8th Generation Honda Civic Forum - View Single Post

Janizary · 02-07-2007, 12:29 PM

Yes, short commutes, even all highway, can affect your MPG. If this is your "trip to work, and trip home" your car (even with the coolant temps at normal) is still 'running cold' and this will affect your MPG to a certain extent.

My commute to work is about 8 miles; almost all highway. If that is the 'only' miles I put on my Si (which I don't drive daily, so I had to purposely 'test' this) my MPG suffers by about 2mpg, compared to other short commutes such as driving around the beltway, around town, etc., with a 'warmed' engine.

Of course, adding lots of stoplights, traffic, etc. will reduce you MPG to the very low end of the 'estimated' section. Crappy winter gas does not help either (about 1.5mpg difference vs. my summer MPG on 'similar' routes...)

That said, I've had a few tanks that were in the 22.x/23.x range. However, those were either (1) buzzing about on SR168/Overton/Pahrump runs (lots of high revs), (2) traffic filled nightmares, or (3) craptastic short morning/evening commutes combined with one of the above.

02-07-2007, 12:29 PM	#67 (permalink)
Janizary Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Sith Ferret dojo Posts: 6,955 Arbitor of Discord	Yes, short commutes, even all highway, can affect your MPG. If this is your "trip to work, and trip home" your car (even with the coolant temps at normal) is still 'running cold' and this will affect your MPG to a certain extent. My commute to work is about 8 miles; almost all highway. If that is the 'only' miles I put on my Si (which I don't drive daily, so I had to purposely 'test' this) my MPG suffers by about 2mpg, compared to other short commutes such as driving around the beltway, around town, etc., with a 'warmed' engine. Of course, adding lots of stoplights, traffic, etc. will reduce you MPG to the very low end of the 'estimated' section. Crappy winter gas does not help either (about 1.5mpg difference vs. my summer MPG on 'similar' routes...) That said, I've had a few tanks that were in the 22.x/23.x range. However, those were either (1) buzzing about on SR168/Overton/Pahrump runs (lots of high revs), (2) traffic filled nightmares, or (3) craptastic short morning/evening commutes combined with one of the above. Last edited by Janizary; 02-07-2007 at 12:39 PM.