Am I driving a 9-5 or an SUV!

The engine barely even warms up ! No great surprise really. That's a horribly inefficient way to run a car. It's tough on the oil too. How often do you change it ?

Graham

I just had my 25,000 mile oil change. I've been changing the semi-synthetic when the car tells me to. (It's included with the warranty)

"Eeyore" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@REMOVETHIS.hotmail.com...

With that type of driving, I'd feel guilty doing 2,500 miles between oil changes. I believe automotive engines need to fully warm up on a regular basis to allow the oil to burn-off the raw gas that gets down the cylinder walls during cold operation. Tell us how many miles/month or year and how frequently does it run for say a fifteen minute or more trip?

Jim

in article w4adnS7gS8wSkU3ZnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com, Jonathan Kaplan at snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote on 02/08/2006 03:23:

Three miles! Twice a day! Mate, you're driving a SAAB ... Find a longer route to and from work and enjoy the commute :)

I find I average 20-22 MPG in my C900 if I *just* go to and from work with a

12 mile run in the morning and again in the evening. That shows how just a few more miles gives much better mileage, since you're driving with the car warmed up. If I go for a longer run, I usually get 25-29 MPG and a long motorway cruise at (erm ...) 70 MPH I get over 30 MPG.

With your poor consumption, you could afford a Daihatsu Charade, or a Daewoo Matiz out of the lost money and get 50-70 MPG!

Paul

1989 900 Turbo S

I drive a 2001 9-5 linear sedan and I consistently get on avg 24 mpg for a 20 mile commute. I drove from Boston to Washington DC (a 460 mile trip) on 70 mph cruise control (mind numbingly boring way to drive mind you) and I got 30 mpg emptying only 3/4 of the tank of petrol! And I have 72,000 miles on the car! Trips like yours are killers, doesn't matter what car you're driving, unless its a Prius.

It's all about how you drive dude. /sk

J> I drive my 2004 9-5 Linear wagon back and forth to work (3 miles each way)

SunnyDC, are you living in D.C. proper?

SG

You need a scooter, a bus, a push bike or to walk.

You're potential killing the car, unless you do longer commutes...

Potentially, not potential.

In message , Jonathan Kaplan writes

With a life as you describe you should be changing the oil every 6,000 miles and using fully synthetic as per Saab recommendations.

I suggest you need a good flush out of the oil system, drop the sump to check for sludging and do fully synthetic oil changes every 6,000 miles if you want your engine to survive the punishment you are giving it.

I believe that's part of the sludge problem with 9-5s. It was designed for efficiency on long runs not short ones.

Graham

That's a *Chevrolet* Matiz now btw ! ;~)

Graham

Y'know I was just about to slap you on the wrist with a comment like "you the group English teacher then?" and I noticed you were correcting yourself......so well done, as you were, as for me I'll just go an measure my flash to bang time again, anyone got a calendar handy? ;-)

Still, even on a 900 mile interstate (~75mph average speed) road trip, right after the 60k service, with properly inflated tires, premium gas, etc

-- my 2002 9-5 Aero barely managed 28-30 mph. That doesn't strike me as overwhelming efficiency.

But back to short trips: I have often wondered whether several successive short trips are considered several short trips or one long trip? E.g. if I have a bunch of errands and I string them together into a 3-4 hour marathon, so the engine oil never really cools down, would that be considered 10 3-mile trips or one 30-mile trip?

Gary

Howdy,

Probably a bit too low. I can get 22-24 (on a 2 litre 1997 CSE engine (in an 9000) in good weather on 5.5 each way daily commute. As everyone else said ... if you get it right 19-20 is the best you should hope for.

Once a week or every two weeks you should take it for a longer drive (30 mins or longer) and let the engine warm up at proper RPM :-) I do... and I make sure I enjoy it ;-)

Charles

As long as the engine doesn't get cold, the latter. I do this myself.

Graham

He's talking US mpg though.

Graham

Buy a Smart for short trips ( fun ) or even a Matiz !

Graham

That might not be so bad for a short trip. My c900 gets 29 mpg in all-highway driving (even with the AC on!), but only about 14 in the city.