Might be a silly question but here it goes. I currently daily drive my car and i drive a combined 14 miles to work. I will soon be moving further out and driving a combined 42 miles to work, but this will be all highway. My question is whether or not the extra miles will be bad for the car. Im not concerned about putting miles on the car, i love driving it everyday, and i never plan on selling it. I just want to be sure the the highway miles wont hurt anymore than the miles i had to drive on the street. BTW i dont plan to do this for too long, just long enough until i can get a second drive 60% of the time.

 

HW miles are less stress = better for the engine.

 

The vast majority of the wear on engines occur in the cold startup process. Once your lubrication is established and the engine/lubricants are warm the wear is absolutely minimal. If you would continuously drive an engine, at nearly constant speeds, without cool-downs and warm-ups, you could probably make that engine last a million miles.

So, the difference in wear between your two listed driving distance options should be negligable, assuming that the longer drive is all highway driving.

Albert

 

Yeah, you'll be fine. I drive mine 50+ miles each way daily. Luckily I carpool with someone, so I drive every other week.

 

The vast majority of the wear on engines occur in the cold startup process. Once your lubrication is established and the engine/lubricants are warm the wear is absolutely minimal. If you would continuously drive an engine, at nearly constant speeds, without cool-downs and warm-ups, you could probably make that engine last a million miles.

So, the difference in wear between your two listed driving distance options should be negligable, assuming that the longer drive is all highway driving.

Albert

EDIT: Sorry about clicking twice on the post. As long as I posted twice might as well add some more things:

During the warm-up and cool-down process the engine parts and all seals are expanding and contracting as well, which is the primary reason for seal aging and wear. Also, condensation/steam in a cold engine causes pressure problems that are eliminated once the engine is fully warm.

 

thanks a lot guys