^ me too!

 

When it's -35 or above, I stop caring about fuel economy and want to walk into a warm car after freezing on my walk to the car.

However, I'd agree with that screenshot. The car does warm up faster while I'm driving it, just means I need to be in it while its cold haha.

 

as with the others once the high idle kicks down i go..i don't baby my car i run it hard all the time..have never had a issue

 

When it hits the -35 range I've been known to let it run the full 15 minutes of my remote start timer. More than once a day. The really cold weeks show my fuel economy into the 19l/100km range, which is about 12mpg for the Americans here. Horrible fuel economy is better than my face hurting while I drive the car.

 

While warming up the car for my own comfort in the winter seasons is nice, my main reason for warming up is for engine longevity. I am good on "piston slap" so I warm up the engine first and then drive 2-5 miles somewhat conservatively to warm up the transmission/diffs. I typically drive the car hard on most commutes. Few launches here and there, holding the gear for long periods, lots of redlining lol. Metals expand or contract when exposed to extreme temperature changes. In the extreme cold, your metals contract meaning the piston has now shrunk every so slightly and it doesn't create the perfect "sleeve" fit inside the cylinder. Instead, if you drive the car hard when it's extremely cold and the pistons haven't expanded back to their normal dimension, then the piston has room to "slap" inside of the cylinder wall. This isn't healthy, but most modern cars are not as affected by this as before. Tolerances get tighter and tighter with improved technology. Waiting for it to warm up so that the metal can expand back to its original state is best. Plus, using full synthetic oil is a big plus for extreme weather environments and in general for the overall condition of the mechanical parts. Tolerances in these motors are so precise. Ironically, HEAT is the #1 killer of engines lol. Asian cars warm up pretty fast anyway especially when compared to American cars. Not sure what it is about them Asian cars lol, but they get up to operating temp fast and stay there with little fluctuation, unlike my experience with American cars that take long times to warm up and temps fluctuate a lot depending on the outside temperature.

My remote start is set to timeout after 5 minutes in case I don't get into the car within that time limit.

In the summer time, you can pretty much just GO!! 30 second warm up is plenty to get fluids at operating temp.

 

I warm mine for about 3-4 min in winter (40 deg average here) summer about 1-3 min. You won't hurt anything letting it warm up.

 

When it has been out all day and I come out of work at night, I let it idle til it drops to 1000 rpm and then drive it. When it is in the garage, I start the car, open my gate and drive through my 100ft driveway, after that it is warm enough to get on the road. I might be easy for the first couple of minutes on the freeway.

 

Because some people have more experience than others and would like to share that experience. People seek advice from each others' experiences not from their expertise.

Anyway, for the OP, I suggest warming your car up to normal operating temperature before driving it. Based on my experience, my remote start car did not have a single engine problem, until I sold it @ 135K miles. That's why almost all car companies offer engine warmers... This is just an advice, you still have the choice to do your liking...

 

Related - if it's really cold, use synthetic oil. It's not as thick as traditional oil in very cold temps. Or so they say. I've never does a pour test at 10 degrees....

 

Bahahaha!! Why do people mod their cars to improve what auto engineers built?
My experience here, my first car (truck) is now 23 years old, 215k miles, rusted all to hell, but still runs like a champ. I had a remote start put in when it was new, and i always warmed it up.
The analogy I use is, it's like dropping an ice cube into hot water....It cracks. Your engine being the ice, and the exploding fuel is the water.

 

I have one of those obd2 bluetooth dongles in my car, so when I get in, my phone connects to the ecu and gives all the readings. I set up a gauge for idle revs, VVT oil temp (as good as you can get for oil temp since thee is no sensor for it), and transmission temperature. I set up a green zone, once all 3 get into green I know Im good to go. At least on very cold days this is the procedure lol. (usually about 30 seconds to 1 min) Then I just drive slowly for the first few minutes. This differs day to day as one day we can have 0-5 degrees, and the next day it will be 45-50 degrees (got to love Toronto lake climate)

 

That's why you drive lightly... let it run for a minute or two and drive conservatively. Letting the car idle for 10 minutes is absurd and unnecessary, unless you live in Canada where temps are always below freezing.

 

Letting the car idle for 10 minutes is no harder on the engine than letting it idle for 2 minutes then take it easy for 8 minutes.

My opinion on warming the car is not so much warming it for the car's sake but warming it for MY sake. Getting in a cold car and driving is uncomfortable and makes for distracted driving scenarios.

 

I usually just wait until the the RPMs are idling at a consistent rate (which is usually no more than 30 seconds). After that just drive the car nice and slow until it warms up even more. Don't go speed racing right out of the driveway lol

 

I was thinking about why I prefer the long warm up. Back in my high school auto mechanic class, like 1992, the teacher showed us an engine with severe ring ridge. Told us the best way to prevent it was warming the engine. I was just looking around the web for info on that, can't find any. Not sure if that rule still applies today.