I bike to work for the same reason. 1.5 miles is not that far away and it'll probably take you just 5 minutes of biking to get there. 1.5 miles is very brutal and it's just asking for condensation to stick around in the engine.

 

Would and engine oil heater on a timer solve the problem?

 

This. I live 1.5 miles away in the city and bike. Her car is an ML320 and is predominately driven in the city. Noticed some residue around the oil cap and after looking around it seems like a common issue for cars which have frequent short trips. After finding this out the coffee on the way to work 'I can take you this morning' trips became less frequent. No way I'd drive the Honda every day for 1.4 miles.

 

Either the S is so fun to drive you want to drive it every day, all the time, in which case solution is find a long way to get to work, or its not, in which case get a beater.

You could do both. On nice days when you have time, take the S and go long way. Other days take the beater.

Its OK to drive the S straight to work, the short way, so long as you don't do it too regularly and take a longer drive soon after. Note that 1.5 miles is not long enough to fully warm up engine, even in summer, despite what coolant temp gauge shows. Coolant might be warm, but is oil? Is the whole block? Its not.

So this isn't just a winter temps issue. You need to apply your solution year 'round (though yes, more so in colder weather).

 

I agree with everyone else about not using a car at all. Its such a short distance, I'd consider walking, a bicycle, or maybe even a 50 cc scooter, and only consider driving when its raining or excessively hot.

 

how your commute is setup makes all the difference on how you get there.. when I worked in Germany, I of course enjoyed driving to work.. I got to autobahn every morning... flat out.. ok.. well.. in the morning.. I would see this one guy who lived round where I lived and worked in my building, and he rode his bike.. and.. no matter how I took my morning traffic cruise, his bicycle would beat me... one time, when my car was AGAIN in the shop, I took our bus route.. it even seemed to get there quicker then I was driving... and I began to see this guy along the bus route.. everywhere we stopped for however long, his bicycle was permitted to continue.. and I watched how he beat me to work.. so, I bought a bicycle.. I lost two pant sizes over the next year, I was never that large in the first place... but I do miss that commute...

 

Try that in most places people work in the US, office buildings in the suburbs, and see how long you live. You'll be really healthy, right up to the point where you get run over by a coffee drinking, makeup applying, texting, speeding clueless commuter or a distracted soccer mom in a minivan or Volvo.

The US is not setup for public nor alternate transportation. Bus and trains take way longer than driving, and little way to get from home to stop and stop to work.

 

You could have just said "American" and everyone would have come to the same picture lol

 

Then again, it raises another issue. How to keep the car from excess wear on startup --- if you are not driving it on a regular basis? I know, I know... this is breaching OCD territory. But, inquiring minds need to know!

 

You don't have to drive the car on a regular basis. Driving it on the weekend is enough to get the oil around the engine. There will still be a film of oil on the internal parts.

I have more fun biking than I do driving my S2000 to work because I get to move at a steady pace. Driving is just stop and go (for me), and that's not something the S was made for. I suppose it's like buying a high-end computer just to play solitaire.