I have noticed my single trip mpg has dropped from around 32 mpg per trip to about 26 mpg per trip. I take the same route to work and at the same time every day. The only difference is the cold we have had this winter. I may be going to work when its 20 degrees instead of 40. Can the cold cause this much of a difference in MPG? I know when i start the car the RPMs are about 1500 to 1750 and dont usually drop down to 750 until about 7 mies of driving.

Thanks

 

Winter-blend gasoline? (maybe that is new to your area?)

Check your tire pressures?

Snow on the ground?
- in addition to the colder air, a lot more places have snow vs. last few years.

 

Thanks

No snow here in West Tennessee and tires are at correct pressure. I have used Kroger and Shell to fill up. I am not sure how i would know if they are on winter gas and what the quality is. I usually use Kroger and switched to Shell when i noticed the mpg suffering. Since the mpg results were the same i thought it would probably come down to the cold and the higher idle speed during cold start.

 

How long do you let the car warm up following a cold start?

 

maybe 30 seconds

 

How about dragging brakes?

Have you had snow earlier this winter? Salt on the roads? Corrosion at the slide-pins of the brake calipers?

I'm just suggesting things for you to think of - you can easily rule them out by checking & we get down to things that are more obscure & less likely.

With a short 30-second warm-up, do you drive away aggressively or do you take it easy until it's warmed up? Either way, the cold takes its toll but yours seems to be a more drastic hit than I'd expect. OTOH I've never owned a car with a CVT.

 

Yes, or it does for my '92 EX 5 spd. Mpg goes from 31 to 26-7; this is averaged over 2 or 3 tanks, not 'single trips.'
Oils, tranny fluid, greases are all more viscous in cold and more resistant to flowing and moving.

I warm up my car for minutes when it's 20F outside; just saying.

 

MPG definitely drop with winter blends. I'm in California so I don't know what each state runs or how it differs but I'm sure its very similar. At those temps it will also take longer for the engine to reach optimal working temperature

 

No salt or corrosion and i only have 3500 miles on the car. I drive 30 to 40 mph for the first 6 miles / 10 minutes before i get on the interstate for the rest of the commute. I don't drive aggresively and almost always keep it in the green ring on the dash when accelerating. When i drove home yesterday the temp outside was 67 and i averaged 32.5 mpg. I am not sure why it is taking so long for the idle to get down to 750 rpm from a cold start when the thermostat temp gets in the normal range fairly quickly ( a few minutes of driving on cold days ). My old 2001 accord 5 speed would have the idle normal within a minute on its coldest days and i never noticed any variation in mpg, that car was very consistent. This new car can litterally take 15 minutes for the rpms to go to normal range. I would think the higher idle speed would have to be the cause of the decreased mpg.