I was reading my gf's 02 Jetta manual today and I saw something weird:

"Do not let your vehicle stand and warm up. When the engine is idling, it takes a very long time to warm up. Moreover, during warm up, engine and exhaust gases are very high. Therefore, be ready to drive off immediately after starting the engine and avoid high engine speeds."

This goes against anything I've ever heard. Isn't all the oil in the pan and its bad to drive off right away?

 

As far as I know you're soppoused to let the engine warm up just a little bit, like a minute or less, and then when you drive keep the engine under 3k RPMs. This will minimize wasted gas, and will warm the car up faster. There isn't really a point to starting a car 5 min before driving, unless you want to to start heating up by the time you drive. It a waste of gas to let the car sit and warm up, and keeping it under 3k RPMs while warming up during driving will not do anything to the engine.

 

The car will warm up faster if you drive it, as opposed to just letting it sit. It says so in the manual too...

 

When you have drove for about 7 miles.

 

Um, mine warms up in under a mile, I let it sit for 30 sec then drive, it's like 20F outside.

 

Today it is -20°F (-30 C) here and my car warms up in around three kilometers, but that doesn't include the 30 sec it idles while I scrape my windshield. I actually for the first time had that cold weather rattle, b/c I had to rev it up past 3k to merge onto the highway. It is kind of annoying now that I hear it. Normally I never let it get above 3k when it is still cold.