[Athan_Hal]

Just got a 08 e93 335i and was wondering if I need to be concerned with leaving the car to idle for extended periods of time when it's cold. I know it'll suck up gas but I'm not too worried about that. When googling there's very mixed opinions and I was just looking for some advice. Not sure if matters if the cars warm or it's a cold start. Also if the air is warm or cold as well as the length of idle. Mostly would just be about 10 mins in the morning to defrost. Any info would be great appreciated, thanks!

[ptpending]

10 mins will not harm car
in a european union such warming is prohibited by law due emissions harm to environment
so all bmw cars also warm fine during slow driving instead of the idling
and when someone want to get into warm car, there is standby heater option, which also warm cabin using petrol, but without running engine

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

I think it can be argued that warming up the car parked does more harm compared to starting and driving off. But at the end of the day, it is marginal and I do not care and also let my car warm up when it cold so that the cabin is not ice cold. And yeah if there is a big a freezing rain storm, then no choice to let warm to melt ice.

[Athan_Hal]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

I think it can be argued that warming up the car parked does more harm compared to starting and driving off. But at the end of the day, it is marginal and I do not care and also let my car warm up when it cold so that the cabin is not ice cold. And yeah if there is a big a freezing rain storm, then no choice to let warm to melt ice.

Makes sense, figured it wasn't a big deal and just wanted to make sure there were no major issues.

[Athan_Hal]

Originally Posted by ptpending

10 mins will not harm car
in a european union such warming is prohibited by law due emissions harm to environment
so all bmw cars also warm fine during slow driving instead of the idling
and when someone want to get into warm car, there is standby heater option, which also warm cabin using petrol, but without running engine

Okay, not sure about the standby heating, I'll probably drive it away quickly most days but wanted to make sure I had the option.

[ptpending]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

I think it can be argued that warming up the car parked does more harm compared to starting and driving off. But at the end of the day, it is marginal and I do not care and also let my car warm up when it cold so that the cabin is not ice cold. And yeah if there is a big a freezing rain storm, then no choice to let warm to melt ice.

in a europe we obliged to use liquid spray to melt ice on windscreen

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by ptpending

in a europe we obliged to use liquid spray to melt ice on windscreen

What happens if you just idle your car? How do they know? Here we are not allowed to idle a car for no reason but there can be exceptions. Here it is also a bylaw (a law made by the city) so it is not the same everywhere. And well I think most of us also don't really follow laws that we find excessive. And most times using spray would do nothing, one day I had almost 1 inch thick ice from freezing rain when I was working at work parked.

For example in my city, we can only idle the car for 3 minutes every 60 minutes. But if the car is covered in ice/frost/snow for example, there is exception allowed in the law and you are allowed. While in the city next to me, you can idle the car as much as you want if the temperature is outside of 0c-25c. But these are just fines, and are like around 50$ fine.

That said I never heard someone get a ticket for this and I always idle my car ~ 5 mins when it gets around -15c or colder.

EDIT: Wow in my Googling to see other cities, there is a city in my province where you cannot idle the car for more than 10 seconds if the temperature is between 0c and 25c lol!!! And the fine ranges from 150$ to 350$, and repeat offenders can get up to 600$. Outremont is the city.

[ptpending]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

What happens if you just idle your car? How do they know? Here we are not allowed to idle a car for no reason but there can be exceptions. Here it is also a bylaw (a law made by the city) so it is not the same everywhere. And well I think most of us also don't really follow laws that we find excessive. And most times using spray would do nothing, one day I had almost 1 inch thick ice from freezing rain when I was working at work parked.

For example in my city, we can only idle the car for 3 minutes every 60 minutes. But if the car is covered in ice/frost/snow for example, there is exception allowed in the law and you are allowed. While in the city next to me, you can idle the car as much as you want if the temperature is outside of 0c-25c. But these are just fines, and are like around 50$ fine.

That said I never heard someone get a ticket for this and I always idle my car ~ 5 mins when it gets around -15c or colder.

EDIT: Wow in my Googling to see other cities, there is a city in my province where you cannot idle the car for more than 10 seconds if the temperature is between 0c and 25c lol!!! And the fine ranges from 150$ to 350$, and repeat offenders can get up to 600$. Outremont is the city.

so i see you've got the answer

[sparkyte]

I've been doing it with mine and it should be ok. Here in Bulgaria no one cares if you will be idling your decatted/straight piped car no matter how much time you like to. xDD