OK My grandpa insists that short drives are really bad for the car.

He tells me it's bad for the car just to drive short distances!? Is this true?

And why would it be bad? What does it affect?

Because during the week I just drive like 1 minute maybe. But on the weekends i drive alot.

 

Should i like go drive for 10 minutes before i go around the corner?

 

i cant see it really hurting anything especailly in a warm climate

 

As long as you drive on those weekends to heat up the oil and burn off moisture. Also to move some of the gas out of the tank and to replace with fresh gas. Again moisture there.

 

Even so...its not BAD for the car, it just may not run as smoothly. Doesn't do any actual harm to the engine.

 

The Manual recommends combining trips, in order to reduce STOP and GO driving.

which is just ADDED wear and tear.

 

Well, even in warm climates, the engine will never heat up to normal opperating temperature in only a minute. I know of this lady that drives like that and she gets a new muffler every year . She's got the Meineke lifetime muffler though, so I'm sure they love her . But since you drive on the weekends, I think it's fine. Just don't drive it hard cause the engine and tranny are still not warmed up.

Why don't you walk? A minute of driving is like 5 blocks

 

I always thought it fux up the electrical system?(battery)

Also he says there is no difference in wear between stop and go and highway miles. LOL I dunno where he gets his info from. He told me stop and go and highway makes absolutley no difference. He said everyone just thinks highway is better.

 

Highway is better. It takes hardly any engine power to drive highway and your transmision stays in one gear. But it all comes down to how you maintain your car. If you do a lot of stop and go, do maintanance sooner.

As for the electrical, I don't know. I'm guess your alternator just works harder and your batter gets drained often from constant starts, without getting enough time to recharge.

 

Walk, you lazy ass. Sheesh.

 

LOL I'm nothing close to lazy I workout 1hr everyday, and run about 8-10 miles a week.

Isn't it bad to leave the car sitting a full week? Thats why i drive it!

 

This kind of driving won't hurt the car at all. Being that you have an optima, I wouldn't worry about damaging your electrical system, being that that battery can handle all kinds of abuse.

 

I thought that was only the Red Top...

 

Err i mean Yellow top...

 

they are basically same type of battery one just has higher cold crank amps. and different amperage or whatever it is called.

 

Dry battery's take abuse way better than an conventional battery. The redtop is efficient enough to go through abuse. My friend ran his car for 3 days on his redtop before he realized that the alternator belt came off.

 

OMFG! That's freakin hilarious. 3 days is freakin crazy. it was running all the electrical shit in there? that's kinda hard to believe, but was he just driving a blok or two a day or something?

 

About 10-15 miles per day, he has no a/c but was using headlights, radio ect.

 

damn! I didn't know they were that good. Might have to invest un one of those.