How to get the car hot?

[Nobbi1977]

My journey does not help. Leave the house and then do 10ish miles at 50 ish miles an hour with little or no stopping. Almost 6th in 50 yards and then nothing else till I stop at work. 

[gumdrop]

I use hardboard to blank off the radiator, for SHORT journeys, it is easily removable being on the outside.

I was also given (by Fred) a Skoda part grill radiator grill blanking plate that attaches with two screws.

 

[Frenchtone]

why not install a woodburner!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

; - D)

 

Ok off to the corner, s'been a while!!

[AllanDJ]

I've got the same car myself and can't say that I've noticed any great issue with the time it takes for the car to heat up, even though my commute to work is literally ten minutes mainly at 30mph, you are talking literally only a few minutes before the engine temperature is at 90 degrees anyway. At this time of year I put the heated seat on most of the time and that heats up me much faster than the car can heat itself up!

 

As for diesel versions, yes they do take longer to heat up but you co get much better mpg, mind you I once had a second hand Rover 400 TD car which took all winter to heat up... Despite my complaints the service manager told me that all diesels were like that and refused to look at the car at all, it was a very cold winter too, eventually the garage sacked him and they realised that the car had a broken pipe thus absolutely no heat from the engine was reaching the cabin! Funnily enough I checked online recently and that old P registered Rover is apparently still on the road, must be some mileage now though.

[muddyjim]

3 hours ago, AllanDJ said:

Rover is apparently still on the road, must be some mileage now though.

 

 

You should be able to see its mileage here:

https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history

 

Jim

[Expatman]

6 hours ago, AllanDJ said:

I've got the same car myself and can't say that I've noticed any great issue with the time it takes for the car to heat up, even though my commute to work is literally ten minutes mainly at 30mph, you are talking literally only a few minutes before the engine temperature is at 90 degrees anyway. At this time of year I put the heated seat on most of the time and that heats up me much faster than the car can heat itself up!

 

As for diesel versions, yes they do take longer to heat up but you co get much better mpg, mind you I once had a second hand Rover 400 TD car which took all winter to heat up... Despite my complaints the service manager told me that all diesels were like that and refused to look at the car at all, it was a very cold winter too, eventually the garage sacked him and they realised that the car had a broken pipe thus absolutely no heat from the engine was reaching the cabin! Funnily enough I checked online recently and that old P registered Rover is apparently still on the road, must be some mileage now though.

The real question on MPG is whether the better MPG is balanced by the higher initial price you pay for the vehicle - amortising £1,000++ over the extra MPG and price of diesel and reduced residuals may mean that you will not recover the extra you paid over the life of your ownership. Currently i am getting nearly 45 MPG (44.88 to be precise) from my 1.2 DSG Yeti, how much better are diesels doing in reality to offset the higher price - and that's before the budget hammers diesels even more!

[Urrell]

40 minutes ago, Expatman said:

The real question on MPG is whether the better MPG is balanced by the higher initial price you pay for the vehicle - amortising £1,000++ over the extra MPG and price of diesel and reduced residuals may mean that you will not recover the extra you paid over the life of your ownership. Currently i am getting nearly 45 MPG (44.88 to be precise) from my 1.2 DSG Yeti, how much better are diesels doing in reality to offset the higher price - and that's before the budget hammers diesels even more!

 

I get about 57 - 58 mpg about 8000 a year £30 road tax and generally keep a car for about 10 years.
Plus I like the power delivery of the diesel.

[kenfowler3966]

If the budget hammers diesel then everything will go up, as virtually everything is moved by diesel powered trucks and vans. CO2 emissions will also go up if we all start using petrol cars again.

 

The only real way to reduce demand for new diesel cars is bad press reporting as we see now, or some form of up front loading to the purchase price. However as my euro 6 car produces less nox and co2 than virtually any petrol equivalent surely the government won't make that mistake?

[Frenchtone]

 ^  wanna bet with the shower of comedians(of all colours)  currently in parliament? 

