NorthEast US owners: Have they switched to winter blends? My MPG's have gone down.

[JTNY]

Not sure what is causing my MPG to start going down (see my Fuelly link below) but since the beginning of Nov, my MPG rating have gone down about 2-3Mpg. Granted I have started carpooling (I have 2 extra passengers on my car now) but it shouldn't kill the MPG's by that much should it? The only other reason could be that the gas stations are using winter blends??

 

[Peskeguy]

I'd noticed this too. I take a 2 hour road trip my central VA to DC area once every few months. On the same routes, with the same number of passengers (2 people and 2 dogs), traveling at essentially the same average speeds (10 over), my mpg was nearly 35 in summer. On the two trips I've made in November and December, mpg was a only 32.5.
Many variables probably account for it, but winter blend does have less energy content than summer blend so some drop in mpg is expected.

 

[Gio26NJ]

It definitely has to be factored in along with the colder weather, longer warmup times etc... noticed the MPG on mine fell from 29 to 26. Prices for gas also fell, from paying $3.69 to $3.16 and just yesterday saw gas stations selling for $3.06. That's Shell and Exxon prices as these are the only two I've been buying from since first getting the CX-5.

 

[JTNY]

It definitely has to be factored in along with the colder weather, longer warmup times etc... noticed the MPG on mine fell from 29 to 26. Prices for gas also fell, from paying $3.69 to $3.16 and just yesterday saw gas stations selling for $3.06. That's Shell and Exxon prices as these are the only two I've been buying from since first getting the CX-5.

Well I guess that explains my drop as well! thanks for chiming in.

 

[Gio26NJ]

No problem, well at least we know that it's not jet-fuel like in this article
http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ss...mouth_county_gas_stations.html#incart_m-rpt-1

Lukoil and Delta, not the first time Lukoil has been involved in this type of thing either, a few years back more than a 100 cars had major problems because of a similar issue on a busy station on the Garden State Parkway. Makes you wonder how a screw up like this happens. Anyways sorry for the offtopic.

 

[jeremy44]

Wasn't there reports of lower quality gas being sold during Hurricane Sandy?

 

[GAXIBM]

I have a Corvette that gets its best millage when it is very hot, 90-100 F even with the AC blasting. It will not do as well when it is cooler and I don't need the air. I think it has to do with colder air being denser and providing higher friction. It has not gotten real cool down here for the CX-5 yet...

 

[Gregx-5]

Wasn't there reports of lower quality gas being sold during Hurricane Sandy?

Hah. I never heard any confirmation buts same happened to me on the first tank after Sandy. My gas mileage then recovered some, but nothing like I would expect.


I'm now about a mile or 2 down per mpg in really mixed city/ traffic/ highway driving. It doesnt bother me as much as the change in mpg I have during long distance highway driving and the engine gets a real workout. The big numbers 33-35 should show up in overall fuel economy over the course of a tank, but I'm not seeing it like I was. I guess I'm stuck waiting for spring to see if they come back (boom02)

 

[IHeartGroceries]

The blend up to winter gasoline happened months ago for those of you in the north east. You've been putting it into your CX-5's for weeks.

As far as lowered PQ from Sandy, I can tell you that there is no way that that happened on the distribution side. Oil companies and their distribution partners would never allow that, as they vehemently enforce their product quality and control standards at all times. There could be inadvertant issues on the supply side, which led to the retail distribution of contaminated fuels, or contamination at retail. Could be a million different scenerios.
Also, Governor Christie temporarily suspended licensing requirements that affect merchants ability to buy fuel from out-of-state suppliers. So, it is possible that conventional gasolines may have ended up in areas where reformulated is mandated, and vise versa, or E10 may have ended up in retail stations which typically supply MTBE oxygenated fuels, etc. Efficency varies between these varieties of fuels.

And as far as Jet contamination in gasoline, it (and other various forms of degraded PQ), happen very frequently! Some very simple, small mistakes could lead to this, with distribution continuing to occur before the issue to recognized. It happens all the time, all over the country.