How long does your 210 take to warm up?
 

I think mine is taking a little too long. This morning it was 23*f and it took the car 12+ minutes to reach 80*c. How long does it take the rest of you? I ordered a new thermostat anyway.

It it normal in the cold for it to take 10-15 minutes to reach operating temps. Don't forget these are reasonably efficient engines and you are heating the cabin, the fuel and the washer fluid with that coolant. If I drive around town it takes about 15 minutes for my car to get to operating temp when it is 20-30F out...so yours is normal. I also had changed my T-Stat and the new one is exactly the same.

About 2 miles at 40mph.

Wow! Either Marty drives really, really slow or Parrot lives in a very hot climate!:eek: Thanks for the input guys. I forgot I was heating all that other stuff too.

Parrot: yours is up to temp in 2 miles? Really? It was close to 10 miles for me this morning.

I start up in the morning (lately in the teens and 20's here) and immediately drive off gently, keeping the revs below 2000. The needle lifts off the peg and it's putting out heat by the time I reach the end of the road which is about 3 minutes. I have to wait for one light, usually about 3 minutes before going on the interstate and by the time I'm hitting the on-ramp, it's just about up to temp. This is a total of about 5-10 minutes driving 20-45 MPH.

I find the outside temperature makes very little difference to the rate at which the car warms up. Temperatures here are about 5-10 degrees celcius now.

I never have the heat full on - that can make a big difference, if you have the heater blowing hot air out while the engine is still warming.

If you find yours is taking a while, shove a piece of cardboard in front of half of the radiator. That'll solve it :)

Not certain how long it takes to get to 80. But I have heat in about a mile and a quarter, with maybe 1 minute of idling before i start off, getting it out of the shop, shutting the doors etc.

It has been between 0 - 20 lately.

Sorry, but there is a HUGE difference between 5-10C and -10-0C which is where the original poster and I are coming from. My car will heat up in just a few minutes at higher ambient temps but get to below 0C (32F) and it will definitely take longer...no doubt about it.

And, no, cardboard in front of the radiator won't make any difference since the radiator doesn't even start to see coolant until the engine reaches near 80C. Up until then the T-stat is closed and all of the heat is going to the auxilliary areas (cabin, fuel and washer fluid heating).

Well, but the cardboard will keep that chilly breeze from cooling the engine off if it cant' get past the grille.

That's not where much of the heat is going though. The majority of the waste heat goes into heating the cabin. The heater core is actually just a small radiator and when it is really cold outside (below 0C) it will take a lot more heat to bring the temp of the cabin up. Until the passengers are toasty warm there isn't really enough waste heat to get the engine all the way to 78C where the thermostat opens...that just takes time when it is really cold and can easily take 10-15 minutes of city driving. I will say that if I jump on the highway immediately the time is probably cut in half but most of my driving is slower, city driving for the first 10 minutes and during that time the car will not get to 78C if it is really cold out.

My car is takes just about as long as yours, and as a lot of other posters have said, with the cabin heater on, it will take a lot longer to reach operating temperature. My trips in the morning average about 8 miles one way, stop and go traffic, with an average speed of about 35 miles per hour. At the temperature you mention, and with the cabin heater on about mid speed, my engine temperature will usually be 172-176 degrees. During the warmer months, the temperature will hit the 182 mark in short order.

I'd say 2 or 3 minutes of driving in the 38ºF weather we've been having...
It's much quicker than the Jetta, for whatever reason.

Our cars take about 2-3 miles to get the gauge off 40C.....and a couple more to get reasonable heat in the cabin. It does indeed take waaaay longer for it to heat up at 5-10F than it does at 35F.

I did it all "scientific like" this morning and here are the results:

Ambient - 25F
Idle time - 1 min.
Time until vent air feels warm (80F) - 3 min.
Distance until vent air feels warm (80F) - .5 mile.
Time until engine is at full operating temp (75C) - 7 min.
Distance until engine is at full operating temp (75C) - 3 miles.
Vent temp. at 75C - 125F
Highest vent temp achieved - 132F after 12 miles.

Was this highway or city driving? I can get mine up to 75C in that time if I jump on the highway after the first few minutes, but in pure stop and go driving it takes longer.