Increased use of petrol/winter fuel

Strider590

OP, does the heater get hot?

If not then you may have a jammed thermostat on the coolant system.
If it's jammed then the engine won't reach full temp and this will be compensated for with more fuel being used.

Changing mine gave me another 10% mpg during the winter months.

Ultrasonic

Ebe Scrooge has given a good explanation of why mpg drops in winter without any change in driving style. The one factor I'd add is that air densities are typically higher which increases aerodynamic drag. For long motorway trips in winter this is I think tye largest reason for a drop in mpg.

JustinR1979

OddballJamie wrote: »

Wait for the "But the petrol station is 15 miles away".

Ideal, engine might get hot and burn off some moisture!


I don't walk anywhere either, so that suggestion is out


Lambda sensor is always a good shout, don't last forever and have to be really bad before flagging a fault.
Considering this car rarely gets into closed loop however, it won't be getting used very often

JustinR1979

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

Oh, and the idea of only filling the tank half full to reduce weight is nonsense for all practical purposes. In theory yes, any extra weight will reduce efficiency. In practice the difference between a full tank and a half tank will be so small as to be un-measurable. You'd do more good by removing the spare wheel and taking out any seats you're not using :-)

I agree on the whole
Was only suggested as this is a little light car that's not getting through much petrol, so the weight would have more effect on overall weight % wise, and is just sitting there.
But I fill up, can't be ar5ed doing it more than I have to.