Warming Up Your Car Is A Bad Idea In ND – REALLY?

I have made it pretty clear that I am not from North Dakota, however, I have been living here long enough to respect Mother Nature and her winter ways

It really doesn't take too long once you start living in North Dakota to respect the change of seasons and the dangers of the winter ways. I was first asked if I had a "Survival kit" in my car on my second day when I was living in Fargo. My answer to that was "Well I have a jack and a spare tire in the trunk". Being from California, I had no idea just how important it is to be prepared for any kind of misfortune when you are driving around. There were many things I had no clue about, like a block heater, and the greatest invention known to man - a car starter.

WHO doesn't want to make sure their car is nice and toasty when it's like -20 outside?

From your 70 degrees plus comfortable house, a mere touch of a button starts up the engine in your car. I can hear my neighbor's car angrily start up early in the morning and then for like 15-20 minutes the engine just churns away, waiting for their owner to eventually sprint to the vehicle and then drive away. I was under the impression that most of us think we HAVE to warm up our cars before we head out. Apparently, anything over a minute is not necessary, Really???

Even 5 minutes is too long

Motorbiscuit.com reports that "According to Consumer Reports, thanks to improvements in technology, modern cars take only 20 to 30 seconds to lubricate thoroughly... At this point, the engine likely isn’t warm, but proper lubrication is all that matters." By warming your car for like almost 15 minutes or so, all you are doing is wasting gas, that part I do understand. I understand the logic some may have, that the colder the day is, the longer your vehicle needs to sit there and have the engine warm-up - but motorbisquit.com added " Experts from Consumer Reports say that modern cars lubricate their engines so quickly, only a brief minute is needed in cold weather"

Check it out Consumer Reports people, when it's -900 out, I'm positive most of us could care less about wasting a little gas here and there, we will gladly sacrifice that for our friend the heater