3-cylinder fuel economy in extreme cold
- Thread starter Mr.cant-find-his-10.5-mm
- Start date
Just stating "my opinion", and my reason for the op's complaint. And a Toyota is a better car "imo" than a Nissan.
Your Atlas must have auxiliary electric elements, many German makes use them. No engine alone will produce any appreciable in the cabin heat, in negative temps within 2-3 minutes of operation.
My in-laws 2000 VW Jetta TDI also had them. It produced cabin heat extremely fast and we all know that it couldn't have been possibly from that diesel engine.
I'm actually surprised more makers don't use electric heat elements. It not only provides cabin heat faster, it warms up the coolant and the engine much faster because the heat doesn't need to be pulled away by the heater core.
Same with ours - it makes good heat quickly.
I would think that a smaller engine that has to rev higher would get hotter quicker...
Nah, it doesn’t. Tiguan is even better, and definitely doesn’t have anything like it.
BMW X5 diesel I owned had electric heater, and it would blow 30sec after start really hit air.
TDI is different. Diesel needs long time, so they mitigate that usually with Webasto type heaters. EA888 in Atlas and Tiguan don’t need that whatsoever.
I haven't owned a caravan, but have heard they do have great heat/ac systems. The CX5 in my sig has an all aluminum 2.0 with direct injection that is very efficient, which also makes it crappy warming up at -30C. It takes forever and even idling at an intersection, you can feel the temperature of the HVAC air drop. It is using very little fuel at idle and that is just enough to keep the cylinders moving, not creating any heat.
Drove my 2015 2grfe Sienna to the office today taking the long route to monitor my new Scangauge. Total trip about 32 minutes.
Ambient Temperature = 23F
Intake Temp = 24F during trip (didn't expect that, thought it would be preheated at this ambient temperature)
Coolant at start = 45F (parked in garage)
Coolant at 4 minutes = 130F (Heater fan started at this point)
Coolant at 11 minutes = 175F, never went much above this, if it did it tended to come back to 175F. Noticed when I dropped the heater temp from 74 to 69 this went up to 181F.
ATF also at 45F at start, never went above 121F while cruising on highway. It takes a long while for the ATF temperature to rise.
Toyota didn't have a motor oil sensor in this model engine, unfortunately.
Ambient Temperature = 23F
Intake Temp = 24F during trip (didn't expect that, thought it would be preheated at this ambient temperature)
Coolant at start = 45F (parked in garage)
Coolant at 4 minutes = 130F (Heater fan started at this point)
Coolant at 11 minutes = 175F, never went much above this, if it did it tended to come back to 175F. Noticed when I dropped the heater temp from 74 to 69 this went up to 181F.
ATF also at 45F at start, never went above 121F while cruising on highway. It takes a long while for the ATF temperature to rise.
Toyota didn't have a motor oil sensor in this model engine, unfortunately.
As another data point, our 2019 Rav4 Hybrid gets 36 mpg in mixed summer driving. When I put the studded winter tires on and get into the cold weather, it is a consistent 31 mpg, about a 14% loss in fuel economy.
It's not the quickest to warm up, the heated wheel and seats definitely help.
It's not the quickest to warm up, the heated wheel and seats definitely help.
Toyota does come with foam.
However, right on other points. Also, doesn’t have any insulation/protection from below engine. It loses heat super fast after turning off.
Not sure where data from oil temperature is coming, but my Sienna was giving oil temperature to small OBD I had installed.
Oil temperature once warmed up in regular driving was 220-225.
Coolant, pretty much like yours.
I mean the sides and bottom of the engine are insulated too. Bmw seems to cover their engines in foam and weird carpet stuff, and then seal off the engine bay with a gasket around the hood and a belly pan that doesn't have big gaps around the edges.
This .
we cannot compare poor conditions economy to the other vehicle in normal conditions.
Should be apples to apples.
It does. My BMW doesn’t have foam cover on the engine or hood. Toyota had foam on engine cover and no foam on hood.
BMW I6, bcs. it is pushed so far back to have better weight distribution, has 6th cylinder under windshield.
Those things help. It is all about details. Some manufacturers pay attention to things like that.
My understanding is the oil temperature sensor was installed 2016 and later. Mine is a 2015.
Mine was 2015 too.
It could be algorithm.
Not so much.
A Model 3 does better than this does and can actually heat the cabin.
Model 3 long range loses 24% (according to recurrent) , and this thing goes from 37 to 25.8 or 30.2% decrease.
Sam_Julier
$50 Site Donor 2024
Our 1993 240 wagon with its 2.3 liter 4 cylinder engine (114 hp, 136 lbs torque) will roast everyone on board at 0 degrees. 190 degree thermostat.
Not sure why Nissen can’t figure this out.
Not sure why Nissen can’t figure this out.