I will be taking delivery shortly of an Allroad <<big grin>> and am wondering if there is an Audi approved block heater for the car.

My current car has one and I believe that starting a warm engine causes much less wear over time than starting one at 10 degrees. Not to mention the fact that the heat is almost instantaneous when the block has been warmed up.

Any thoughts?

Having grown up in Northern Finland with regular subzero temperatures down to 20 below every winter, I can warmly (no pun intended...) recommend block heaters. Just about every car there has one, and apartment/company parking lots have electric outlets with timers for the heaters! Not only is engine wear and tear eliminated, you are also easier on your battery, get a better fuel mileage and can connect an interior heater to it. Real treat to step into a 70F warm car with no ice on the windows when its 20F below and you have no garage. Maybe a Canadian Audi dealer would know which models with 110V voltage fit the allroad?

Although I haven't taken delivery of my allroad yet (alpaka beige w/ ecru - loaded except for phone and 3rd seat), I solved the issue on previous cars by installing a garage heater. If you have gas heat, you can get one that mounts high on a wall, has a thermostat, but needs no electricity. Keeps my garage at a very liveable temp. Spent the last weekend in the garage working on a buddy's BMW K1200LT at 70 degrees, while it was 15-25 outside. (Salt Lake City). That's a lot easier and more useful than a block heater, unless you have no garage (egads!), or travel so your baby is outside at night a lot.

The block heater problem on Audis is one I have been fighting for some time. It is particularly important living in Alaska as I do. There are a variety of heaters for your car. One is a battery blanket or pad. Another is a oil pan heater that just silicones onto the pan. I recommend such items for your Audi if you're going to be parking outside in cold weather. When it comes to keeping your block itself warm, Audis have a problem. The Audi dealership told me you can't put a block heater on (either a freeze plug immersion one or a anti-freeze circulating one), but couldn't explain why. I finally talked to an Audi engineer (Alaska is a good place to find such people in the winter when they are cold weather testing things like A6 Coupes and other oddities). He said that the engine/fuel management system will have a major problem. Basically it will think the engine is already warm (from running) and won't get the fuel mixture correct and ironically, you'll have an even harder time starting the car. I "solved" this problem on my 2.8 A4 by putting a 2nd oil pan heater on the car and only plugging that one in when it gets really cold (below -30). I do park in a garage at night, but I've never had a problem starting it after a full day sitting out, even at -50 F.

I just surfed on www.audi.fi and saw that the option list for allroad contains a "stand-by heater", for both the engine and interior. It comes even with a remote control with 600m reach. Sounds interesting, I'll try to check with the Finnish Audi importer or a dealer what this is. Maybe it is for the turbodiesel engine only. Will post the results.

Talked to dealer in Finland today. He said that stand by heating is a factory option, and based on similar technology as Webasto heaters (burns vehicle's own fuel to generate heat). He said that it would be possible to install a Webasto heater in an allroad. www.webasto.com has more on their heaters. Might be worth exploring for those of you in cold climates.

From what I know and from what I found on the website, those heaters are only for diesels. If you own a diesel it is undoubtebly the way to go, though one for my Cummins Diesel costs about $1800 last time I checked. I also did some more checking and the typical circulation-type block heaters might not actually cause fuel management problems, but rather emissions system problems. Now I'd never advocate destroying the environment (a warm engine is better for the environment anyway), but it may be a trivial matter and as long as it doesn't damage anything in the engine, it may be practical. I'll keep looking into it.

I did specifically ask the sales person whether it was for both gasoline and diesel engines, he said for both. If you want me to, I can talk to another dealer/salesperson or try to get hold of importer's tech support, this sort of thing is definitely worth verifying before ruining a 2.7. or spending $1800.(PS. my grandmother had one in her Volvo Amazon, regular engine. But ok, it was 1967 model and didn't have fuel injection not to mention twin turbochargers.)

I seemed to recall that a block heater was standard equipment on Canadian Audi's but since I've been travelling the last week couldn't actually check my A4. Got home today and yes, there's a plug hiding behind the grill just to the right of the license plate. I'll check my allroad as soon as I pick it up (within the next week) and provide an update.

My A4 had a plug and the options list stated "block heater". Low and behold, it was really just an oil pan heater.