Originally Posted by Trumpfan

I've found that the Tanis (oil pan heater) works quite well on cold soaked engines, oil will retain its warmer temp long enough to flow through the engine properly and protect from metal to metal contact --by that time the engine is running and the cold oil thing is moot.
Also there is the effect of having 5L+ litres of warm fluid in the bottom of the engine that will keep the engine several degrees warmer than ambient air around it.

I use 5w30 all year round in my cars(syn) I also use 5w40(syn) in my truck. Have a look at the chart in the owners manual 5w30 will be good for most of the temps you will encounter here in Canada.

Originally Posted by aestival

I think I'll be using 0w30 next winter -- apparently the spec is 5w30 year-round, so why not go one step lower for real cold? Should be at least as much benefit as warming the engine by a few degrees, and in a normal year here I would never need heating anyway (so the oil's easier as insurance than having extra hardware on the car that I may never need).