Hello Veeky Forums. I usually post exclusively on Veeky Forums but I have a question that you should be able to answer quite easily.
I went to the McDonald's drive through this afternoon and got a 10-piece chicken McNugget combo with a Diet Coke and a bacon cheeseburger on the side.
I parked in the lot and proceeded to eat. Although I normally do not do this, I left my car running because it was rather cold outside and my car was still cool inside. I also take my jacket off when I eat so that I do not spill anything on it. I learned this lesson while eating a Baconator in December.
As I was enjoying my food and listening to a podcast, I heard a knock on my window. I jumped and saw a man outside. I assumed he was asking for money (it has happened) and put my window down an inch and told him I did not have change and use my debit card most of the time because it is more convenient and I can track my expenses more effectively.
He laughed and then looked very serious and said that I should not idle my vehicle because it was unnecessary pollution. I was pretty intimidated to say the least, so I put the window up and turned off my vehicle and ignored him. I was very uncomfortable so I drove to a gas station across the street to finish eating.
I was eating and idling when I saw that he was getting gas at the very same establishment I was at. I turned off my vehicle and ate in the cold, which was pretty disappointing, especially with a Diet Coke half full of ice.
My question for Veeky Forums is, how bad is idling your vehicle versus driving? Is idling for 10 minutes that bad in terms of gas consumption and pollution? How many miles would 10 minutes of idling equate to?
It probably matters that my vehicle is a 2003 Pontiac Sunfire.
Colton Jackson
i enjoyed reading this. any more stories
Ayden Reed
how long you stay? What car do you drive?
Joshua Reed
>Falling for pasta
Joshua Wright
If the engine is warm, Idling should produce pretty much zero pollution. As far as fuel goes, I heard that Idling takes something like a tenth of a gallon per hour. You don't need to worry about fuel consumption or pollution from Idling. One thing you would have to worry about is cam wear, but that shit don't effect most cars, and even if it did, you would have to idle thousands of hours to make an impact TL:DR don't worry about it
Samuel Adams
>I parked in the lot and proceeded to eat. I much prefer eating inside. I have no problem getting news or reading because I have a very portable thin laptop to read news and listen to music while I eat. It connects to wifi and thus I have a reasonable warm environment with lots of room.
My car is clean because I don't eat and grease it up. My seats are clean because I don't eat and grease it up. I am warm and comfortable because I am indoors. I have room to stretch out and spread the food out conveniently on a table.
Importantly, I can wash my hands after being done eating. I do not touch my car or controls with greasy hands like so many other people do. It's that grease and grime problem that caused GM to put in so many of those smooth plastic top buttons on the steering wheel instead of the nice discrete buttons or momentary toggle switch surfaces.
Grayson Rodriguez
I don't have this problem, idling cars is a Minnesota pastime. At least for people who don't get their cars.
Adam Williams
Hate their cars*
Jaxson Davis
>diet Coke >not getting water and an extra burger
faget
Samuel Gomez
I love the autism in this thread
Chase Stewart
>posts exclusively on Veeky Forums >eats McDonald's That joke may be a good troll back home, but it's too subtle for this board.
Ethan Fisher
>diet coke >intimidated by a hippie
Samuel Richardson
I'm not agreeing with that dickweed but idling isn't good for your fuel economy but it depends on what size the engine is. If you have simple 1.5 litre 4-pot engine, the you're gonna put out less CO2 then a massive 4 or 5 litre V8 because it'll need more fuel to burn and more evil gases to to fart out.
Nathan Sanchez
>mfw i idle my 5.8 liter v8 for 10 minutes every morning because its below zero
Zachary Anderson
you should've revved. He's an envirocuck
Ryder Mitchell
>tfw drive 6.0L 'murrican V8 >get a kick out of putting the pedal to the floor and watching my MPG's approach zero
fuck the environment
Joshua Young
Idling at lower rpms is better at consuming fuel than driving(at higher rpms). But turning your car off is even better (at 0 rpms).
How much is unnecessary? I dunno.
Wyatt Rodriguez
>diet coke Why the fuck would anybody drink diet soda, it tastes shittier than regular soda and isn't any better for you. Either drink normal soda or drink water you fuck.
Kayden Edwards
but muh calories and high fructose corn syrup
Parker Campbell
Meant to reply to OP
Isaiah Evans
Back in the day the claim was that starting your car took more fuel than idling for ten minutes, so in fact you shouldn't turn it off. This is from the time of carbs when warming was actually necessary.
Was there any truth to it then? Any truth to it now?
Jayden Johnson
>10-piece chicken McNugget combo with a Diet Coke and a bacon cheeseburger on the side. Fuck off fatso. The carbon footprint of your meal makes that of idling pale into insignificance.
