Relisys190

iTrader: (4)

I've just recently moved... before i would drive about 10-15 min in city traffic to get to work.. stop go, stop go. ect...

Now i live about 30-35 min from work.. but it's all highway inbetween

What exactly is better for a rotary? will sustained speeds on the highway hurt the car/engine? when the road is open i usually cruise anywhere from 70-80 mph in 5th gear.. again is this bad?

thanks guys

-Markus

"Son.. do you know why i stopped you" Because i was going 80mph in a red sports car"

Driv300mph

I don't know why it would be... Only a stupid car company would make a car that didn't run well on the highway.... if anything, I would think it would be good because you are keeping your RPMs up, constantly burning fuel and lubing up everything... that's just my thoughts though.

WookeysRX7

its better for you car to be on the highway then stop and go traffic. If you think about it the more stoping and going you do its more wear and tear but if you are constantly going then its not as much rpm differences and so on... get it?

WookeysRX7

its better for you car to be on the highway then stop and go traffic. If you think about it the more stoping and going you do its more wear and tear but if you are constantly going then its not as much rpm differences and so on... get it?

ilike2eatricers

I am pretty sure that highway mileage is not bad but I would think that city driving would not be too detrimental to the engine because only in city driving can you vary the rpm range that you are running at which I think would be good for a rotary.

ilike2eatricers

of course city driving does put more strain onto the engine but I dont think it is necessarily bad... just not as good as highway.

opelbits

iTrader: (5)

Highway driving is good. City driving is 'stop and go' and leads to more carbon build up. If you do alot of city driving (don't be fooled either, 10-30mph taffic jams on the freeway count), you need to get the car out and hit some back roads once a week or so to clean it out. Not necessarily to redline it, but some 'spirited' driving.

My car always runs better after one of those drives. 30 minutes or so does just fine.

RylAssassin

Highway miles are better for most cars in general not just for rotaries. When a car is driving on the highway it has less stress on the engine becuase of one constant rpm and speed for the most part. The engine is also cooling very efficiantly on the highway. During city driving the engine is put into more stress because of the stop and go style driving, which is a lot harder on any engine. The real proof lies in the gas milage though. During highway driving you get better gas milage because of less stress and you use more gas in the city because of the added stress on the engine.
High milage on any car is bad but if your gonna have high miles its better to have highway miles than city miles.

rotary>piston

highway miles are the best kind for a car. You only really need that variation in rpm when breaking an engine in, otherwise highway is very good for a car. My car has high mileage (150k), but 125k of those miles are highway. The car has had 3 owners (including me). The first lived in town, he drove it for 3500 miles, then the second drove it 150 miles each day on the highway to get to work until 143k, then me. I guess my car has had the perfect life.

dole2000

the stop and go of city driving is hard on any car.
Keeping the engine at a consistent operating temp. in the city on a hot day will break down any car. Let alone one that is 17 years old.

version13

I talked to a friend of mine who also does mechanic and in fact, the highway is much better for your car, especially on a rotary. In fact, i talked to some rotary mechnanics and they suggest that i take my car on a good long road trip every once in a while

cbrock

iTrader: (1)

The real reason for the gas mileage increase is speed vs rpm and load. Think about it, once you get up to speed, it takes very little power to stay at that speed. Add in the fact that now you're going 70mph at the same rpm that you could be going 45mph in a different gear. Plus you don't have to regain your momentum all the time like you do in city driving.

BLKTOPTRVL

The only time I could see Highway Mileage being detrimental to your car is if you were trying to push high speed (? > 120 MPH?) all the time. Other than that, your car is never working as hard on the highway is it is on the streets. It gets max cooling, even and steady RPMs, and not too much work for the suspension.

What's not to love!

opelbits

iTrader: (5)

The other thing about highway miles is that driving at a sustained speed and rpm for a long period of time, is that it dries everything out. Short runs heat the car up. When you drive in the city and for short periods of time everything gets warm/hot. Then you shut it off and it cools. As it does so, condensation forms, in the exhaust system and inside the motor. This is why so many exhaust systems seem to be good but fall apart all of a sudden, they rust from the inside out. The condensation inside the motor also collects and drains into the oil pan (I'm speaking generically, not just rotaries, so there may be a few technical differences). This means moisture in your oil, not good for your engine internals. A good long drive, 30 minutes/once a week is enough to get everything hot enough to get rid of the moisture.

If it rains or snows where you live, the same stuff applies to the body of the car as well. My car was driven 6-8 miles each way on a commute to work by the previous owner. This is not long enough to dry out the body of the car after rain/carwash/snow has gotten into it. So everynight it was parked in a garage while 'wet'. She went through two exhaust systems (cats included), one motor, and brake calipers in 81,000 miles. All of these things are susceptible to failure with short commute driving only. The two things that help prevent this stuff are heat (for a length of time) and air circulation to remove moisture.

And if you have four piston calipers, you need to use them vigorously to keep them freed up. The four piston calipers use require less movement of the pistons to do the same job as the single piston. Less movement=more likelihood of seizure.