Is it Better to warm my car up before driving?

myversa

Is it better to warm my car up before driving in cold weather?

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i know -7 is consider warm to you guys, i was in alberta for 2 years and i remember there was one winter with -46 (1995 winter?!)

but u have a lease car and i dun think you plan to keep it anyways, who cares? but i haven't driven some lease vehicle and it feels like POS after about 1.5 years or 25k or so...i wouldn't want to lease it for another 1 year or 2 or 3 lor...paying all those money monthly yet i am driving a POS...

actually a lot of car during cold start rpm will be about 1500rpm or so, u can hear engine more noisy and as long as u can wait over that period until rpm dropped under 1000, that's almost the min i would wait...

oil change every 3k is a little bit excessive for most ppl (i do mine every 3000km if no track day, with track day will be about 1500km, and all my family's and close friend's vehicle every 4k; the longest interval i have ever recommend on a lease bmw is 8k...

true, $120/hr plus taxes and levy etc, shop supplies, usually about $140 an hour already...gosh...lucky i dun have to pay that...

Catpiano

-7都唔warm, thumbs up for you man!

-7 is consider "WARM" to us ...   LOL  

Well, of course, depends on how "RUSH"  ... rushing to work every morning ... vs going out for a joy ride on Sunday is different ...  as I said, in the summer, when I have time, just go for cruise, not in rush .. from start the car, then putting seat belt, sunglass, etc etc, I will do 30 sec  warming ...  I know eating breakfast is good ... but I skip it most the time ..

Last week .. when - 35 ..  I had to warm up the car a bit .. but I needed to do shovel anyway, and would take me 2-3 min to do it anyway.

Again, 1-2 min warming up, or changing oil every 3-4k, won't hurt the car ...  just like some people may brush their teeth twice a day, some may brush their teeth 5 times, or 10 times a day .. it probably won't hurt anyway.

By the way, not sure in Vancouver, but here, even asian/domestic brand ..  ~ $120/hr + taxes + fee .. European brand, ~ $130-140/hr + taxes + fee .. even labour cost in B.C. is lower then Alberta, should be within 10-20%

字典仔

Again...  maintenance cost in Canada is just high .. ~ $150/hr labour cost is just high ..

btw, speaking of labor rate, do u know why it's set so high? partially it's because of our tax system here, another reason is because selling new car ain't making much money, third is the overhead cost...

my friend's shop with around 10 staff (7 licensed bodyman + painter), needs over $100k a month to break even...they dun even have one apprentice, only the accountant and wash kid doesn't have license, not too sure about the assistant manager has license or not...i am sure quite a bit of ppl appreciate their work and is willing to pay their price (especially when icbc is paying for it)...but i am sure a lot of ppl would rather cheap price and where do all those boss save $? cut corners lor...

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61# shutterbug

我又唔明喇, 有d咩electrical problem令到架車要去junk yard, 真係要請教下...

如果架車真係good condition, 車舊左, 問題一定有, 不過如果大到要去junk yard, 我知咩車喇, HYBRID!!!

字典仔

CP: $150/ hour labor you have to be talking about dealership, and maybe some really high end car's dealership (most japanese or european should be $100 to $130 range here, i know some higher end dealership will charge like $150 or more, but that's kinda far from the general public...

even a brand new car, I personally don't think it's necessary to take it back to the dealer for service, so for older car you can ask anyone at the dealership, u rarely see them there at all!

for $5k to $8k, one can choose a reliable honda / toyota etc and he can also choose a luxury exotic like bmw 850i, u just have to pay to play, that's all...冇咩問題喎...食得咸魚抵得渴, 有冇人叫你去買, 買得就預左, 唔會真係咁天真以為整都係差唔多呀?

warm車係一個習慣 (我唔講係好定係唔好喇, subjective丫嘛), -7都唔warm, thumbs up for you man!

shutterbug

I think I'm not the "anal" type of car owner but a balanced type; do whatever it needs.  I've seen many cases that yes the owner put a lot of effort in oil change, etc but it turns out that the car had electrical problem after like 15 years and it had to go to the junk yard.  So all the money and effort you put in is a waste.  Yes, the engine still has lots of life in it but you can't use it.  At the end of the day, you're worse than a slightly more worn engine but with good electricals.  This is just a different case for discussion.  Today's engine can easily last longer than other components in your car given you follow the maint schedule.  With complicated electronics in our cars today, engine life will not be the bottleneck I think.

Catpiano

Again...  maintenance cost in Canada is just high .. ~ $150/hr labour cost is just high ..

Any 10 or 20 yr old car, (normal car) may only worth little money ..  ( HK is even worse ... a 15 yr old civic may still worth $3K cad here .. vs $3K HKD ..  due to even higher overhead cost)

Just the cost to keep an older car is too high ... I think we have a thread here, comparing some very old V12/V8 luxury ...  yes, may be $5-6K can buy those cars, and BLINK BLINK ..  but just some whatever service cost for those V12 ..can cost arm and leg. (ie: can buy a BMW 850i cheap, say $5-8K, and it looks nice, and sexy ...  but SUPER expensive ..  ) same as those old skyline ... cheap to buy, but costly to fix ..

Well, house is a different story ..  they worth more, and they last long .. most 30 year old houses, are better finished then newer one ..

Oh well, back to "WARM CAR" topic ..  since it is SO WARM here today, at MINUS 7 ... I didn't do any "warm car" at all this morning!

fibbi

Thank you for your info ar!!!  

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57# Catpiano

如果架車保養得好, 四十萬邊樹係問題? 只不過係好多人覺得架車舊左唔想比錢整?

應該係咁講, 渣新車既都話唔駛整, 架車舊左佢又邊會整?

好似我知道果d四十幾萬既, 真係有d保養得好到你會佩服佢既恆心! 好似我一個鬼佬朋友話我知, 佢買左架87年既二手車, 上手車主有齊所有既service record, 連幾時換過燈, 邊一粒; 補過邊條tire之類全部有, 好誇張....

some people are just very anal about their ride some people just choose not to give a d@mn sh!t...錫車同用車, 一睇就知