Driving the Civic Si in cold weather

amirza786

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I have a 2018 Civic Si with about 6,500 miles on it. I live in San Jose, California where the weather is very mild all year round. I got the car in June, so have been driving it all summer, where the temperature has been varying between mid 70's to the high 90's. Now that it is October, the mornings temps have dropped to about 48 to 55 degrees F. That last two mornings the temps were about 48 degrees F with moisture on the Windows and I had to use the defroster. I also noticed the last two days that performance seemed to be off, I have to go down harder on the gas and rev it higher than usual. Of course I only do this after it is properly warmed up. Also shifting into 2nd and 4th gears seemed more notchy than usual. Later in the day when I left work, the temp was about 75 F, and the car performed as usual.

This morning was warmer with no moisture in the air, around 55 degrees F, and the car performed well. It delivered smooth power, even while not fully warmed up. I also have a 2006 Toyota Camry SE, I never had this issue with it and it drives the same no matter what the outside temp is.

So what I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same thing, or is it just me?
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I live in Canada where i gets really cold. The shifter definetly feels more notchy when it's cold. It feels better once everything gets warmed up. For the power I haven't really noticed too much of a difference. But I usually take it easy when it's cold. Maybe it's the humidity. It's always really dry where I live.
 

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I have a 2018 Civic Si with about 6,500 miles on it. I live in San Jose, California where the weather is very mild all year round. I got the car in June, so have been driving it all summer, where the temperature has been varying between mid 70's to the high 90's. Now that it is October, the mornings temps have dropped to about 48 to 55 degrees F. That last two mornings the temps were about 48 degrees F with moisture on the Windows and I had to use the defroster. I also noticed the last two days that performance seemed to be off, I have to go down harder on the gas and rev it higher than usual. Of course I only do this after it is properly warmed up. Also shifting into 2nd and 4th gears seemed more notchy than usual. Later in the day when I left work, the temp was about 75 F, and the car performed as usual.

This morning was warmer with no moisture in the air, around 55 degrees F, and the car performed well. It delivered smooth power, even while not fully warmed up. I also have a 2006 Toyota Camry SE, I never had this issue with it and it drives the same no matter what the outside temp is.

So what I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same thing, or is it just me?

That’s cold weather? LMAO
 
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amirza786

amirza786

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That’s cold weather? LMAO
Hey, it's all relative! For a Californian, if it gets below 65 degrees F, winter has arrived!
 


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amirza786

amirza786

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Was 29F when I left the house this morning, solid layer of frost on everything. Took a couple minutes to get the windscreen defogged enough to see through. Overall the car drove great as per usual. Usually the colder the better with these things. Warmed up quickly and the heated seats were lovely. I do miss the heated steering wheel of my GMC though. :)
 

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Reality for the OP is that you haven’t driven your car in cold weather so don’t worry about it.
 


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amirza786

amirza786

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Reality for the OP is that you haven’t driven your car in cold weather so don’t worry about it.
I don't know wether to take that as a compliment or insult... :)
 

BIGBLUESI

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One good thing about cold weather is the air is more dense in your car should have a little bit more power due to more air getting into the combustion chamber. The shifting I don’t have a clue about. As far as the cold weather that’s why we have intercoolers on our cars to cool the compressed air that heats up when it is compressed and the intercooler cools it all. So naturally having a cold air temperature helps get even more dense air into the engine . One downside with colder weather is the tires provide less grip. I noticed this the other day when it was 35°F and I got on my car a little bit and the traction control kicked in slightly while I was goosing it
 

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I don't know wether to take that as a compliment or insult... :)
Not an insult, just some playful banter lol (and some truthful stuff) -- I wouldn't consider anything above freezing (32f or 0c) to be cold. Cool, sure, at around 5c but cold is -10 to -20 and frigid is like -30 to -40. How a car behaves at those temps is much different than at 5-10c and until you hit -10 you shouldn't worry about temperature related stuff lol
 
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amirza786

amirza786

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Not an insult, just some playful banter lol (and some truthful stuff) -- I wouldn't consider anything above freezing (32f or 0c) to be cold. Cool, sure, at around 5c but cold is -10 to -20 and frigid is like -30 to -40. How a car behaves at those temps is much different than at 5-10c and until you hit -10 you shouldn't worry about temperature related stuff lol
I know, I was just playing with you! We Californians are spoiled. In So Cal (where I am originally from) you can go to the beach all year round and see girls in bikinis catching the sun
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