[Expatman]

5 hours ago, Urrell said:

 

I get about 57 - 58 mpg about 8000 a year £30 road tax and generally keep a car for about 10 years.
Plus I like the power delivery of the diesel.

Compared with my 1.2 DSG that means I use approx 38 gallons more petrol per annum = 173 litres @ £1.09 = £188 per annum. So based on a purchase price approx £1,350 more for the diesel car then it will take approx 7 years 2 months just to break even! Okay you keep your cars for 10 years so on fuel alone you will "save" approx £550, BUT that assumes you don't run into any big maintenance bills associated with modern diesels. You are only doing 8,000 miles per year so according to the experts you are highly likely to hit very expensive problems within the 10 years. of ownership. VED is the same now for most cars . However, if you like the power delivery of the diesel then that's all you need to know; just don't assume it's overall cheaper. Also most people don't keep their cars for 10 years so for the average guy the economics are negative unless they do many more miles per year. Most 'experts' suggest you need to do at least 20,000 miles per year to justify a diesel purely on cost terms.

Edited 13 November, 2017 by Expatman

[langers2k]

TDi's are definitely great for milage. I did 31k between my last two MOT's and my last ten fill-ups have averaged 59 mpg. Taking @Expatman's example and adjusting for the above, I'd use ~164 gallons less, saving ~£720 per annum (based on 4p difference in diesel/petrol prices) making it much quicker to break even on purchase price.

 

Not that any of this helps the OP trying to get their car up to temperature more quickly

[Frenchtone]

^ could raise cabin temp purely by his/her irritation at the semantics!!

[Expatman]

1 hour ago, langers2k said:

TDi's are definitely great for milage. I did 31k between my last two MOT's and my last ten fill-ups have averaged 59 mpg. Taking @Expatman's example and adjusting for the above, I'd use ~164 gallons less, saving ~£720 per annum (based on 4p difference in diesel/petrol prices) making it much quicker to break even on purchase price.

 

Not that any of this helps the OP trying to get their car up to temperature more quickly

Precisely, diesels do save for high mileages. For low mileage they are more expensive than petrol. Latest developments in petrol engines will raise the mileage barrier further until for most private motorists petrol, or hybrid, will be the only sensible choice.

[AllanDJ]

On 13/11/2017 at 16:20, Expatman said:

The real question on MPG is whether the better MPG is balanced by the higher initial price you pay for the vehicle - amortising £1,000++ over the extra MPG and price of diesel and reduced residuals may mean that you will not recover the extra you paid over the life of your ownership. Currently i am getting nearly 45 MPG (44.88 to be precise) from my 1.2 DSG Yeti, how much better are diesels doing in reality to offset the higher price - and that's before the budget hammers diesels even more!

That's pretty good mileage you're getting with the automatic, is that a 2WD car though? I can't get close to that kind of mpg with my 1.4 petrol manual, when engine warmed up mid 30's up to 38mpg around town, a wee bit better on a longer run, I'm assuming the 4WD plus extra weight from that makes quite a difference to fuel consumption and for those doing big mileages the diesel versions are a no brainer. But in recent years I'm just not doing a high enough mileage annually to justify having a diesel any more, the petrol version isn't that economic but it was about £60 per month cheaper than the diesel version on my PCH deal, which is about a tank of fuel these days.

[lawnmowerman]

Not forgetting the inherent higher value that there used to be in a diesel when you sold on. That may be in question now though.

 

Bill 

Edited 14 November, 2017 by lawnmowerman
Grammar

[Expatman]

1 hour ago, AllanDJ said:

That's pretty good mileage you're getting with the automatic, is that a 2WD car though? I can't get close to that kind of mpg with my 1.4 petrol manual, when engine warmed up mid 30's up to 38mpg around town, a wee bit better on a longer run, I'm assuming the 4WD plus extra weight from that makes quite a difference to fuel consumption and for those doing big mileages the diesel versions are a no brainer. But in recent years I'm just not doing a high enough mileage annually to justify having a diesel any more, the petrol version isn't that economic but it was about £60 per month cheaper than the diesel version on my PCH deal, which is about a tank of fuel these days.

