Short Journeys and battery life - Page 1 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

Hi! I have a VERY short 2mile commute and this, twice a day, 5 days a week, with maybe a stop at Tesco a couple of nights, unsurprisingly seems to be draining my battery and I can hear the car starting to struggle to start. I have an easy 10mile round journey I can whizz round to top up - my question is: How many times(a week) do you think I need to do this relative to the number of short journeys I'm doing? Is once enough per the 10 journeys or twice?.... Thnx in advance Fi (2005 - 3.2 BoxsterS)

Twice a day.

Seriously!??! Or did you mean week?

There is a train of thought that if your routine daily commute is 2 miles of boring road each way, get a small hatchback and savour the Porsche at the weekend. Otherwise, if you have a private driveway get a battery conditioner or solar powered charger.

Hififi said: Hi! I have a VERY short 2mile commute and this, twice a day, 5 days a week, with maybe a stop at Tesco a couple of nights, unsurprisingly seems to be draining my battery and I can hear the car starting to struggle to start. I have an easy 10mile round journey I can whizz round to top up - my question is: How many times(a week) do you think I need to do this relative to the number of short journeys I'm doing? Is once enough per the 10 journeys or twice?.... Thnx in advance Fi (2005 - 3.2 BoxsterS) It would make much more sense to plug in a CTEK trickle charger overnight than try and top up by driving the car unnecessarily.

Meh :-( NoOo! just got rid of the boring hatch back! I go to gym 3 nights, guess I'll do the extra loop those nights on way home when roads are abit quieter.

Really, twice a day. The battery is an obvious sign, but what about inside the engine? Short trips like two miles aren't good for the poor car. If you don't want to compromise your routine, then aim to get in some longer trips every week or two. Something where the engine gets thoroughly hot and stays that way for a while.

ok, thanks everyone. Trickle charger not an option as not on own drive. Guess run outs to Brighton at w/e's are in order :-)

My theory is that your battery is shagged. How old is it? Buy a new one. Bert

sidicks said: It would make much more sense to plug in a CTEK trickle charger overnight than try and top up by driving the car unnecessarily. Not really, because then the car would only be driven for short commutes with the engine cold. I'd say walk or get a bike. Or drive a longer route.

Hififi said: Hi! I have a VERY short 2mile commute and this, twice a day, 5 days a week, with maybe a stop at Tesco a couple of nights, unsurprisingly seems to be draining my battery and I can hear the car starting to struggle to start. The ONLY cars that can do that short a commute without being detrimental to the engine/gearbox are electric! Most engine wear/damage occurs within the first 10 mins of any journey from cold. Yours is never getting up to temperature and will wear out much quicker than another with a 10-15 mile commute with the same miles on it! Get a bike and stop being lazy, or catch the bus... Save the pork for some proper drives at the weekend!

Jim1556 said: The ONLY cars that can do that short a commute without being detrimental to the engine/gearbox are electric! Most engine wear/damage occurs within the first 10 mins of any journey from cold. Yours is never getting up to temperature and will wear out much quicker than another with a 10-15 mile commute with the same miles on it! Get a bike and stop being lazy, or catch the bus... Save the pork for some proper drives at the weekend! It's not like any additional distance driven will magically repair the 'damage' done in the first 10 minutes. Fair enough if you're comparing a car with 50,000 miles that has done 50,000 1 mile journeys the starter motor will have had more wear than a car that has done 1000x 50 mile journeys but how could he do the same milage with a commute that's 5-8 times longer? Just use the Porsche for your commute and enjoy it, I use mine for the station every day - 10x 1 mile journeys per week, I asked on here and was told it would be the end of civilisation as we knew it but so far no adverse effects or problems starting or with the battery after 3 months... you've probably got a duff battery. Just make sure it gets a proper blast once a week or so to blow out cobwebs and dry out any moisture in exhaust. Also ignore those saying walk, go on a bike, I got the same too, it's your life and if you want to drive then you bloody well drive!