On Tue, 2006-05-09 at 09:27 -0700, Harold Hallikainen wrote:
> >
> > Another interesting tidbit to consider though is that modern cars are
> > MUCH more sensitive to the cold then older cars. My Olds didn't even
> > notice when it was -20C, it's fuel economy remained exactly the same.
> > OTOH my current car goes from 8.5L/100km in the summer to nearly
> > 10L/100km in the winter, a dramatic difference. I thought something was
> > wrong with the car, but my brother has a car with the exact same drive
> > train and had the exact same result.
> 
> Any idea why? I'd expect the engine temperature to stabalize pretty
> quickly. Tire efficiency also varies with temperature, but again, I'd
> expect them to warm up pretty quickly. So... what's temperature sensitive?

Nope, no clue. Using a block heater didn't seem to have any effect, so
warm up time doesn't appear to be the issue.

Considering how abrupt the change in mileage is I wouldn't be too
surprised if someone came up to me and told me the computer has a "cold
weather" profile and a "warm weather" profile, and that the cold weather
profile gives up certain things (mileage) for other uses (i.e. getting
the car warmed up quicker to prevent damage to the engine).

TTYL


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