Week of December 13th - December 19th 2010 (Nat Avg $2.87)

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Another beautiful, frigid morning here in MN! I hope everyone is off to a great start to the week.

I'll have to try the highway to see if it is any better than what I saw this morning, but I'm guessing it won't be.

-9F (-21F windchill), 5mph tailwind from the NW, clear:

• 63.4mpg for 15.1mi (Home to work)

The tank is now down to 74.4mpg over 194.9mi with 20 bars left on the fuel gauge.

[epurvee]

After Sunday when I had to make a trip of ~40 miles over the interstate when I only averaged 50 MPG my tank average dropped to 57. I was afraid of the super cold this morning but had a very nice result despite the 18 degree near record low in Augusta. I left for home around 5:20 PM and the temp was around 38 or so. Still darn cold. The commute home was atrocious. Head wind of 20 mph destroyed most attempts to glide. The fact that I got home with the trip average above 50 was a small miracle.

75.6 MPG / 11.0 Miles home to work
51.1 MPG / 12.0 Miles work to home

[PaleMelanesian]

Holy Frozen North, Sean!

24F here this morning. 62.6 mpg / 13.1 miles, a new record at this temperature. Previous was 55 mpg. This is with a harder commute, running through the school dropoff line.

The tank is at 68.5 / 448 miles and 5/8 on the gauge.

My coolant only got up to 175F after 13 miles. I think I'll be moving to the "severe duty" maintenance schedule soon, meaning oil changes at 5000 instead of 7500 miles.

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by Right Lane Cruiser

Another beautiful, frigid morning here in MN! I hope everyone is off to a great start to the week.

I'll have to try the highway to see if it is any better than what I saw this morning, but I'm guessing it won't be.

-9F (-21F windchill), 5mph tailwind from the NW, clear:

• 63.4mpg for 15.1mi (Home to work)

The tank is now down to 74.4mpg over 194.9mi with 20 bars left on the fuel gauge.

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

Holy Frozen North, Sean!

24F here this morning. 62.6 mpg / 13.1 miles, a new record at this temperature. Previous was 55 mpg. This is with a harder commute, running through the school dropoff line.

The tank is at 68.5 / 448 miles and 5/8 on the gauge.

My coolant only got up to 175F after 13 miles. I think I'll be moving to the "severe duty" maintenance schedule soon, meaning oil changes at 5000 instead of 7500 miles.

*hangs head in hypermiler shame* I had a surprise trip to take my daughter to school. The temperature was 17F and wind was NE@ 5-15 mph with gusts to 35 mph. I had 62.0 for the 13.2 mile round trip. Even though the block heater was plugged in it was just plain cold as the trip out was with a tail/cross wind at speeds of a max of 40 mph. The trip back was with head/cross winds and 2 of those miles were on the highway at 50-55 mph. I abandoned the highway that quickly as I couldn't hold those speeds with out significant drops in speed or needing to use assist.

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Interesting. This is the only time I've seen someone (other than myself) post that they couldn't hold low highway speeds without assist! Perhaps my Insight isn't so odd? The last time I tried that it took about 15mi before it "loosened up" and I was able to drive those speeds normally. Unfortunately, my current work commute is almost exactly 15mi.

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by Right Lane Cruiser

Interesting. This is the only time I've seen someone (other than myself) post that they couldn't hold low highway speeds without assist! Perhaps my Insight isn't so odd? The last time I tried that it took about 15mi before it "loosened up" and I was able to drive those speeds normally. Unfortunately, my current work commute is almost exactly 15mi.

Is that maybe from the combination of the cold, terrain, headwinds I was experiencing, etc.?

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Possibly, though it seems consistent at a low enough temp. I normally saw it as the need to drop down to 3rd gear for hills when in summer I could crest in 5th gear. The one time I tried the highway it was about -15F (real) and I had a bit of a headwind. I thought it was the headwind but 2mi from my destination I could suddenly drive normally without assist.

After that I theorized it had to do with the transmission oil. I haven't tried replacing it yet (though I'm 2K mi overdue for that ) so I don't know if I'm correct. The car coasts in neutral just fine for the conditions but I have a big lack of power.

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by Right Lane Cruiser

Possibly, though it seems consistent at a low enough temp. I normally saw it as the need to drop down to 3rd gear for hills when in summer I could crest in 5th gear. The one time I tried the highway it was about -15F (real) and I had a bit of a headwind. I thought it was the headwind but 2mi from my destination I could suddenly drive normally without assist.

After that I theorized it had to do with the transmission oil. I haven't tried replacing it yet (though I'm 2K mi overdue for that ) so I don't know if I'm correct. The car coasts in neutral just fine for the conditions but I have a big lack of power.

This is an interesting thought. I wonder if a synthetic version is available and if so, whether it would be helpful or worth the cost for it. I suppose it could be time for me to look into having that done to my car too. I still haven't done the official 100K service yet.

[diamondlarry]

Another thought just came to mind that could be explained by your theory: the car sat since this past Thursday without being driven with similar or slightly cooler temps during that time.

[Right Lane Cruiser]

There is another Insight driver in the area I met up with (MN_Driver from Insightcentral) and he's put Amsoil MTF (he said it is thinner stuff specifically intended for Hondas) in his 2000 MT. He hasn't driven his in these temps yet though so I don't know if it helped or not.