Warming up the Car

It's cold outside and the windows are frosted, do you let your car warm up to clear the windows or do you scrape and go? Which is better for the car?

I set out to find the answer.  I remember the sites on hypermiling, that said anything over 10 minutes idle is wasting gas.  (No I don't turn off my engine at a traffic light- that's over kill in my book)  So I thought no, it must be no.... I googled and read some sites about this.  I even saw a segment on the local news about it....

The truth is that newer cars have a fuel injection that they don't need to warm up.  Where many years ago it was a good idea to warm the car for a few minutes in the cold to help the engine.  that why many of the warm up the car engine people are older.  (Sorry DAD.... but he did see the piece on the local news and said ok..... I don't need a warm up- and then had to tell me that!!)

Most cars don't need that extra couple of minutes to warm up to help the engine. We are talking cars that are 20 years or younger. the older, carbureted cars,a extended warm-up can damage the engine by diluting the oil with excess fuel. That is just wasting gas and Co2.........causing more air population! About the only time you need to warm up is when the weather is in the teens, you can wait a minute or two before driving......... 

But many people believe that warming up the car is faster than driving the car to warm it up... Not really the car get "warmer" faster driving.

But  yea we all have had that kinda night where the inside glass was frosted and you let it run a few minutes while you get the snow off your car......  come to think about it it was those nights it dropped in to the teens... the joy of working second shift!!  I do however watch people that don't want to have to scrap off their cars just sit in their cars to wait for the snow to get melted off by the window defogger...... that is wasting gas and can be damaging to the engine......