Expert weighs in on how long vehicles need to warm up in cold weather

How long does a vehicle really need to warm up?

When the weather gets to the bitterly cold mark like it is Friday, that’s the debate many tend to have.

According to Daryl Kulcsar, the manager of Driven Automotive in Regina, vehicles nowadays only need to run for two to three minutes before they’re good to take off.

“That’s enough to warm them up,” he said. “When you start driving, we recommend that you drive them very slowly until the temperature gauge reaches its normal operating temperature.”

Like many things, Kulcsar said the idea of having to warm up a vehicle is something he finds is usually passed on.

“We tend to do what our parents did or do when we first started driving. In a lot of cases, that’s what they did — that’s what my parents did — they’d start (their vehicle) and let it run for that 15 to 20 minutes, and I think today a lot of us are still doing that,” he explained. “But the reality is: We don’t need that long warmup like we did before.”

Kulcsar said ease in run time traces back to the evolution of fuel delivery systems.

“With the older cars with carburetion systems, if you tried driving them when they were extremely cold without letting them warm up, they would stall or they would jerk and they would be very difficult to drive,” Kulcsar explained.

“Today’s fuel management systems are so much more efficient; the computer realizes how cold it is and it just adapts to giving the engine more fuel to get it to work.”

Kulcsar noted the only bonus to letting a car run for 15 to 20 minutes is having a warm vehicle to jump into.

“The benefit is that the heater’s going to be blowing warmer air, and if you’ve got heated seats and a heated steering wheel, you’ll enjoy the featured comforts that much more,” he said with a chuckle.

As for the downsides to letting your vehicle idle, Kulcsar said it wastes fuel and causes unnecessary pollution.