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How Bad of an FE Hit Does Winter Take?

Note: If you live in Australia or NZ, just use the cold months.

To be honest, I'm still thinking about this one, but it seems to be around 5% or less in Dallas without much snow and ice.

Dec 15, 2000 was the worst ever segment my Insight ever got. Drove 30 miles over five hours in constant gridlock at 1-2mph on ice. Had the defrost on - autostop off and got 25mpg. This is about 45% of the EPA city milage, so it's easy to imagine some trucks were getting 4mpg that evening. :eek:

In SW Missouri, using an Engine Block Heater, my average over the past 2 years has been about 10-15% drop in routine mileage. Large part is, no doubt, the cold, some is the winter fuel blend.

Other major factors include time b/w drives. The HV battery pack holds heat pretty well and doesn't usually cool down to ambient temps for at least 12-18 hours usually. But once it's 'cold soaked' getting the temp back up also takes quite a while. During that time it is less efficient (part of the reason I'm trying to figure out a nice, simple, yet efficient way to create a battery heater).

My freeway drives in the sub-30 degree F weather are, by far, the worst....I often see mid to high 30s for FE in those conditions, esp. if there is wind. That's a situation I usually am in the low-50s to high-40s in warmer weather.

Hi Chuck:

___One of the worst weeks since I owned the Accord was in mid February when we were down below zero for a two day stretch. I barely and I mean barely got her back above 40 mpg’s for the tank. It was that close … That was easily a 25% hit from the best of the summer months :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hybrid drivers might have some interesting stories about autostop taking longer to activate. In the summer, autostop will work in a few hundred yards if not instantly. In the winter, it might be two miles for the engine to warm up enough for it to activate.

here's what i found in driving my HCH II for the last year. in the summer i held very close to 60MPG. in the winter, i dropped to, at least in worse cases, to about 51. i consider that pretty acceptable considering i have snow tires, and that sometimes we see days at a time below zero.......i don't use a tank heater or anything special. i have a 2 mile drive on a dirt road to the highway that helps to warm it up before i get up to speed.

I voted in the 19%+ choice.

Check the link in my signature. Last summer, I had one 60MPG tank. Then in the winter, I had a tank average 40.3MPG. That's a 30% drop. YMMV.

19% + for me too. Low to mid 60ies is all I can get in mid Winter while I can hit high 70ies or even low 80ies in the Summer. It would be even worse if I drove the Civic in the snow. When the weather is really bad I drive the 4wd Ranger. That defrost warmup idle is a killer in the Winter. A garage helps at home but at work the car is left to the elements and often requires a warmup to keep the windshield clear in the winter.

I'm hoping the new warm-air intake hack will keep me north of
50 [prius II] through most of the winter, but we'll see....
.
_H*

Im already seeing the effects of the cooling off for fall here. Im fighting to keep 46 mpg tanks right now. The WAI is helping