How best to 'work' the engine?

[NickyJam]

pretty sure the manual advises NOT to do this .

better to start the car and drive off straight away

wouldn't have thought so...been told what I believe by many experienced drivers over the years

would make sense to allow the oil to flow before setting off otherwise the engine parts would be put under unecessary stress when setting off cold

however please correct me if i'm wrong

 

[nightflight]

The manual says to set of straight away to reduce carbon emissions by reducing the wastage of fuel having the car tick over needlessly.

I always start mine up, then hang around for five minutes waiting for the windscreen to demist. after a few minutes i'll start gently revving it slowly building upto 16/1700 to get a bit more warmth into the engine and get the screen cleared quicker.

 

[seat_rich]

The manual says to set of straight away to reduce carbon emissions by reducing the wastage of fuel having the car tick over needlessly.

I always start mine up, then hang around for five minutes waiting for the windscreen to demist. after a few minutes i'll start gently revving it slowly building upto 16/1700 to get a bit more warmth into the engine and get the screen cleared quicker.

Five minutes?

Do you park in a sauna with your doors open each night?

 

[NickyJam]

The manual says to set of straight away to reduce carbon emissions by reducing the wastage of fuel having the car tick over needlessly.

I always start mine up, then hang around for five minutes waiting for the windscreen to demist. after a few minutes i'll start gently revving it slowly building upto 16/1700 to get a bit more warmth into the engine and get the screen cleared quicker.

that would make more sense with regards to emissions...i would rather let out a few more CO2's than risk destroying the engine

i am sometimes the same on very cold mornings but leave the car running with the heating on but i don't sit inside whilst de-icing.

 

[nightflight]

Five minutes?

Do you park in a sauna with your doors open each night?

yep, always the best part of in the morning if it needs doing

it's ridiculous at times, though weird, i always have the aircon on to keep the air inside as dry as possible to limit the misting up, some mornings it'll be misted up and need 5 minutes to clear, other mornings it'll be fine and just have a light mist over between me getting in and get blower starting to put air over the windscreen

i don't think my heating has come off the windscreen setting other than to clear the side windows in the 2 and a bit months i've had the car though.


I'll sometimes havea ciggie outside the car while it demists, but i wouldn't dare leave my engine running and car unattended

 

[Swig]

When it's been discussed on here before people have said the important thing is to let the engine idle for a bit and the end of a journey. Not at the start. So the turbo isn't starved of oil as it cools down.

 

[Scottl]

As with several other areas of motoring, there doesn't seem to be any consistent advice for warming up your car.

The SEAT handbook and some 'experts' say that modern cars are designed to be driven gently to warm up and give the impression that idling is bad...

Other 'experts' say that idling is good as it warms up the engine without the load on the bearings that driving introduces. Race teams leave engines idling until warm and also blip the throttle to get the oil moving. EVO magazine gave a really good explanation on this recently.

I always find my TDI 150 feels better after letting it run a short while before setting off, so I know which explanation I trust most...