Should You Warm Up Your Car Before Driving It In the Winter Here in Minnesota?

Winters here in Minnesota are long and cold, and nobody likes getting into a cold car, right? So what do we do? We 'warm them up' before driving. But is that something we should be doing?

Well, according to this video, the answer is no! Even though we all like getting into a nice warm car (which explains all the popularity of those remote start devices), letting a fuel-injected car 'warm up,' or idle for several minutes before you drive off can actually be a bad thing for your car.

This video from Business Insider explains why. According to the video, our cars' engines run on a mixture of air and vaporized gasoline. In the winter, gas doesn’t evaporate as much and causes your car to run rich. Your cylinders end up losing the lubrication the oil provides while running your cold car idle, and ultimately, could lessen the life of your engine.

So, letting your car warm up before you drive it, while allowing it get nice and toasty, could actually be doing some long-term harm to your car. But who wants to get into a frozen, cold car during our Minnesota winters?!?