Warmup: what a Prius wants...

Now, I'm confused as to what to do when leaving work. After 8+ hours parked, the car has about 200ft to the only lot exit which merges onto a 55mph highway. Should I:
A. let it warm up idly
B. spin around the lot for a couple minutes
C. just gun it
D. find another parking lot

Of course, C is what I've been doing, but how bad is it for the ICE? I do try to wait for a large enough opening where I don't have to floor it completely, but I generally fill up the HSI bar all the way. I can't imagine it taking too much time to get the engine lubed up, but I'm not a car or engine person, so I'm just guessing.

 

I would at least allow it to run until it shut down on it's own, but I am over protective. I'm sure you are fine as long as you know that really gunning it may be detrimental, especially when cold weather arrives. But of course safety trumps everything else

 

Like a64pilot said... once the engine quits, it has completed its "warm up cycle" and in my opinion it should be ready to go. In colder temps I assume that this cycle will take longer. I would think you should wait until it has quit.
This assumes your past the 600 mile brake-in period too.

My 2 cents.

 

And it wasn't pushed off or anything, huh?

 

I lived in Germany for three years, and things are different. For one, you have neighbors. What we call apartments, they call houses. They didn't like the warming the car thing over there either. I would warm My Z28 for a couple of min. before leaving which is not what they like to see because it wastes fuel and pollutes in their opinion. Truth is/was that my then new Z28 with a catalytic converter compared to most of their cars which used leaded fuel and had no Cat (This was in 1993), I polluted almost not at all.
Difference between there and here was they were polite, and logical. I would tell them that I was waiting for the catalytic converter to get hot before I drove off and that I would actually pollute less if I waited for a couple of min., than I would if I didn't wait. Not a complete lie maybe
They didn't like you washing your car either because of the water waste. They wanted you to use the car wash, but as it re-circulated water and therefore salt, I just didn't wash the car as often.
Funny thing was this is the place where you could fill your car with leaded gas and roar off down the Autobahn at any speed your car was capable of and maybe get 5 MPG or something, but if you let your car idle at a red light, you were a polluter?
They weren't wrong, and I wasn't right, just different way of thinking, I guess.

 

In 80 or so degree weather, car not run over night, mine will run for maybe 60 sec. before shutdown. I know it's not really warm it that interval, it couldn't be , not that fast. I assume as it get's colder the initial interval will be longer.
Warm up is real folks, it has to do with things like differential expansion rates of the aluminum piston and the steel cylinder it runs in, although of course the cylinder is liquid cooled of course, but the "fit" does change with temp. Some cylinders are bored with a "choke", that is the diameter of the top of the cylinder is slightly smaller than the bottom, that's because the top of the cylinder runs hotter than the bottom because combustion occurs in the area near the top. When temps equalize, the "choke" is gone due to expansion, or at least that's the theory.
No extended warm-ups aren't necessary unless you live in Alaska or something, and allow your engine to cold soak, but taking it easy until the heater begins to work doesn't hurt either.
As always YMMV

 

Just a quick note: The HSD already do part of this, by using mostly the electric motor in the first few minutes and keeping the ICE rpm low. Yesterday morning I actually noticed the point in time where the HSD allowed the ICE to spin faster after the first few minutes. The battery was also getting low (about 4 bars) at that point.

 

Yesterday, I just let it warm up at idle and it only took about 30secs (without 75F outside dash temp) before it shut off so not a bad penalty for a little precaution. I also waited for a large enough window before merging so that I could accelerate but only up to max on the eco range. I also tried a quick web search and found the same suggestions about not needing extended warm ups but gentle break ins. Do you guys think that the max eco range would be gentle enough of a start? Also, leaving a good SOC would probably help a little to avoid adding an additional load during this time. I'll look into parking at the other lot next door to minimize the merge requirements even though it will add another 15min to the morning commute.

 

I think you might be overthinking it, which is totally you're choice, of course. Giving it a minute to warm up is probably plenty...I wouldn't add 15 minutes to my commute over it...modern engines are made to handle this kind of stuff...if you're letting it warm up a little then modestly accelerating on the freeway you're being much kinder than 90% of car owners...

 

Yep, In my opinion, if you stay out of the power portion you will be just fine. Opinion remember, but I think the difference is the difference between the engine lasting 200,000 mile or more or only lasting 100,000 or more. In other words, I think even if you beat the snot out of it, it will last 100,000 miles. Most people who buy a new car don't keep it that long, I am an exception. The longest I have kept a car was a VW Diesel that when I sold it had 250,000 on it and didn't burn any oil.
MY wife on the other hand, likes to have a new car every few years.

 

I'm probably overthinking it, but it's my first new car and I'm just babying it. Over the last 15 years, I can probably count on my fingers the number of times I've washed my car (self or pay), and I've never had a garage for them. This time, I've ordered the Ultima PGP, put on the 303 on the inside, and kicked the wife's car out of the garage. Gah! I even joined a forum related to cars! BTW, thanks everyone for making this place what it is!

 

The engine is either on or off, warm up happens if you sit on it or drive off. Why wait.