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How many times a day do you start your car?

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pinkandgrey
Senior Contributor

How many times a day do you start your car?

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

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Message 1 of 36
35 REPLIES 35
M_Smart007
Legendary Contributor

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

"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 muchSmiley Happy

Message 2 of 36
pinkandgrey
Senior Contributor

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


@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 muchSmiley Happy


*gasp* How dare you??? Lolol 

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Message 3 of 36
M_Smart007
Legendary Contributor

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

I sorry, could not resistSmiley Very Happy

Message 4 of 36
Anonymous
Not applicable

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

Yup you are worrying too much. Smiley LOL

 

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.

Message 5 of 36
pinkandgrey
Senior Contributor

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


@Anonymous wrote:

Yup you are worrying too much. Smiley LOL

 

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

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Message 6 of 36
Anonymous
Not applicable

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

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? Smiley Embarassed

Message 7 of 36
Schwartzinator
Frequent Contributor

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

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. 


Message 8 of 36
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

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

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.




        
Message 9 of 36
GApeachy
Super Contributor

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


@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.  

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Message 10 of 36
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