Hey guys,

Okay, so here's the background. '05 Manual Rx8. 15k miles. Works great. I live in SoCal so temperatures don't go below 50 really and don't go over 100 too often. I recently moved and now I'm only about 2 - 2.5 miles away from my office. So on to some things I do know. I know I'm not supposed to shut it down cold. I know its rougher on the engine for it to be only on for a little bit at a time. I know traffic is harder on the car than highway. And I know that gasoline is expensive and mpg is drastically lowered in idle than it is on the highway.

My 2 mile commute is all city. It takes me almost 10 minutes, due to traffic/stoplights. My car would reach normal operating temperature though. How bad is this really for the car?

I bought a bicycle to commute with as I love my car too much to keep putting this potential strain on my car. Am I delusional? Am I saving myself future pain by riding the bike to work?

Thanks in advance for all your input.

 

Wow, I'm buying a bicycle for a 50km trip (1 way) to work... the trip is about 25-30 minutes by car... im guessing double that for bicycle.

Short trips are fine for the car.

The only benefits of driving your car at "operating" temp is that the different metals are at their expanded size. And only makes a big difference when driving your car hard. If you drive your car hard when its cold, different metals will expand faster and more "rapidly" then others... which does cause stress... but could also mean that things can sieze (but i wouldnt say its the easiest thing to do on our cars).

But driving a short trip of 10 minutes staying under 10k rpm is more then good.

Rotary engines are RELIABLE, probably 100 times more so then a piston engine.

 

I see your problem. I too would hate to kill any kind of car with that commute. It will put gas and water in your oil and carbon up your engine. Have some one in your building pick you up or bike in. You will be a "Green" RX-8 person. Then you will go nuts looking for excuses to drive it.

 

I am always looking for excuses to drive it. Man, I love getting the groceries or driving out to see my buddies. Or just to drive it. But yeah, I can't see such bad driving conditions as healthy for the car.