what's your opinion?

No, it's bad to idle the engine for extensive amounts of time.

no. turn the key and drive (gently).

no. turn the key and drive (gently).

so just start the engine & drive off? not even warm up for like a minute?

what happens if its really cold. like 40-50 degrees? socal weather

No, it's bad to idle the engine for extensive amounts of time.

how about a minute?

thats what i usually do before i go to school in the morning. idle for 30seconds - 1 minute then go.

The guys at Car Talk (NPR radio show) say you don't have to: http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/fueleconomy/

"This tip also applies to warming up the car. Unless it's below freezing, cars don't need to be warmed up at all. Driving them gently is the best warm up there is. If it's 25 degrees out, you might want to let it warm up for 30 seconds. If it's 10 degrees out, warm it up for a minute. If it's -10 degrees out, move somewhere warmer."

I atleast let my idle kick down to about 750 from it's 1500 RPM starting point.

I:

Start car
Open windows while engine speed stabilises
Drive off as I release the parking brake.

I don't think i really matters.... I mean -> revved the '93 to 7000ish the other (cold) morning, didn't mean to, but it's not like they'll blow up or anything.

Nope. I start, i adjust, I go.

I used to warm up my older ones faithfully.

If it's melty hot, I may cool down the interior some before I go. If it's freezing, warm it up. Any delay is for MY comfort, not the car's.

If I had lots of driving that's less than 2 miles to destination, I would warm it up.... so the oil is up to a decent temp during the drive. If you want the oil to get to all the places it should, then naturally it needs to be warm to do it.

I've always warmed up my car engines before driving off.

Maybe it's me, but my Accord's engine seems/feels smoother if I warm up the engine for 30 secons/1 min. compared to just starting up car and driving off.

Start and drive off, that's what I do, (unless I need to clear the windows first), the engine will warm up faster because you use more revs when moving. :)
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Start and drive off, that's what I do, (unless I need to clear the windows first), the engine will warm up faster because you use more revs when moving. :)
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Exactly.

Warming up = waste of gas

No.. the only thing who need to warm up is the driver :D

I normally give mine around 2-3 minutes...but really thats the time it takes me to lock the doors, turn off VSA, dock the iPod, pull out my cell phone and stick it in the cupholder, and possibly retie my shoes. If its really cold out I typically wait until the idle hits around 1000rpm before I go.

I also do not use the heater until either the car is close to temp, or the needle is at least moving a little bit (seat heaters go to high as soon as I start off though...lol).

The one thing I DO NOT do is push the car when it is still cold...Basically I keep it to 3000rpm or under with only light throttle, until the temp needle hits its normal spot. Once its been there for a few minutes, then its VTEC time... :D

Warm it up. Engines are made of many different types of alloy, which are metal mixtures. Each metal has a expansion coefficiency (sp) and they are all different. You got to let it warm up and let the metals expand so they will seat properly, they way they were designed to. You think the engineers who build and tested the car did it at non-operating temperatures? No. Starting and taking off is the worse thing you can do to your care in terms of wear and tear. The amount of gas you "waste" is very, very minute. Gas is still cheaper than a new engine.

the metals dont know whether the car is moving or sitting still idling. so idling or driving it makes no difference. by your logic, you should stick the engine in an oven to warm it up before starting it up. now, materials are more brittle when cold, so thats why you should not over stress the engine immediately after starting it. keep it gentle. i mean the engine by itself cold idles anywhere from 1500-2000 rpm anyways, which is a very driveable RPM range for pulling out of your subdivision or whatever.

driving it will also be better for the drivetrain because you are warming up all the parts of the drivetrain (ie transmission, wheel bearings, joints, etc) instead of just the engine.

the metals dont know whether the car is moving or sitting still idling. so idling or driving it makes no difference. by your logic, you should stick the engine in an oven to warm it up before starting it up. now, materials are more brittle when cold, so thats why you should not over stress the engine immediately after starting it. keep it gentle. i mean the engine by itself cold idles anywhere from 1500-2000 rpm anyways, which is a very driveable RPM range for pulling out of your subdivision or whatever.

driving it will also be better for the drivetrain because you are warming up all the parts of the drivetrain (ie transmission, wheel bearings, joints, etc) instead of just the engine.

Exactly. And MTF/ATF dosent really get warmed up until you start driving.

Again, waste of gas.

So, I guess taking off "gently" is not stressing out the engine? To get the weight of the car moving is easy on the engine too, eh? No one said anything about normal operating temperatures, just warming up the insides and giving them a chance to seat propery before putting any type of load on it. The temperature guage inside the cluster doesn't tell you squat, only what the temperature of the water is once all that heat energy has passed through the metal and being exchanged with the coolant, which then is cooled by the radiator. By your "logic," I guess the engine should only be warmed up if it as at absolute zero. 90% of engine wear ocurrs at startup. Do we agree with that? Why is that? Lack of lubrication to vital engine parts, agreed? Just how fast is the oil going to protect the engine? 5 seconds after start up? 30 seconds? Do YOU know??? Point is, no one does. Now there is some proof that using synthetic oils will lubricate faster as compared to dino oils, but time is still a function. I'm just saying why take the risk? As for wasting gas for a minute or two, the potential benefits greatly out weight the possible risks.
Try this, at least on my 06, crank it up and listen, I mean listen to the engine. It has a distinct sound for about 30 seconds and then smooths out right after that. I'm not talking about piston slap or OHV clutter, it's just a different sound. The car isn't silky smooth.