How bad is it if you don't let your car warm up? I always wait for it to get to temp before driving performance wise, but could the easy driving before cause serious problems? Any horror stories?

 

From what I understand that is the best way to do it - pretty sure that the manual states that you should not leave the car idling in the garage etc to warm it up but should instead drive straight off and take it easy for 5 or so minutes before

 

No horror stories but this is horrible for your engine. What happens is if you are hard on your engine before it warms up then the oil has not yet gotten to the level where it can provide an appropriate level of protection for your engine. This is especially important in our cars because at 9000RPM you really want your oil to be protecting your entire engine correctly. Also over time I have been told this will wear out your seals more since the engine is being reved before it is being properly warmed up and lubricated. In other words...go easy until you see three bars...

 

Everytime no matter what season it is for every cars I've own. If I park the car for longer than 6 hours, I'll warm it up before I drive it.

 

Should at least warm it up for 3 minutes if not more before driving. And start driving softly for the first couple miles. That's it!

 

For fuel injected motors, it is not recommended to leave the car idling to warm it up. It is recommended that you drive the car gently right after startup until it is up to normal operating temps.

 

I warm up for 1-3 minutes before driving.......

 

wait 1 minute for the oil to circulate and take it easy until it reaches three bars.

i remember seeing a thread about oil temp reaching optimal temp after 6 miles of driving. i'm going to have to search for that one.

 

30~60seconds

 

before three bars of temperature is a definite no no

-anu