to go 60 miles = 42.9 mpg

so then lets take the same trip when its warmer and it takes 5 mins to warm up (in the summer my car usually took less than 3 mins at city street speeds)

so we go 5 miles at 25 mpg which makes .2 gallons then we go 55 miles at 50 mpg = 1.1 for total of 1.3 gallons = 46.2 mpg.

so that is a 3.3 mpg difference using same gas formula of 25/50 mpg. now we all know that in real cold weather it can take at least 10 mins to warm the car up and in warm weather it takes less than 5 mins. so you will see that temp makes all the difference in the world. if you dont believe me, ask Jayman or John or any of those other eskimo types.

 

Dave - I agree completely. I was just trying to figure out how rflagg was managing to get better mileage, given that we live in the same area, have a similar commute (I work in Baltimore), travel at about the same time of day (similar temps), and probably use the same tricks to improve our mileage (e.g. 42/40 tire pressure, feathering, etc.).

Although after today (temps in the 70s) I'm now at ~54 MPG, so I'm not too far behind...

 

So Tideland did you ground Dad? that's a really big hit!

 

with this weather you lucky to get it around 7.

 

David:

You bet it does.

Temps were +13 C today, and my usual commute the MFD claimed 3.8 L/100km (74 MPG). The same commute at -40 the MFD claimed more than 8 L/100km (35 MPG).

I'm trying to think of a smart-a** and hilarious comment to "eskimo types" that involves peanut butter but I fear my brain is still hibernating. Remind me in a couple of weeks.

Jay

 

I should have Frank and you visit Winnipeg in January. You might even see 10 L/100km.

Now that the temps are getting up to +13 C, the MFD average has gone from 6.5 down to 4. The temps are just right, no heat or A/C needed and I usually crack the windows a couple of inches to leave the HVAC fan off.

I had almost forgotten what Stealth was ...

 

Jayman...

considering where i live i usually get coffee, expresso, and clam jokes