Reasonable MPG or not?

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by edmscan

Yup .. this is a standard method of operation for probably many thousands of Canadians. I have put cardboard in front of my radiator on all my cars for many many years. It just helps keep things warmer in the long winters. I just find it funny that everyone didn't know about this trick. Guess if you live in the southern states there is just no reason to do this.

Kinda like having AC in my yaris, I have never used it. But the heater is a different story. Use it often .. and in winter will pretty much leave it on. I just hope that it doesn't affect my gas mileage too much.

It's not just the Southern states. I grew up about 200 miles from Lake Tahoe (Sierra Nevada Mountains - straddles the California/Nevada border) and spent a fair amount of time there growing up, as well as in other parts of the Sierra Nevada Range. I remember people sometimes having trouble starting their cars or driving re traction, but the cold air hitting the radiator/fan wasn't an issue for people I knew, even though Truckee (the point on I-80 that is closest to Lake Tahoe at 14.5 miles) is occasionally the coldest spot in the U.S.

I wonder if the issue is living in a flat area that is close enough to mountains to suffer re how the wind comes from the mountains. I remember once going with my girlfriend to Reno, NV to celebrate the new year and intending to spend part of the time 35-40 miles away near Lake Tahoe skiing. I remember the wind got so bad that we couldn't leave Reno to ski. My friend who lived in Montana drove to California a few times during the Winter and each of those few times he tried the temperature was WAY below zero (he said at one point it got close to 50 below --- Fahrenheit of course, not Celsius) and he said he would pray that the cardboard would stay in place and he would check it (with leaving the engine running of course) whenever he stopped for food. I didn't ask him what he did re getting gas (car off=worry about restarting, but car on= dangerous,illegal). He lived just East of the Indian reservation that is next to Glacier National Park (Waterton on the Canadian side), so I wonder if the wind he experienced as he started ina SW direction toward California was similar to what I experienced in Reno during around New Year's day or what you might experience in Edmonton (with your proximity to the Canadian Rockies) or people in Calgary might experience. I remember reading long ago that Winnipeg is the coldest city in the world with a population of over 500,000. I remember thinking a major factor might be that it is so far away from an ocean, but I don't know if there would be any other MAJOR factors that would contribute to Winnipeg having that status (and I don't know if it currently has that status). Obviously, I'm FAR from an expert re weather.