Simple Tips for Saving Fuel During Cold-Weather Driving

greenliving.nationalgeographic.com — Adopting smarter driving practices increases fuel efficiency at any time of year, but it's even more important when the temperature drops. During winter, your car's fuel efficiency can ... Nov 10, 2011 View in Crawl 4

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Simple Tips for Saving Fuel During Cold-Weather Driving

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fastplastic Nov 11, 2011

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blocking your grill off in the winter is also a good way to improve economy. The cooling system in most cars is designed for 120F desert conditions, with SUV's towing several thousand pounds in mind. Needless to say once you hit 0F it's major overkill. I have about 80% blocked off and warm up time went from 3-4miles down to 1.5 when it's 25F. It also improves the aero dynamics of the vehicle as well.

A great site for more tips on improving economy is:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/fuel-economy-mpg-modifications.php
Some modifications are more extreme than others.

I currently get 20MPG in town and 29.5MPG highway out of my 1998 Jeep Cherokee. EPA rating is 14/19hwy. You can find my mods at the link below.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/jeep-cherokee-aeromods-2614.html

cavimike Nov 11, 2011

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In response to "Idle Pursuits" that turning off and restarting your car is "easier on your car's engine" than just leaving it running it's 100% wrong. The most damage done to your engine is during start-up when there is no oil pressure and no oil on the moving parts. Please make a mental note of that.

While we're on that topic; if you're one of those people that stores a car over winter and believes it needs to be started regularly, be warned, you're actually causing the most damage by doing that. Once a car has sat for a few days, every last drop of oil has drained to the oil-pan leaving your engine bone dry. When you start it up, that's bare metal against bare metal. Leave it sit until it's time to pull it out of storage.

ricksite Nov 11, 2011

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"While carrying a few extra pounds in the back of your car or truck might help you gain traction in snowy weather, the added cargo also reduces winter fuel efficiency."

Weight in the back would cause you to lose traction on a FWD automobile. I once saw a Chevy Cavalier wagon with sandbags in the back. An old lady was driving it and didn't know any better. On a FWD car you would really need to strap the sandbags to the hood. Thankfully I have never seen that.