If You listen to your engine when You start it You can hear the valves banging away with no oil, hey I am not saying to wait 15 minutes, 6 minutes top,when 18f 25f.thats cold.
If You listen to the manual You would be changing your oil every 15,000 miles also, how is that working out for You?
Hey they want to sell you a new car, not to keep your existing x5.
BMWs and X5 are hot running engines, that is a fact ,they run and function better when HOT.

no - thats why BMW does not recommend remote start systems, or extended idling. Aditionally, are you hearing the valves or the cold start thingy in the emissions system that clicks and clacks until it warms up (the same escapes me but its on the passenger side of the engine bay.

No again. It's -12C (10F) here this AM and it's often much much colder. Cars get pretty stiff at -30 or -40 but I'll still just drive off. The sooner you start moving the quicker the engine heats up. Just keep it low and slow and you're good to go.

And if your brakes don't easily hold you stopped when the engine is idling a bit higher you have a bigger problem than cold driving.

I start mine about 5 minutes before we leave the house. Having a toddler to drop off at school forces me to at least get some heat inside the vehicle before sticking a child in the back seat.

Also, I have heard nightmare stories about CCV's failing from condensation freezing from short drives. Wouldn't warming the engine for a bit help to eliminate some of this?

Sure - from the perspective of a long 'trip'.

I still let my car AT LEAST drop the rpms. i like to get it warm before driving like op said, in my mind its better for the engine.

I can regularly start down to -30C with no valves banging away. That is because I am using a 5W-30 oil that pours fine down to -45 or so. Colder than -30 C, using a 0w-30 oil is a good idea. You either have a mechanical problem, or the wrong oil.

Changing oil up to 24,000 km (15,000 miles) has worked out fine. No oil consumption on any of the recent BMW vehicles with that maintenance regime. No valves banging away either.

Yes, they run better hot. That is why it is a good idea to get them hot sooner, instead of subjecting them to a protracted idle/cold running state. You are promoting the idea of running them cold for a longer period of time. That is illogical.

You may want to look into an electric car warmer. It is a heater that you can put on a timer. Much cleaner and faster than running an internal combustion engine at no load to create heat.

CCVs freeze from short drives and running cold. Idling will give it more chance to freeze, since you will be running it cold longer. The cure is longer drives at operating temperature.

+1

All it takes is a little experience behind the wheel of a Bimmer (any Bimmer).

Almost 10 years at the wheel of both my X5's. No idle at cold start. No engine problems.

13 years into my mother in law's X5. No idle at cold start. No engine problems.

13 years into my SC'ed E39 540. No idle at cold start. No engine problems.

12 years into my wife's E46 330. No idle at cold start. No engine problems.

27 years into my 1975 2002. No idle at cold start. No engine problems.

In the end, there a a zillion other things that can cause way bigger troubles on any engine. You can idle it or don't. If you don't maintain it, it'll die from some other problem.

Arguing about this is about as silly as arguing about whether it makes sense to order a Diet Coke with a Triple Cheeseburger combo.

I don't use the X for short drives, which is kinda defeating the purpose of having a car. Daughter hates walking the 4 blocks to school when it freezing out.