john981

Whenever it is feasible, I start the car about 10 minutes before my wife leaves for her short trips to groceries or kids school. For the experts here: how good/bad is it to do this? Some say warming up the car can be even harmful to the car?? I just think by warming up the car everything should come faster to temperature and there will be less wear and tear with this shorter trips. Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

Vise

Porsche does not recommend this. I think it is in an owner's manual somewhere but the recommendation I've received direct from Porsche a few times (including during our Stuttgart Euro Delivery) is to start it and drive away... just idling does not warm it up the same way that actually driving does.

FavOutLaw

Agreed. I get in, start it, wait until the RPMS go down to ensure oil is circulated and go. Then again, I have mine in a garage so I don't need to defrost it... if that is the case, whether you sit in the car and let it idle to defrost the windows, or start it and let it that on its own won't matter much.

jbx2

It's been common knowledge for some time with German cars to start and drive easy until up to temp. The car will warm up more quickly if it is driven.

roule

Warming up any car is only necessary up to the point that oil pressure has reached normal and is circulating where it needs to go. Assuming you are using a modern synthetic lube, the time required to do that is very short, even in relatively cold climates. If you warm up your car for more than a minute or two, you're not causing vehicle damage, but you would be wasting fuel.

All that said, I always drive sedately until the coolant temperature has risen somewhat. While modern engineering has minimized the risk of damage, temperature shock doesn't do anything any good. If you live in the Yukon, follow the local custom.

jobunaga

I don't think you should bother warming up the car before short trips. A better preventative maintenance step would be to periodically take it on a long drive and push it to redline a few times after it has reached operating temperature.

peterp

I think the generally agreed guideline is that running the engine around 3k RPM is ideal for warming up the engine -- not too high of RPM to stress the engine, but not too low of RPM to lug the engine when cold and to take far longer to warm up. I think it's generally agreed that idling is far worse than just driving off conservatively.

The 2.0t in the Macan Base is designed to run at very low RPM (1400-1700) in normal driving, which is far from ideal for warming up in the extreme cold. The engine should not be considered fully warmed for more spirited driving up until the oil temperature (not just pressure) is up to operating temp. What I do is put it in "Sport" mode (while driving normally) when it is extremely cold -- this keeps the car closer to 3k RPM so that the engine warms up much faster and is much happier (e.g. isn't being lugged at 1500 RPM when cold).

TLDR: In my opinion for very cold conditions:
1. Letting it idle to warm up is far worse than just driving off
2. Driving off in "Sport" mode with normal driving is much better than driving off in non-sport mode

JamesN

I believe that is why Porsche doesn't offer remote start.

JIm

DHL

Car warms up faster if you drive it, even at in town city speeds. More important is to drive long enough to dry the water out of the oil in the crankcase. That means oil temp of around 190-200F. At lower oil temps the water will desorb from the oil and condense elsewhere in the crankcase causing potential corrosion problems. When you shut you car down and the oil cools it will re-adsorb water vapor from the atmosphere (because the crankcase is vented) and you start all over again on re-start.

Snowytrail

Sport Mode opens the front slats so it will take longer to warm up, better to do some manual shifting to keep the RPMs up a bit. I try to keep it to zero boost until the temps are over 190F/190F.

peterp

Is that really a thing? I have no knowledge of what sport mode does at that level, but I'd assume (could be wrong) that the slats would be thermostat contolled when dead cold, regardless of driving mode. I'll try to check that out next time I get in the car. Regardless of whether sport mode does or does not open the slats when cold, my observation is that it warms up much faster in sport mode than regular mode (which takes a lot longer when the engine is kept around 1500 rpm). When it is really cold (e.g. 20's and below), you can feel that the engine is a LOT happier in sport mode then it is lugging at 1500 RPM. Shifting it manually is also good, but I prefer the brainless nature of sport mode (especially for my wife since she drives the Macan more than I do).

DBH

Get in car, start car, wait until rev's back off to regular idle RPM (~2 minutes), drive off. Periodically (~weekly?) be sure to take an extended drive (~20/30 minutes) preferably at highway speeds.

The DJ

+2 - This works for me

peterp

What year/version is your Macan? My 2018 Base settles immediately to normal idle cold or warm. Sounds like they might have added a warm-up routine at some point, which would make perfect sense.

peterp

I just checked "sport" mode. The car was dead cold in 35 degree weather, started the car (left it in park), slats were closed, changed to "sport" mode, slats remain closed. Sport mode may affect slats when warm, but doesn't seem to have any impact when cold (assuming my idling in park test is a valid).