Quoth Pagan
View Post
But you have to remember the vast differences, technically speaking, between that vintage tin and modern cars. The majority of cars of the early 1970s were large, heavy, and had carbureted V8 engines. Even the 'economy' models had six-cylinder engines.
Modern engines are fuel injected, computer-managed, and far more efficient, and the techniques that worked for the old land barges aren't necessarily the best for modern vehicles.
Hypermilers (people obsessed with fuel economy) claim that it's different than it was - that it IS now more fuel-efficient to shut the engine off if you plan to let it idle more than a minute or so. The key word there being 'plan'. For instance, if you're stuck at a particularly long traffic light, or if, like the OP, you are idling the engine for heat. Obviously, there are other concerns as well - and rush hour is annoying enough without fiddling with the ignition switch, yeah?
Comment