topic Re: How many times a day do you start your car? in SmorgasBoard

How many times a day do you start your car?

pinkandgrey — Sun, 05 May 2019 14:31:26 GMT

Stay with me here—I’m aware of what a strange question this is.

I’m kind of a nut when it comes to taking care of my car. I’m the person that would stand outside with an umbrella over my car if it’s hailing. Oil change every 3k miles, no hard acceleration or braking, checking tire pressure frequently... I also feel like I’m abusing my car if I go out to run errands and I have to make multiple stops. I feel like it’s too hard on the engine to stop and start repeatedly so I sometimes will even skip doing things I need to do. Everybody tells me I’m worrying too much and that cars are made to be used like that.

What do you all think? Are there ANY people out there who feel the same way? Do you worry about little things like that? Brian_Earl_Spilner, I know you love your car, so help me out here lol

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

M_Smart007 — Sun, 05 May 2019 15:39:16 GMT

"Everybody tells me I’m worrying too much"

I think other than replacing the starter, a little sooner

starting too much probably is a non-issue.

guess what?, your worrying too much

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

pinkandgrey — Sun, 05 May 2019 15:44:44 GMT

@M_Smart007 wrote:
"Everybody tells me I’m worrying too much"

I think other than replacing the starter, a little sooner
starting too much probably is a non-issue.

guess what?, your worrying too much

*gasp* How dare you??? Lolol

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

M_Smart007 — Sun, 05 May 2019 16:48:43 GMT

I sorry, could not resist

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

Anonymous — Sun, 05 May 2019 18:55:07 GMT

Yup you are worrying too much.

I recently rented a car on vacation that had an “auto-stop” feature. (I found this annoying). What is it? It’s a feature that automatically turns the car off when you stop or idle (like at a traffic light) and automatically turns the car back on again when you lift your foot off the break. So during a normal drive the car will turn on and off dozens of times!. This is done to increase the gas mileage. Car manufacturers claim this saves 8-14% in gas. I have my doubts.

When I returned from vacation I complained to a few friends about it and many of them told me their new cars have this feature. I was kind of shocked, since I drive a 12 year old car I didn’t even know this was a thing.

I use my 12 yo car for my business which involves me seeing 3-4 clients a day at their homes or office. So that is 6-8 starts and stops every day. Plus my own starts and stops running errands etc. I have never had a problem with the starter or any engine related problems. I get my car serviced at the regular intervals. My car uses synthetic oil so I only change it at the manufacturer recommend 10K miles. I just wait until the car tells me it’s time to change the oil.

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

pinkandgrey — Sun, 05 May 2019 19:33:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Yup you are worrying too much.

I recently rented a car on vacation that had an “auto-stop” feature. (I found this annoying). What is it? It’s a feature that automatically turns the car off when you stop or idle (like at a traffic light) and automatically turns the car back on again when you lift your foot off the break. So during a normal drive the car will turn on and off dozens of times!. This is done to increase the gas mileage. Car manufacturers claim this saves 8-14% in gas. I have my doubts.

When I returned from vacation I complained to a few friends about it and many of them told me their new cars have this feature. I was kind of shocked, since I drive a 12 year old car I didn’t even know this was a thing.

I use my 12 yo car for my business which involves me seeing 3-4 clients a day at their homes or office. So that is 6-8 starts and stops every day. Plus my own starts and stops running errands etc. I have never had a problem with the starter or any engine related problems. I get my car serviced at the regular intervals. My car uses synthetic oil so I only change it at the manufacturer recommend 10K miles. I just wait until the car tells me it’s time to change the oil.

Thanks for the response. Good to know that your car is still running strong. I’ve heard of those stop/start engines, and it sounds insane to me. I thought that the engine cranking involved with starting a car was hard on the engine?? I’m so not car-savvy lol

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

Anonymous — Sun, 05 May 2019 19:59:54 GMT

pinkandgrey times have changed! Remembering back many moons (my Avatar of Dinosaur says it all), there was an effect by too much starting and stopping a car (way back). Today's vehicles are far superior to the old days and can take the more frequent starting and stopping.

As has been mentioned, some new cars come with a control that turns the engine off when idling or stopping to improved fuel mileage, "HOGWASH" more Detroit nonsense but, never the less the feature is there!

Chuckle at your concerns as it sounds like me and with the new cars I finally over came it. Now with aluminum wheels very cold air tempertures (like in the northern states with more extreme climates - where I live) can cause the side walls to separate from the aluminum rims causing air pressure losses which is most frustrating (had cars where this has been a challenge so I kept a gauge in the console and checked frequently). Gads people will think were nuts?

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

Schwartzinator — Sun, 05 May 2019 19:46:52 GMT

I actually worried about this a fair amount when I got my BMW last year as the auto stop-start feature would kick in probably 10 times each way to work. It was just another reason to leave the car in sport mode as the "feature" was disabled. Honestly though, I think you're overthinking this issue.

