[Americans Have No Idea How Much Fuel Idling Uses] (Viewer #779,731)
Back when cars got 12 mpg and had carburetors and more than 4 cylinders, the rule of thumb was closer to a minute.
These days I shut it off as soon as the car’s in park.
If not sooner.
Unless I need the AC
But If I Turn It Off, the Globe Won’t Warm and I’ll Be Snowed in Again This Winter! My feelings exactly!! Here I live in Alaska and it’s the middle of September and I’m still wearing a short sleeve T-shirt. Love me some global warming.
They didn’t account for:
the additional cost of the upgraded starter, battery, cooling system, and electrical system.
the MPG penalty for carrying around the extra weight associated with the above.
the fact that instead of the starters no longer failing in people’s garages or parking lots, the starters will now fail in traffic (probably in the left turn lane during rush hour).
You last point especially.
Old habits like Sears, Die Hard. Having had a long line of beater cars, I’d rather burn a little more gas idling than risk battery or starter failure in traffic.
Gas can be replaced so much more easily than a battery or starter.
There are about 3785 CCs in a gallon. 0.175 CCs per second is a gallon in 6 hours. The time and money this clown spent making this video is probably worth more than all the money he could save in gas over his lifetime by shutting his car off at stoplights.