When I bought my RX-8, my salesman was emphatic that I allow the car to warm up for 5 minutes every morning before I drive off. Until then, I had always thought the best thing for a car was to start it up and drive off immediately. So what do you guys think?

 

u don't really need to warm up.... it's just that don't rev it high until it's fully warmed up.... cause if ur car is cold, the engine won't do much of a good job lubing the insides of ur engine..... the engine oil works better when it's warmed... what i usually do is start the car and drive off when teh rev drops....

 

i think for once, a salesman is correct. <----never thought I would be saying that EVER

although you do have to be moving or else your temp needle wont move that much (this is the case for me at least)

 

I turn her on, pull my seat belt on, find a good song on my ipod, release the ebrake... and go!

about a half minute warm up

edit: of course I dont rev it over 3-3.5 rmps until the car is warmed up. That is usually about how long it takes me to get out of my subdivision anyway where I drive slow. Once i'm on the main road... zoom-zoom-zoom.

damn that was corny :D

 

5 minutes seems a little long, but I guess it dependes how long your commute is, and if you've had any flooding issues with the car. I let it idle in until I hear the RPM drop(from about 1.5 to .5) about 2 minutes, then I go, I have a short commute of about 5 miles never had flooding issue or hard starts.

 

The service manager told me to treat the car no different than a piston engined car(gentle drive-off at start-up, drive the crap out of it,when warm ,during the break-in). ???? I can't find anybody with experienced-based, in-depth knowledge of the rotary, just hear-say, perhaps, maybe, etc...personally, I warm it up, then gentle break-in like a sportbike. I'm at 1000 miles, my car has same specs/color as yours(good choice-BTW).

 

You don't have to warm it up before driving off. Just drive "gently" (under 3K) until it gets to normal operating temp. What you MUST remember to do is to let it get to normal operating temp before shutting down the engine. He was probably telling you to warm it up that way so that you wouldn't flood it. But it's best to warm it up while driving it, not just idling it.

 

wow- you guys are nicer to your cars than I am. I don't wait and "warm it up," I just don't drive over 6k rpms until it's at normal operating temperatures. If you DO try and drive it over, the car kicks in a limiter (which I've hit several times) and loses power. quack_p, I think your dealer was full of it. Just drive it the same as you'd drive a normal car, unless you are going to just back it out of the driveway and nothing else- then make sure you let it run for a few minutes so you don't shut it down cold.

 

Your RPMs go to .5K during warm-up? Weird....

Mine never go below 0.75K...ever. Even after a 3-4 minute warmup it's at about 1.25K.

 

unless you are in below freezing temperatures, the only thing long warm up times will get you is poor gas mileage.

 

While there may be car salespeople out there who actually know what they're talking about, I have yet to meet one.

 

5 Min is too much...I think at least.

I turn on the car which starts during the Winter at 2K and don't take off until at least 1.5K but normally 1.25K. That takes about 30 sec. Also...once I take off I don't take my 8 over 4K until it's fully warmed up.

What? .5K? No way...mine does not go under .8K or .75K...how does your 8 run at .5K?

 

I turn on the car, let the idle drop to about 0.75k and drive away.. I limit my revs to about 4.5k for the first 3-5 minutes then "zoom-zoom".

(I find it very difficult to drive the car and keep it under 3k)