Remote Car Starter

[KittenRD]

I was thinking of buying an remote car starter for my automatic LB. It gets pretty cold here and my apartment is pretty close to a main route so I don't have much time to let the car warm up before getting up to 35-35mph on the route (whihc the car does not like when it is still cool). I was wondering if you recommend a remote car starter so the car will be warmed up by the time I get to the main route with higher speed limits? Also, would this help my MPGS? Mine MPGs go down a lot during the cold weather. Thanks.

[Sodium Duck]

I recommend it. But it isn't going to boost your MPG...

[KittenRD]

Thanks...it won't hurt the mpgs either, right? I am impressed with your mpgs. I get 38 during the summer, but recently I have been going down with the cold weathe and am now at 35 mpgs.

[Sodium Duck]

It will most likely hurt it. The car will be out there idling, ie. not moving and wasting fuel.

[Latka]

Not 'most likely', it will. :) You'll be getting 0 MPG while you idle the car. Then again, if you're living somewhere cold the benefits of a toasty car are probably worth it!

[KittenRD]

Not 'most likely', it will. :) You'll be getting 0 MPG while you idle the car. Then again, if you're living somewhere cold the benefits of a toasty car are probably worth it!

Well it does get pretty cold here! I was thinking it would be good for the mornings when I have snow or ice all over my car.

[Revsson]

I had a remote starter/alarm on my pickup truck. It was great for turning it on in the
parking lot at work to have a warm truck on the drive home. You could set it to shut
off after a certain amount of time. Had a nice safety feature that would shut off if
the key wasn't in it and someone stepped on the brake or tried to put in gear. Great
for if kids are in the car. I also had a block heater that I could plug in if I didn't want
to use gas...( I was using company electricity in their parking lot. ). Sounds like you
live in an apartment, and wouldn't want to get a block heater or have access to an
outlet. Of course, the danger is that someone could unplug the cord from the outlet.
I'm not sure about any block heaters for our Yaris, but living in Wisconsin, I have the
All-Weather Guard Package that has the heavy-duty starter and heavy-duty heater.

Warning: Some communities have laws against leaving cars idle while unattended.