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

Revelate — Sun, 05 May 2019 19:47:23 GMT

On average less than once a day.

I really shouldn't have bought a new car when I'm either working from home or out of town but oh well haha.

It's not about trying to save the car though or anything, it's just a commitment to walk where I can.

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

GApeachy — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 07:36:03 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
I also feel like I’m abusing my car if I go out to run errands and I have to make multiple stops. I feel like it’s too hard on the engine to stop and start repeatedly

Are you thinking about "Cold Starts"? ....meaning during freezing cold weather.

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

pinkandgrey — Sun, 05 May 2019 20:07:09 GMT

Thanks for all the replies, everybody! I will do my level best not to think too much about this lol. It’s going to be hard though. And I’m still going to give my car appreciative pats from time to time....

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

pinkandgrey — Sun, 05 May 2019 20:09:05 GMT

@Schwartzinator wrote:
I actually worried about this a fair amount when I got my BMW last year as the auto stop-start feature would kick in probably 10 times each way to work. It was just another reason to leave the car in sport mode as the "feature" was disabled. Honestly though, I think you're overthinking this issue.

AHA lol another one. But yeah, I guess I am overthinking things. I think it’s because I had a bad experience with my last car lol So I’m curious as to whether you still have the BMW now that you have a Tesla.

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

Schwartzinator — Sun, 05 May 2019 20:21:32 GMT

I traded in the BMW for the Tesla.

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

GApeachy — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 07:38:19 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
Thanks for all the replies, everybody! I will do my level best not to think too much about this lol. It’s going to be hard though. And I’m still going to give my car appreciative pats from time to time....

And you should

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

iced — Sun, 05 May 2019 20:57:17 GMT

I live in a city where it takes 30 minutes to go 5 miles on a typical weekday by car. Avoiding stopping and starting is an exercise in futility. Homeless people and drug addicts sit on, and possibly even sleep on, my car some nights. My car is covered in soot, trash, and bird crap less than a week after washing.

I can’t even imagine the stress someone with your level of car anxiety would suffer here.

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

GApeachy — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 07:39:04 GMT

That's funny as .......you know what to the post above mine.

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

pinkandgrey — Sun, 05 May 2019 21:10:52 GMT

@GApeachy wrote:
That's funny as .......you know what to the post above mine. My bible thumping Aunt told me the same thing...sometimes she goes out there and sprays windex. Like what?!? Right now I'm watching a bird getting jiggy with it on my escalade side mirror. I know, somethings just gotta go by the wayside. Thanks for posting this thread, it's funny and understandable.

Lol I humanize my car too much. I feel like I’m “hurting” it all the time. I have to tell myself, “it’s just a machine! It has no feelings!!!!”

But to be fair, we all know Windex fixes all wrongs. It’s liquid duct tape

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

pinkandgrey — Sun, 05 May 2019 21:14:24 GMT

@iced wrote:
I live in a city where it takes 30 minutes to go 5 miles on a typical weekday by car. Avoiding stopping and starting is an exercise in futility. Homeless people and drug addicts sit on, and possibly even sleep on, my car some nights. My car is covered in soot, trash, and bird crap less than a week after washing.

I can’t even imagine the stress someone with your level of car anxiety would suffer here.

I’m about to cry just reading this lol although I do have a big (and extremely drooly) dog that likes to shake his giant head everywhere and then rest his drooly lips on every surface. So really, “cleanness” isn’t as much a concern to me as engine health

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

GApeachy — Sun, 05 May 2019 21:37:16 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
@GApeachy wrote:
That's funny as .......you know what to the post above mine. My bible thumping Aunt told me the same thing...sometimes she goes out there and sprays windex. Like what?!? Right now I'm watching a bird getting jiggy with it on my escalade side mirror. I know, somethings just gotta go by the wayside. Thanks for posting this thread, it's funny and understandable.
Lol I humanize my car too much. I feel like I’m “hurting” it all the time. I have to tell myself, “it’s just a machine! It has no feelings!!!!”
But to be fair, we all know Windex fixes all wrongs. It’s liquid duct tape

Ya know, in the racing world they call Duct tape "100mph tape".

Re: How many times a day do you start your car?

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Mon, 06 May 2019 04:06:33 GMT

Throw some synthetic oil in there and you'll be good for 10k miles easy. Since I drive less than 10k miles a year, I only have to change my oil twice every few years, but I'll usually do it twice a year only to keep it fresh, but I really don't have to.

Cars and engines aren't like they used to be. Modern engines shouldn't be warmed up. They're designed for you to start driving immediately. My Mazda takes maybe a minute to reach operating temperature, maybe. BMW recommends 15k miles between synthetic oil changes. You really don't have to baby them. You're just throwing money away.