My father always told me that driving the hell out of a car was probably better than not driving it at all. The reasoning is simple: cars have fluids, seals – and these things simply deteriorate over time. Even gasoline.
Although gasoline deteriorates, the rate of deterioration is dependent on several factors. The most basic one is age: how old is it to begin with?
That fill-up at a low-volume gas station could have ingested a bunch of gasoline of dubious vintage. If your car is not run in a while, it is possible that the gas will deteriorate much quicker than you anticipated.
Other factors that influence the rate of deterioration in gasoline include the ambient temperature (colder gasoline lasts longer), the amount of ethanol (less is better), and the rate of evaporation.
Still, you car should be able to sit for a couple of months without any undue deterioration of the fuel, but keep in mind this old adage: “Your mileage may vary.”
For me, I will just keep finding occasions to drive the summer car in the winter.
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