Now that temps are more frigid, we’re reflecting on how drivers can best warm up their cars and themselves when stepping into a cold car. Here’s what you need to know to get through the winter.
- Don’t bother turning on the heater right away.
If you’re freezing, a sudden burst of cold air is not going to help, and that’s just what you’ll get when your car has been sitting in the cold all night. Give your vehicle a few minutes to warm up before turning on the heater. - Revving the engine to warm it up isn’t worth it.
It just produces excess emissions, plus driving is actually the faster way to warm up a car. When you first set out on the road, just try not to accelerate too abruptly. Take it easy on your vehicle the first few minutes of driving in cold weather. - You don’t need to idle for several minutes to warm up your car.
Many sources say you can drive safely if you let your car idle for as little as 30 seconds; this is because cars built past the 1980s don’t use carburetors, so long warm up times aren’t necessary. If you’ve been letting your car warm up for several minutes, you don’t need to. Cut that time down to 30 seconds (or a full minute if you’re skeptical), and again, when you first start driving don’t push your car too hard at first. - If you’re getting a new car, consider one with remote start.
If your car has automatic climate control, remote start technology can work with it, allowing you to precondition the cabin temperature and enable an automatic window defrost function. Depending on the model and model year, Honda remote start can even warm up heated seats, heated steering wheels and heated side mirrors if your vehicle is so equipped.
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