Yes, 1.2 Tsi DSG 2 wheel drive, Yeti is 8 months old and I have done just over 7,000 miles. MPG is true average (brim-to-brim) since I got the car. The is my second Yeti and certainly the later 1.2 engine is more economical than that in my first Yeti which averaged 42.1 MPG over 51,000 miles. 

The best MPG I have got with the new car is 48.60MPG on a tankful and the worst is 39.79 - a terrible high speed run down to Cornwall in pouring rain and against howling gale of a head wind! I have noticed that as the mileage has increased then consumption has improved. over last 4 fill ups MPG has been: 48.54, 47.56, 47.75 and 46.93. Driving is a mix of country and urban with some motorway journeys. I live in North Yorkshire so not usually held up by too much traffic - except A64 around York which can be a nightmare. I drive briskly but not 'boyracerish' and as I have got older find I read the road and avoid the brake & accelerate my younger self used to enjoy! On motorways keep to 70 - 75 as the aerodynamics of the Yeti are not great and petrol consumption certainly increases if you were to drive at 80+ - not that you would of course it being illegal.....

Incidentally I do run it on premium Sainsburys petrol rather than standard grade. I found with my earlier Yeti that the improved MPG achieved with the premium petrol swamped the price difference.

Edited 14 November, 2017 by Expatman

[137699]

The best way to get a car warm quickly is to start the engine, give it 10-15 seconds to get running properly, then load every electrical circuit you can:

- Fan to max defrost

- Rear heated screen

- Front heated screen (if you have it)

- Heated mirrors

- Radio

- Heated seats (if you have them)

- Headlights

- And switch ON the A/C - can't recall if the Yeti manual specifically mentions this but most car brands recommend turning on the AC even in cold conditions to aid warming of the interior.

 

The load on the alternator to produce all the power adds a bit of load to the engine making it work that bit harder (without over-working it) and hence it generating heat that bit quicker.

[muddyboots]

On 12/11/2017 at 18:21, Sad555 said:

A bit of cardboard in front of the radiator........or

 

I tried one of those...then promptly removed it after I saw the effects on oil temp and intake temps on uphill dual carriageways (logged with VCDS)

[Sad555]

Nice to hear from someone who’s tried it .

[SuperbTWM]

8 hours ago, 137699 said:

The best way to get a car warm quickly is to start the engine, give it 10-15 seconds to get running properly, then load every electrical circuit you can:

- Fan to max defrost

- Rear heated screen

- Front heated screen (if you have it)

- Heated mirrors

- Radio

- Heated seats (if you have them)

- Headlights

- And switch ON the A/C - can't recall if the Yeti manual specifically mentions this but most car brands recommend turning on the AC even in cold conditions to aid warming of the interior.

 

The load on the alternator to produce all the power adds a bit of load to the engine making it work that bit harder (without over-working it) and hence it generating heat that bit quicker.

 

That's debatable, I think the best way is to tow a caravan everywhere, that gets the temp up nice and fast 

[Expatman]

Or drive with the hand brake on.............. I'll go now.

[Rooted]

It would be interesting to hear what temperature the car was being driven in when blocking air flow to the Radiator / Cooling system then finding the OIl temp was showing high.

There is a reason really that Skoda Dealers are not stocking and selling  'Yeti-winter lower screens', like the likely hood of driving in temps below -15 in the UK.

[Sad555]

There are 2 screens available to be fitted to the yeti so in very cold climates both are fitted ,an upper and lower and I wonder which would be most suitable for a sub zero uk,upper or lower or nothing.

[Rooted]

If it is so cold the sea freezes and there is going to be 2 feet of snow fit both, and take public transport or snow shoes.

[JED]

A box of matches and a gallon of petrol ?