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We have a car that only gets driven a handful of times per month. Does anyone know if the frequent downtime would be more harmful to a regular ICE, hybrid or EV and why?
Doesn't make a difference if you still use it that much, assuming parked inside and all that....
Long term most things can sit nearly forever, gas cars just need the fuel drained or cycled yearly to make sure it doesn't turn. However it's common to see cars sit for 2-4 years without that happening on newer cars, the other systems are sealed so the main risk you run letting them sit is seal failures but again not as common on newer cars.
EVs sitting will kill the battery over time no matter what you do, you can't put them in stasis for 10-30 years like a gas car. The reaction never fully stops, the coolant system is also a point of concern but that's the same situation and unlikely to leak/fail if it was new.
Hybrids do not like sitting, I had several cars have to have battery cell replacements post Covid when people started driving again. The smaller packs need to be kept charged via use to not flatline and cause issues, my MIL also has issue due to not driving much and she drives her car WAY more than some of mine get driven. However it's still not enough to keep the cell full since she only does short 4-7 mile trips.
Park a car outside and on an unsealed surface and almost anything will be dead in 5-10 years to some extent even if you use it a lot. Rust will take it and everything soft will degrade, seals will fail etc etc.
I have enough cars that sometimes stuff sits for a year, I've never had any issue with any car sitting and my current record would be my truck sitting for 2.8 years without issue other than I'm sure the battery would have died if I didn't have the master power switch off and a tender on it. No seals failed, no brakes stuck, nothing changed from before it was parked, didn't even have rust on the pulleys or anything else but it was parked in a temp controlled garage.
Right now my 4.0TT has been sitting since winter last year with only about 10 drives since I got my W12, I don't even have it on a tender and when I do take it out it get driven to full redline like crazy and 170mph+ once oil is hot. It doesn't care being stored at all.
My Jeep had sat for 10 months when I briefly lived at an apartment before I bought my house, it was outside as well and it didn't care at past needing 5 psi added to the tires.
That's really the largest factor. Where and how did you store it?
Last edited by Striker223; Oct 8, 2023 at 05:13 AM.
Thanks for this info. Fortunately, the car is garaged. However, the manual and Macan forum warn the batteries will quickly go dead without frequent use or using a tender. That' seems a lot of hassle. Hopefully my experience is similar to your A8!
Interesting to hear about the hybrids. Thanks again!!
Thanks for this info. Fortunately, the car is garaged. However, the manual and Macan forum warn the batteries will quickly go dead without frequent use or using a tender. That' seems a lot of hassle. Hopefully my experience is similar to your A8!
Interesting to hear about the hybrids. Thanks again!!
Yeah if it's a Porsche then you need a tender, I'm lucky in that my A8s go "cold" after progressively shutting down after two weeks. If I come back after that I need to put the key in the door or press unlock 3x to wake them up.
I left the 4.0 alone that way no problems but my Lexus cars always needed tenders or they ate the battery.
Yeah if it's a Porsche then you need a tender, I'm lucky in that my A8s go "cold" after progressively shutting down after two weeks. If I come back after that I need to put the key in the door or press unlock 3x to wake them up.
I left the 4.0 alone that way no problems but my Lexus cars always needed tenders or they ate the battery.
Sounds like an A8 is what we need! I was thinking a Lexus might be less fuss than our Macan, but I guess not.
It's certainly not optimal to drive the car so little, but I also don't envision my wife driving around with no purpose! I would swap with her once a week but she doesn't drive stick.
a few times a month is ok... just make sure that when it is used it's not only to go to the store like 5 min away and back
idk how important the car is to you, but ideally you want a nice 30+ min drive to get everything all warmed up and evaporate off any moisture that's built up in the oil pan... otherwise this could potentially happen:
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