JCL,

thank you for the links, after checking through them, I still have to ask this.

The best way to get the sharp answer would be giving some details of the question, so here are the key points.

a) Harsh winter starts in November (December last 2 years) and ends up in April here (March last 2 years), with the temperature fluctuation between zero to minus 45C.

When it comes to below than -25C, you have to get your engine somewhat warm during the night (or a business day if its long enough) if you plan to drive once you're out, b.c. lower temp drains your battery and solidify oil almost no matter of its index (except maybe only those zero indexed).


b) My office is 5 km (3.5 miles) away, so its 10 km daily; plus extra 6 km there and back to gym, making it 3 cold engine starts a day.

It means the car will warm up by the minute I get to the office or to the gym, having got a cold


So what do I have left? Not that much.

Webasto is not an option since it imposes a risk of not starting your engine due to the battery discharge (webasto+low temp). All of us know that if your car cold revvs below 30C without aux help - it is a great luck and gratitude to the engine, because low temp is a mighty beast to shot the battery, alone.

To me, only TLC 105 with a pair of 100Ah batteries did it for me (as it did it yet below -40C BTW), among a plenty of those JDM cars I had for last 10 years.

Common knowledge for webasto usage limits it to run it only once a day for 30 mins, and drive fair enough (at least 30 mins) to recharge battery, otherwise, you will have your battery ended up in a week.

Due to the short mileage, there will be no chance to recharge the battery even if use webasto once a day, as I need at least 30 minutes of run once the motor is start (as stated in many forums), unless I will drive round my office for another 20 minutes

BTW, this is also needed to vaporize the condensate from CVV tube to prevent its build up - maybe there's some other way, like regular change of CVV+tube for a new one, or else?


Distant autostart would be the compromise solution - I waste gas, decrease the engine lifecycle (not even noticeable for several years) as it warms up slower, the liquids are warmed inconsistently and I have to warm the tranny for another 1 minute manually, not to say about ecology factor, but I have warm car with a proof-charged battery.


My experience with JDM cars advocates this to be the balanced recipe.

But its different when it comes to BMW - not only about cold starts, its about CVV issue also (it will not vaporize on idle warming ups only, I have to give it a load each time its started which means sleepless nights and/or discrete work when its below -25, and it could be quite often).

Of course, I can go for an AGM battery and try setting webasto to warm the engine as well (still it will heat only a coolant - though on a large circle - not the oil) - but will it still be enough to be sure the battery and CVV won't fail me during all winter?

... Or should I sell the car and buy Cayenne, which doesn't have that tricky issues?