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Warm Up for MPG's?

Shini

Shini

Go Kart Champion
Did my regular routine for work this morning except while taking the dog out I went ahead and started the car first and let it sit while he took his usual amount of time to find his spot. Put the dog in as usual, give the wife a goodbye, and head down to the GTI and its off to work! Car was fully warmed up, all the way to the 190 in the middle, not what I usually do. Most if the time it only gets a quarter of the way before I'm off, sometimes less.

I take off, enjoy the drive as usual, I keep the display on consumption to not be that guy while driving, get to work and what do I see? 36+ MPG?! Its usually around 30-31!

So does letting the engine fully warm up before driving really help THAT much on a 15 minute trip 80% highway? Or was this just a fluke?



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2
 
Shini

Shini

Go Kart Champion
troyguitar said:
Warming it up first would cause you to use significantly less fuel after you start moving, but I believe if you count the fuel used during the idle time you will end up using more.
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That's what I was thinking too. Usually the car will average in all the idle time spent though, if you'll notice while you're at a light the AVG consumption drops by .1 every 4-5 seconds (with A/C on), and it stayed at --- for awhile after leaving, so I'm assuming it did calculate all that fuel burned idling, who knows though...Only way to know for sure is make a habbit of doing that everytime I start it and then compare 1 tank vs the other..
 
99bajakid

99bajakid

Ready to race!
I don't fully warm it up, but i wait for the rpm's to drop down to normal before driving off.
 
dudemanz

dudemanz

Ready to race!
Tim S said:
If it actually saved fuel, don't you think VW would have put that in the owners manual? IIRC, the manual says *not* to warm the engine up before driving it.
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You don't need to let your car warm up after you start it but I have read that you should give it a few seconds to let the oil redistribute through the engine. For MPGs, drive gently until the car is warm and then you can let loose.
 
GTIMKV20

GTIMKV20

APR Stage I
I think you have yourself a fluke there. Maybe less red lights or slower speed on the highway (less drag = better MPG). On my daily commute I can vary between 26MPG (driving like an absolute moron) or up to 38MPG (all time high) driving like grandma on sedatives.
 
maxtdi

maxtdi

Go Kart Champion
My MFI is off by as much as 4mpg... :( I wouldn't trust the "trip" readouts whatsoever.
 
Veedubgli

Veedubgli

Ready to race!
maxtdi said:
My MFI is off by as much as 4mpg... :( I wouldn't trust the "trip" readouts whatsoever.
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Yeah, mine's off by about 2 when I calculate each fill up.
 
Shini

Shini

Go Kart Champion
Tim S said:
If it actually saved fuel, don't you think VW would have put that in the owners manual? IIRC, the manual says *not* to warm the engine up before driving it.
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Never crossed my mind.
 
Shini

Shini

Go Kart Champion
DSGVW said:
I think you have yourself a fluke there. Maybe less red lights or slower speed on the highway (less drag = better MPG). On my daily commute I can vary between 26MPG (driving like an absolute moron) or up to 38MPG (all time high) driving like grandma on sedatives.
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So strange though. I've been doing this commute for 3 months, and this is the first time I've gotten that high!
 
Shini

Shini

Go Kart Champion
Cackalacka said:
Was it as hot today in TX as it was in July?
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It was usually in the 80's, high 70's in july, temp has cooled down over time of course, but my MPG hasn't been steadily going up or down with it either, so I don't think it's temp related?
 
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