Can you still get good economy in cold weather?

[Generic]

I understand that cold weather normally affects the performance and economy of most, if not all, diesel engines. I've noticed in my SC 1.6TDi I get 52MPG when it's a warm day (7oC I class as warm at the moment!), and I get around 46-47MPG when it's cold (-0.5 --> 0.5 like today).

Is there any way to keep the MPG up in cold weather, i.e. addictives? Or is it just something to live with?

 

[EdHorny]

Something to live with I'd guess mate. If you put additives in you have to add the cost of the additives to the cost of your diesel, so to get your mpg back you will spend more and therefore not make a saving.

Grin and Bare it mate.

ED

 

[andyspencer]

Its all to do with the expansion of your internals. Physically when theyre cold they dont have the same tollerances as theyre intended to. (Hence the rattle on cold etc) So more oil / fuel (if its diesel) tends to get used when cold.. On the other side, cold air is good for your engine. But offset that against a cold engine, you'l be slightly worse for efficiencey.

 

[nightflight]

I blame some of the decrease in economy on the heavier right foot caused by having extra grunt from the engine

 

[bigman75]

It's defo to do with an heavy foot!

The past few days i've being going easy and i'm currently achieving 55-60 mpg.

This past month i've managed to squeeze out just shy of 500 miles from a full tank. I think thats quite impressive, given that sometimes i'm heavy footed!

As a footnote, Ive used millers additive from day one.

I've done just over 8k now so maybe the engine is loosening up a bit??

Cheers

 

[Generic]

Nope, not had a heavy right foot at all to be totally honest. I've made sure I drive sensibly when I've been testing the above MPG issue.

Is there any use to additives then? Are they not just a scam? Do they make any difference to a new engine?

 

[Octane2097]

weather does affect fuel econmy remember with my mk4 diesel during summer months id regulaly get 65mpg plus driving to work
during the winter months around 55mpg