40k on the odo.
I stopped driving a lot and don't drive to work anymore so most of my journeys are 1.5-10 miles to the grocery store, train station, mall, parent's house, church, airport, etc. Yes I live close to everything except work hahaha. There is a hill everywhere I go.
I had this same driving habit a couple years after buying the car and do not remember getting under 30 MPG (0 freeway). Freeway only was around 40mpg when I used to drive 300 mi a week. I have not had a chance to do long freeway trips by myself in a while to know if freeway only is affected as well. I think I was getting around 28 a short while ago but right now I'm getting around 25.8 MPG (0 freeway). I feel like it's getting worse over time. Got an alignment recently because my driver side front was wearing on the inside real bad and the car was starting to drift a little. They told me the rear axle is bent and not adjustable. The car was tracking real straight after. Looking at the report, it doesn't seem very bent only off by less than 0.25 degree if I remember correctly. Not worth paying $2k to fix IMO. 2 tires were replaced for 2 separate incidents involving a pothole. The other two are still OEM tires with tread LOL.

The filter is 2 years old and looks brand new white and translucent minus a few bugs.
There was a recall notice about fuel injectors several months ago but replacement is only for those who exhibit issues (not sure what that could be) I'm kind of afraid since I don't drive much I'll be liable for a big bill in the future if it affects me.
Tire pressure is all 32-33psi

What other things should I be checking or is 25 mpg normal for 0 freeway? Back when I was driving a lot I would still get 38-40mpg in city freeway traffic creeping at idle for 20 min or so.

 

Considering it's all stop and go in colder temps. I'd say it's reasonable.

 

How long between oil changes? Do you use the recommended 0W20 synthetic?
For short trips in cold weather it's really hard to comment. Your results might be reasonable. If the weather warms up a bit you might want to try a highway trip and see what you get for comparison.

 

During the height of the pandemic when our very limited driving consisted of short (maybe 5 miles each way across town) trips to the grocery store, my mileage dropped as well (upper 30s to lower 30s), especially during the winter (cold temperatures, winter gas). I started blocking my radiator for short trips (and some longer trips on the highway) during cold weather, which allowed the car to warm up fully, made the heater work a lot faster, and improved fuel efficiency a bit.

Note: I have an Ultragauge to monitor coolant temperature and wouldn't try this "blind."

More generally, idling the car, stop-and-go conditions, cold temperatures, winter gas, and overdue maintenance can all lower fuel efficiency. If you add in lots of hills it will drop further. If you're really concerned the obvious test is to fill the tank, go for a 100+ mile highway drive, fill again, and calculate your best-case fuel efficiency to compare with historic trends.

 

Does blocking the radiator make a difference? I thought that the thermostat wouldn't open and the water pump wouldn't start until the engine reached operating temperature.

I would suggest driving the car until it warms up, resetting the mileage meter and seeing what mileage you get for a trip. Then resetting again and driving on the highway.

 

Probably depends on the temperature. Once it gets cold enough it definitely helps. Note that blocking the radiator also acts like a grill block, so you're cutting down on cold air blowing through the radiator plus cold air blowing around the engine which helps the engine warm up more quickly.

For my short pandemic winter driving, without the radiator block the car was just reaching operating temperature when I got to the grocery store and shut it off. Not great. With the block it warmed up much more quickly, leading to better heat in the cabin and better fuel efficiency. If you have the ability to monitor your coolant temperature it's an easy experiment and you can try for yourself.

 

It certainly does.
I had an 84 Rabbit with a vinyl "winter front" that would snap into place.
Made a huge difference in cold temps (both for the engine and the interior heat).

 

Blocking the radiator with a sheet of cardboard in the winter used to be popular when I was a young squirt back in the 60's. In those days the fans were on a belt run off the engine and thus constantly turning, constantly blowing cold air through the radiator. I believe I did this myself on one of my cars - but - I cut a hole in the cardboard to allow some air through and reduce the chance of the radiator overheating and boiling over. Many cars had coolant temp gauges which helped monitor the situation. I'm not sure I see any big advantage in a modern car with computer controlled electric motor fans.

 

40s and 50s, really not that cold. 27-28mpg back in summer 80s. Like I said before, I've had similar driving habits in the past over a couple years and don't remember the MPG being under 30 let alone hitting 25.8. I would have noticed. Are they watering down the fuel? hahaha

 

Winter blend gasoline has a higher RVP which means it evaporates more and allows gasoline to ignite more easily to start your vehicle during cold temperatures.