Does the Tiv run better in cold weather.
Discussion
Am I right in thinking that with the onset of cold weather coming my Tamora will run even better because the air is more dense. Maybe get a little bit more performance out of the Tamora.
I shall put this theory to the test this weekend
. It is supposed to be a good weekend weatherwise, so the Tamora top comes off and it is a case of give it some welly and let that JP sing its tune






I shall put this theory to the test this weekend
. It is supposed to be a good weekend weatherwise, so the Tamora top comes off and it is a case of give it some welly and let that JP sing its tune






By and large in the real world no. On a track you might and you might feel the extra performance. On the road you wont.
Not only that, but your car will take much longer to come upto a 50C+ oil temp, your gearbox will take longer to warm up and generally everything will feel crappier for longer. Not to mention you will probably have your air con on anyway and so negate any (and more) advantage from cold dense air!
Not only that, but your car will take much longer to come upto a 50C+ oil temp, your gearbox will take longer to warm up and generally everything will feel crappier for longer. Not to mention you will probably have your air con on anyway and so negate any (and more) advantage from cold dense air!
alt said:
I've had a Tamora for 4.76 years and have never noticed. I'd have said it's the other way around as it takes longer to warm-up and starts from even colder.
Isn't it just turbo cars that perform better in the cold/wet?
Isn't it just turbo cars that perform better in the cold/wet?
Turbo charged cars were noticably better, not sure with charge coolers and mordern technology thats still the case. Certainly our old TVR turbo loves cold damp mornings.

DJC said:
By and large in the real world no. On a track you might and you might feel the extra performance. On the road you wont.
have to disagree, every bike and car I have owned has always felt stronger, even when warmed up, thanks to cold winter air. Maybe its perceived but I can say 100% that on my bikes it always feels a lot lot stronger.
DJC said:
By and large in the real world no. On a track you might and you might feel the extra performance. On the road you wont.
Not only that, but your car will take much longer to come upto a 50C+ oil temp, your gearbox will take longer to warm up and generally everything will feel crappier for longer. Not to mention you will probably have your air con on anyway and so negate any (and more) advantage from cold dense air!
Not only that, but your car will take much longer to come upto a 50C+ oil temp, your gearbox will take longer to warm up and generally everything will feel crappier for longer. Not to mention you will probably have your air con on anyway and so negate any (and more) advantage from cold dense air!
How would you know that if you have never tracked a car!
Let me explain the chaps question, Does a car once warmed up perform better in cold weather
Answer YES cold air holds more oxygen..
Whether its noticable in a Nissan Micra, I doubt it
stigcv8 said:
DJC said:
By and large in the real world no. On a track you might and you might feel the extra performance. On the road you wont.
have to disagree, every bike and car I have owned has always felt stronger, even when warmed up, thanks to cold winter air. Maybe its perceived but I can say 100% that on my bikes it always feels a lot lot stronger.
Must say Ive never noticed the difference in any car Ive owned. In the Griffith and Sagaris though, performance to me has always been subjectively "adequate" and any difference in acceleration "times" has usually been down to my gear changes and how aggresively I deploy my right foot. I agree with you about perception, Id say the amount of difference the cold air makes in the end is down to your perception and driving style.
In theory any car should run better when cold as the air is more dense, ie/ it contains more water which in turn contains hydrogen, which for any one who has been in a zeplin will tell you, is extremely explosive, so you should get a better spark and more efficient burn of fuel. In reality if the car is taking longer to warm up and its a mini metro then would you noyice it, ???? What you may notice is increased MPG, but if the car feals like it is performning better then you may drive more enthusiatically and then it has the oposite effect.
J
Daftlad said:
alt said:
I've had a Tamora for 4.76 years and have never noticed. I'd have said it's the other way around as it takes longer to warm-up and starts from even colder.
Isn't it just turbo cars that perform better in the cold/wet?
Isn't it just turbo cars that perform better in the cold/wet?
Turbo charged cars were noticably better, not sure with charge coolers and mordern technology thats still the case. Certainly our old TVR turbo loves cold damp mornings.

Yep, my VX220 Turbo was noticeably quicker when the air was cold

Hilti said:
In theory any car should run better when cold as the air is more dense, ie/ it contains more water which in turn contains hydrogen, which for any one who has been in a zeplin will tell you, is extremely explosive, so you should get a better spark and more efficient burn of fuel. In reality if the car is taking longer to warm up and its a mini metro then would you noyice it, ???? What you may notice is increased MPG, but if the car feals like it is performning better then you may drive more enthusiatically and then it has the oposite effect.
J
Hmmm not quite Hilti :-)
The cold air is more dense - which means that, given that the volume of air sucked in during each intake stroke of the engine is pretty much fixed (assuming WOT of course), there is more air and therefore more oxygen in the mixture, which means more of the petrol vapour can be burnt, which means more power. Note this only works if there is more petrol available to burn - if the engine is already running lean, it is unlikely the colder, denser air will make any difference to power output as there is no extra petrol to burn. With proper closed loop control using a lambda sensor, it should make some difference, whether it is a noticeable difference is another point entirely....
The role that water vapour plays is quite different. If there is a lot of water vapour being sucked into the engine (eg when driving in fog) this can help to make the combustion process more complete - can't remember exactly why though - I think it is to do with fuel vapour condensing on the water droplets which helps to distribute the mixture more evenly in the combustion chamber, but I may be talking BS here - what I am sure about is that there is no chemical reaction involving the water - it is pretty stable stuff!!
Cheers
Jerry
Its more a combination of the air pressure and temp rather than one or the other. On a cold day with bugger all air pressure, you could be only generating slightly more power than a warmish day with high air pressure.
On a cold day with high pressure (like yesterday), the difference can be 6 or 7% vs a summer day with low air pressure.
On a cold day with high pressure (like yesterday), the difference can be 6 or 7% vs a summer day with low air pressure.
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. Oh well just have to make a longer detour until it warms up
.