[Blue Mazda]

I know short commutes are bad for any car in the cold weather. My wife has a commute of 2 miles each way to and from work. There are days where those 4 miles may be all that is put on the car. Is there any reason why that kind of driving is worse for a turbo car than it would be for just a regular NA car? I am just curious and this is my first turbo car. Any knowledge you turbo car vets have would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[forrestang]

I know short commutes are bad for any car in the cold weather. My wife has a commute of 2 miles each way to and from work. There are days where those 4 miles may be all that is put on the car. Is there any reason why that kind of driving is worse for a turbo car than it would be for just a regular NA car? I am just curious and this is my first turbo car. Any knowledge you turbo car vets have would be appreciated. Thanks!
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One thing that seems like it will wear fast with short commutes, and any car is the exhaust.

Quick heating and cooling seems like it would constantly leave condensation in the exhaust.

Where nice expressway hauls would clear the exhaust out better.

 

[XPLORx4]

As you said, frequent short trips on ANY car will lead to its early death. In a commute of just 2 miles, the car barely has enough time to warm up before you shut it off. I don't think the MS6 is any different, except it has more components (i.e. the turbocharger) that will wear sooner.

You should also expect pretty poor gas mileage. You'd be lucky to break 16mpg.

 

[[email protected]]

I'd trade a 2 mile drive for my 20 mile in a heartbeat. Why not commute with a friend?

 

[Marko343]

Not allowing to car to warm up is not good for the engine specially repeated times, the engine needs to be warmed to operate properlly.

If that's the case if possible just have her idle for a bit before she leaves or drive a little more now and then, but CHANGE YOUR OIL every 3 months, don't wait till 3000 miles.

 

[Insane]

I have a short drive to work, about 15 miles, but it's fairly varied. If it's under 40F in the morning, I let it warm up for about 1-2 minutes, and the RPM's drop to 1k.

I generally have a mix of city/highway on the way. The first part is on a 2 lane road with a 45mph speed limit...probably the average speed is 45-55 depending on traffic. The second part if a short little 3 mile jaunt on a highway with speeds up around 80. The last part is all city, with stop and go, 35-40mph speeds, for about 3 miles. I will usually let it idle an additional 1-2 minutes when I park at work.

This is a short trip, but it works out well as far as warm up goes. I have a nice moderate start to allow the engine to warm up, then I have some highway where I can open her up, then some sedate city driving allowing for turbo cool down.

This car seems to heat up fast...well..at least the water does.

 

[franchize]

You will have more gas in your oil, which will break the oil down and make your engine have more wear than a higher mileage car.

 

[madcar]

Short trips will not allow your car to burn off carbon deposits. Other than that, I don't know of any reason a short trip is going to hurt your car - just be sure to take it out on the highway every so often for a good run.

What will hurt your motor (over time) are "frequent" trips - it's the cold start process that is hard as hell on an engine. How can a short trip be any harder on a motor than a long trip? Both cars need to go through the same warm up process and both will suffer the same wear as they warm up.
Also, as mentioned, change your oil more often for the same reasons as I've noted above - carbon.

I don't want to dispute anything that has already been posted but... If "short trips" do in fact shorten the life of your car, please post a link to your source - I'd be interesting in hearing why.

 

[UCLeadGuitar]

Install a Turbo Timer to help let the turbo cool down before being shut off.

 

[kona500]

As you said, frequent short trips on ANY car will lead to its early death. In a commute of just 2 miles, the car barely has enough time to warm up before you shut it off. I don't think the MS6 is any different, except it has more components (i.e. the turbocharger) that will wear sooner.

You should also expect pretty poor gas mileage. You'd be lucky to break 16mpg.
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I have a 2 mile trip and get a little over 19 mpg.
earlier this summer I got about 28 mpg on a long freeway trip, and a whopping 12 mpg a month later while pressing through some twisty mountain passes!

 

[tom6433]

my commute to work is 1.5 miles to work each day. i'd say just let the car warm up before leaving and tell her not to get into the turbo in that short distance.

 

[marathon]

While some of the above is true, particularly exhaust/condensation, the engineering and technology built into today's cars make, IMHO, your concerns very, very minor. Everything else being equal, you would have to keep the car for years to see any problems. Don't worry! Enjoy

 

[Blue Mazda]

Thanks for the opinions, guys. The exhaust condensation used to be an issue, for sure with older cars. My sister had a Cavilier years ago with a short commute and she couldnt keep a muffler on that car. They always used to rust out. I am not sure if they make them better now a days to help them not corrode as much. As far as my wife's driving, we try to take her car on the weekends to put some miles on it and get it on the highway to open it up. As far as idling the car, she doesn't currently do much of that before she drives the car. I would assume as long as it isn't idling for an excessive amount of time, it won't be a problem. Currently, I yell at her because she starts the car, lets it run for 10 seconds and sticks it in gear and is off. She doesn't drive it hard when it is cold, but the car isn't warm yet. I tend to let the car idle for 30 seconds or so to let it warm up and get its fluids moving. We are looking to lease her next car due to the short commute and low yearly miles. The one of the cars we are looking at for her to replace her current 6i is the CX-7, which obviously shares engines with our MS6. She doesn't get to drive mySpeed because she can't drive stick! So no one has ever heard of short commutes being especially bad for turbos?

I agree, that if there were wear and tear issues due to short commuting, they would show up later in the car's life. We would probably be doing a 12k or 15k a year lease for 36 mos, so probably wouldn't see any issues as a result of this during our driving the car.

 

[Speed6Turbo]

I agree. A turbo timer will allow the car to idle for a bit and shut off. But with the newer cars, I do not think you have to worry about it. I say a poper warm up and you will be fine, IMO

 

[UCLeadGuitar]

Turbo Timers are cute though....who wouldn't want one on their dash...hehe.

 

[forrestang]

I doubt a turbo timer is going to help one bit for the short commutes.

Unless you a driving into boost right before you park, and can't sit in the car, it's worthless.....alhtough it is cute.

I shut my car off almost immediately after parking, but when I get a few blocks from where I'm about to park, I'm driving pretty gingerly.