99% of people I see at school (or anywhere, actually) just hop into their cars and drive away. Am I the only one who warms up his car, or is everyone else an idiot?

 

i let my coolant get to at least 50'c before I go anywhere.

 

I warm up my car only in the morning, but sometimes in the afternoon if the car's been sitting for a while. But most of the time it's semi warm because i drive it a lot...

 

oh yeah, I warm my car every time it sits for more than 2 hours. I didnt warm it up once and it felt really rough when i took it to 5krpm in first gear, from there on I'm always warming it up to the point where my girlfriend starts walking and telling me she'll wait for me at the corner.

 

Depends on what you mean by "warm up". Coolant/water or oil?

Personally, I think that if the car has been sitting all night in the cold, let it warm up until the coolant temp needle hits near the "C". Then just drive it. This might take anywhere from 5-10 minutes. I don't think it's always even necessary.

Coolant temp will warm up long before oil. It usually takes at least 10-15 minutes of city driving to warm up oil temp. This is most important. Drive conservatively (below 4K, etc) until oil temp is warmed up. You can usually "feel" this in the car because everything will be smoother. But personally I just use my oil temp gauge and wait until it's 65-70' celcius. This is very important.

 

I used to not warm it up..But lately I have been..Its too cold out. Isnt there a rev limit on a cold car at 5krpm? I think I heard it here before, the car wont rev over 5k if the car is cold.

 

it doesnt get below 70F here. I let the engine cycle for about 30-60 secs before I start moving just to get the fluids circulated well. by then, its plenty hot for me

 

I don't think it's necessary to warm up a car for more than 30 seconds or so.

But, it is important to take it easy for a few minutes till it gets to normal operating temperature. You definitely want to avoid hard acceleration with a cold engine.

IIRC, before the oil is circulating, you have metal against metal wear occuring.

 

well i usually let the oil circulate for at least a minute or two if its warm out. if its cold, i do the same but when i start to drive i usually keep it under 3k until the car's warmed up.

 

I let my car warm up in the morning or when it has been sitting for awhile. I usually wait until my coolent temp. needle starts to move.

 

This is exactly what I do. I notice it doesn't shift as well if it's a cold start with no warm up. There's even a different tone in the exhaust.

 

you have to warm up the car like you would a woman ,after that "action time"

 

I let it idle for like 30 seconds & don't get on the boost till the needle has gone well past the bottom marker.

 

It takes longer than just a few minutes for the engine oil to reach operating temp. It takes a good 10-15 minutes of solid driving if the car has been sitting for more than 4-5 hours. Of course, temperature comes into play here. Oil temp gauges are worthy investments IMHO.

 

thats what remote start is for...lol