Fuel Efficiency and the Yaris

[R2D2]

I'm in the drive easy until it warms up crowd. I give it a good 15 sec after I start it then drive very gently and keep the rpms down until it warms up. I clear the ice and snow before I start it. I do use a block heater when it's cold though.

R2

[sbergman27]

Originally Posted by R2D2

I'm in the drive easy until it warms up crowd.

Me too. This morning, I did run a test to get an idea how much (or little) fuel it actually takes to warm the engine to 128F (when the "Cool" light goes off), and to 140F, when the automatic transmission makes 4th gear and torque converter lock-up available. I found the answer to be a bit surprising. At an ambient temperature of 43F, it's only 0.03 gallons in both cases. (Scangauge doesn't go beyond 0.01 gal precision.) The "Cool" light went off just as the readout clicked over to 0.03. This is significantly less than I would have guessed.

-Steve