Since its getting colder and colder (blah) I've been sitting in my Cooper S a few minutes in the morning prior to taking off. I find that if I just take off, its very sluggish.. wondering if anyone else does the same thing? I recently had a walnut shell blast and a tune up so I dont think its an engine issue.

 

Nope, start it up, seat heaters on, drive....within a mile, I turn the heat up and engine is up to temp.

 

do you notice a difference in the way the car drives up until its at engine temp?

 

I start it and drive right away also. The engine warms up faster when it is under load. I don't push it, I just drive it easy for the first couple of miles.

Dave

 

Well sure , the transmission is balkier, the engine is slower to respond, etc. But they reach operating temps much quicker if you just get in the car and drive. IT won't hurt anything and you'll save gas.

 

Yeah I'm going to do this going forward because I've noticed my MPG's have dramatically lowered since its gotten colder out!

 

I notice my MINI is very sluggish to accelerate and shift when it's cold. I usually do the less-than-eco-friendly method though of letting it warm up a bit before I take off in the mornings. Lately it's been in the low 30s and 20s in the mornings and I'm just not a very cold-tolerant person... I would be sure the engine is nice and warm before romping on it to be safe!

 

Agreed, same here. Plus if you start it an drive it, there's less polluting and poisonous gasses. Because the engine is cold, the explosion isn't as complete compared to when the engine is warm, resulting in those gasses.

 

Mini recommends that you just get in and drive. They don't make 'em like they used to!

 

In my experience, winter time gas mileage is always lower whether you warm your car up or not. NAM members have explained this to me in the past as being due to wintertime gas additives and it being more difficult for your car to pull cold air in than warm.

That being said, I usually wait for the rpm's to drop to their idle position and head out.

 

The lower mileage is because if the winterblend gas companies use. Also it's not harder for the car to get the air in, but there's more air coming into the car when it is colder, the ecu adjust for that by adding more fuel to prevent your car from running lean.

 

i warm up for at least 5 min and then take off. Once i took off while it still wasnt warm and when i slightly accelerated the car jumped as if i accelerated even faster. Was that normal? The engine was also kinda loud

 

I wait five minutes sometimes, other times I wait one minute then off driving. I go slow a little bit so I don't push the engine too hard. But other than that, my MPG dropped from 33.2 to 32.3 in the winter only.

 

Mine just sits long enough me to fill/light some pipeweed, coupla minutes or so.

Otherwise, I just drive off, and go gently till it's warmed up.

With the auto climate control, you get some idea of temp since it will start ramping up the fan once it determines there's heat to distribute.

Another time where it'd be swell to have an actual temp gauge.

I'd even settle for a "cold" light, like my mom's '64 Impala had. Was triggered by the temp sender, glowed green until some defined temp was reached. With OBD, seems like it'd be simple enough to display a little engine symbol with a parka or something on the tach window. Just after the below-37 snowflake, perhaps. :-)

 

It'll jump because the revs are higher to warm up the engine. Same happens with mine (manual) when I engage 1st and then just let it roll without applying any throttle, it'll go faster when it's cold than when it's warm

 

LoL a little sweater on a mini or something.. that'd be so cute!

 

I realize that the owner's manual says to just start it up and drive off but I feel like my car hates when I do that. Changing gears is much more labored, the engine is sluggish, and it just generally seems to hate life. I tend to let it idle for five minutes or so before departing.

 

Happiness is a heated garage.

 

Let me fix that for you....Happiness is living in FL (SWFL for me).

 

Pass! Lived on the equatorial line for 18 years and now hate the heat. Grass is always greener on the other side huh ;p

 

Wow, lottsa responses here. It only gets down to the upper 40's where I am so it's not nearly as cold as most of the country. I've heard that it actually can be bad for modern engines to let them idle for long periods of time while cold.

I do what pretty much everyone else here has said wether it's cold or warm out. Start it up, wait til the revs drop, then drive easy with the sport button off for a few miles. I never drive it hard until the car has been up to temperature for a solid 10 minutes.

 

We both just start and go. But... the transmission really didn't seem to like being cold much before yesterday. Since getting it back, it hasn't been truly cold-started, so I have no idea if it really is an issue anymore or not. Would kinda half shift when taking off, then jerk and be fully engaged... After warming up, it didn't do it, and I hope it stops doing it since the repairs, since that can't be good for the hard parts...

 

That's part of it. Also, the air is denser so it takes more work to push the body of the car through it. And the tires are stiffer, so it takes more energy to overcome their friction. Plus the lubricants in the engine and transmission (and even the grease on wheel bearings and such) is all thicker and more viscous.

Lots of little stuff adds up to worse MPG.


I start mine and drive as soon as the windshield is clear. Most of the time, that's right away. Once so far, I had to wait a couple of minutes for the WS to defrost. :( Happens a couple of days a year in my area. (So glad I'm not in the Midwest any more!!!)

The engine is a bit louder on startup (I hope it's not the "death rattle"!!!) but otherwise it doesn't seem to have any problems when cold. I do drive it gently, though.

 

It was 10 degrees F here the other morning in CT. I love the cold, but that was a little much! Anyway, I do not warm it up. I just get in, put on the seat heater, set up my tunes etc and go. I find it warms up much faster when I'm moving.

Having a garage (though not heated) does help, but I do still find my Mini tends to run a little rough for the first few minutes. I try to keep the revs down and shift earlier than I normally would until it's properly warmed up.

 

Up in AK we don't consider it cold until below freezing,
It's merely cool if above 32'.

When it's sub-zero I definitely let the engine warm up before hitting the highway.
Cold starts on anything account for most of the accumulated wear on moving parts.
The warmer the oil, the fastest it flows, not rocket science.

And yes, super-charged engines love cold weather, (denser air),