Do You Warm Up Your Car?
By orcanut
@orcanut (146)
Canada
February 21, 2007 12:03pm CST
I recently had a discussion with my husband about him warming up the car before he goes to work in the morning. He had mentioned that he gets gas twice a week in the winter compared to in the other seasons. I asked how much of that had to do with the fact that he let the car run for half an hour before he left for work. There was a story in the news recently about a family that had started their car, put their child in the car, then someone stole their car and the baby. The husband took off after them and all turned out ok except for a dented bumper, but it could have been much worse. Starting your car to prevent a cold butt is not worth the consequences! Does a car in the winter really take more gas? Even without letting it idle for a while in the morning?
2 people like this
3 responses
@SpitFire179 (2536)
• Canada
22 Feb 07
Cars generally do use more fuel in the winter than in the summer because it has to work harder to keep warm. Also, something i learned from my husband (Truck driver) is that if you don't warm up your vehicle for at least about 15 minutes before you take off, you can damnage the vehicle in some way, i don't know, he was talking about vehicles and i zoned out after damnage hahaha
Anyways, i know what you mean... it can be a bad thing, you can damnage the block or something like that, and yeah you can have it stollen or something, but i wouldn't recomend putting your kid in unless you were getting in too immediately after... some people don't seem to think, i guess that's the way it is... It's a good thing that the guy got the kid and the car back though... the guy who stole it didn't know what he was in for haha...
@SpitFire179 (2536)
• Canada
22 Feb 07
Hahaha, sorry.... i guess i'm a booklet of information.... sorry bout that, but at least you don't wreak the car right? ;) haha
2 people like this
@totalguy (563)
•
22 Feb 07
i am not sure if this discussion is about the car or the baby? i mean if its about the baby then who in their right mind would put their baby in a car and leave the car unatended? thats just stupid!
if its about the car, i only sit and idle mine if i need to clear the screens to see where i am going but i do drive slowly and dont rev the car up a lot when it is cold. a car will use more fuel in the winter it has to heat the engine and it is a lot colder than it would be in the summer plus cold air is dense and it will help a car's air intake perform better than it would with warm air. also in the case off a turbo intercooler with the coler air in the winter it will be cooling the intercooler more than it would in the summer thus supplying the turbo with cooler air and making it perform better and we all know performance means using more fuel.
sorry if i list you there lol i am technically minded in certain things
2 people like this
@totalguy (563)
•
22 Feb 07
to put it in simple terms you should only idle the car if you need to clear your screens to see out of them otherwise you should drive off straight away and drive slowly the car will warm up quicker when its on the move.
i hope you understand that now lol.
2 people like this
@orcanut (146)
• Canada
22 Feb 07
SEE?? Now why couldn't you just say that in the first place?? *S*
Oh, and p.s. If you've ever had a kid or if you ever do, it wouldn't seem so stupid to buckle the kid in, run back in the house for the rest of the things you need (diaper bag, purse, stroller, etc.) or if just getting home and your little one is asleep, it might make perfect sense to unload the groceries first and let the "sleeping dogs lie."
Sometimes that's the only break you get in the day! But yes, stupid to leave unattended but I'm sure the mom who started the van had just run back in the house for something and unfortunately, that split second was all that was needed for someone to jump in and take off.
1 person likes this
@huggiebear22 (2007)
• Canada
10 Mar 07
The whole time it is idleing it is burning fuel, it will use a bit more fuel in the winter untill it is warm but not that much more. 30 mins is a long time to let it warm up i would invest in using a block heater or sucking up buttercup and getting a cold rump for a bit.
