How much did it cost? Is it safe for the starter?

Car should be driven off immediately after starting to minimize engine wear. Idling engine takes forever to rach operating temperature, and until it does engine wear is very high.

lately its been pretty damn cold in the mornings.. my outside temp gauge reads anywhere from 30-40F.
this morning my temp gauge was at 36 degrees.. it was pretty damn cold, so before i jumped into the shower i decided to start my car.. she ran for about 20 minutes, and was totally warmed up..
so im guessing that this is bad to do huh?
have you ever noticed that your car seems to be very sluggish and tends to hesitate right after you turn it on?
unfortunately for me, right when i start my car and drive, i have to tackle a pretty steep hill.. i feel bad for my baby.. i would hate to be woken up on a cold morning and then immediately commanded to work real hard =)

regards,
brian

Here is what I do on cold mornings....

I get in the car and start it.
I then put on my seat belt and adjust the radio.
Then I back out of the driveway.
There are less than 10 seconds between when I start it up and drive off.
I then drive easy for about the first mile and a half (under 50 mph and try to not go much over 3500 rpms).
At this point the engine temp is about halfway between cold and normal operating temp and I start driving as usual.

I hope this is the right thing to do, I have been doing it for years with all of my cars.

a tach that lights up in segments. When the engine is cold the yellow segment starts from about 4000RPM. As the engine warms up the lights gradually go out until only the normal redline remains. Pretty cool, huh! Anyway we can retrofit that to our A4s?

This is not Detroit iron from the 60s, no need to idle. Drive right away but go easy until the oil temp starts rising. When starting the car do NOT step on the gas pedal, even when the temp is -40.

BTW it's not a "she", it's not a "baby", it's just a machine. :)