I live in NY and it gets rather cold here. I wanted to know what is the normal amount of time you should let your car warm up before driving off ? I was told you should never just jump in a car and drive off in the winter months. Does anyone have any advice on this issue?

 

well, the lastest study says that letting your car idle for more than three minutes is waste of gas and bad for the engine. The best way to warm up you car is to drive at a moderate pace. You know, none of those speed demon starts or full throttle Jeff Gordan manuvers with a dead cold engine.
But some people do it just to get the inside of the car warm. Think about when you're late or in a hurry, most people just hop in whether cold or not and drive off without thinking twice about it.

 

Although it is not advised you warm your car for over 3 minutes, I have found that one or two minutes of warm up prior to driving in very cold weather allows the car to perform better than just jumping in and driving slow for the first few miles. Also, when you are allowing your car to warm up keep the radio, lights, bun warmers, and climate control off!

 

You should service your engine more frequently if you let it idle a lot. It's very hard on the engine and may void the warranty depending on individual circumstances. Modern engines don't need a warm up period. You just drive them moderately for the first few miles. The only reason to warm it up is for your own comfort. You pay a price in premature engine wear.

 

thanks for the insight!

 

When I start the ML it runs at a high rev for a minute or less, depending upon outside temp. Then the idle lowers and I figure the car is ready for action at this point. There must be some reason MB designed this in to the machine. Anyway, at the lower idle, the thunk isn't so pronounced when you put it into drive, so I figure waiting a short while for the lower idle must be better than driving away right after starting. Try it and time it. I'll bet it is less than a minute before the idle drops.

 

BlackWolf got it right.

1 point for that.

 

I used to warn up my cars for about 3 mintues before take off. But after read so many articles tell me not to. I stop doing it for about 5 years ago, and I also got lazy, too.