get some form of engine warmer that you can leave plugged in at night to keep your engine warm, that way when you start it up your engine doesn't have to go thru the unefficient warm up phase, you can get as little as 4 miles per gallon while an engine is cold! only works for ppl with a garage, but it does help!

 

Why only with a garage? Doest it warm up someones car thats sitting outside just as much?

 

lol, what about the electricity costs to warm it up?

Mommy and Daddy can't pay forever.

 

You mean like this one?

Doesn't help. Shouldn't say that - I'm sure it helps a bit, but not enough to notice.

S

 

where else are you going to plug it in if not in the garage?

you want an actual engine block heater, not a blower that sits under your car and blows warm air into the engine compartment. it costs electricity to warm it, but they're low wattage and power is probably cheaper than gasoline right now.

 

You could also drive a more economical car, car pool, take the bus/train, walk, or bike. One or two miles extra per gallon is not that much.

 

or you could just get in and start driving immediately. the car is at normal operating temperature within a mile or two, especially now that its hot out. that'll get you through the warmup phase quickly and safely, and you don't have to worry about dealing with the heater.

 

^that is what i do. I start the car and just drive. Not hard, but enough taht it warms up quicker. and well.. i doubt this heater even makes much of a difference.

 

Mine seems to do it quicker than that. I turn it on and it warms up for about 30 seconds. By the time I've backed out of hte driveway and made it to the top of the road to pull out, it it is pretty darn near at the same temperature position as if I had been driving it a long time. This is like 1/8 of a mile.

 

i just start the car up and as soon as the revs get to normal (just under 1k) that is about 20-30 secs in the current temps were getting in FL. Then i drive easy till the car has been running about 5-10 mins.....after that, i give it hell or drive normal, whatever my mood and traffic permits.

A good engine block heater that will keep the coolant temps up over 120* could help warmup a bit, but thats not keeping the 4qts of oil in the oil coolers and lines warm.

Its also not warming up the o2 sensors or any of the other emission equiptment.