Yea, they do heat up pretty quickly (much faster than a standard Escape)

~John

 

so the heater is only needed in sub zero conditions? Utah only gets that low a few days a year.

 

The idea of owning a hybrid is 'personal preference.' And so would owning a remote starter. It's all about what we're willing to pay for.

And on the subject of what we're willing to pay for, there are individuals out there that are willing to take a few cents worth of fuel burning in order to get their vehicle up to warm-up/cool down quicker.

I haven't been to such places, but way up north, I hear there are towns where people actually leave their cars running when they run into stores because it's just so freakin' cold up there in the winters. It would seem to be a benefit to be able to have a remote starter in such a climate. First of all, the car can be warmed up without leaving the comfort of your home. And second, when that driver does leave their car parked outside of the store, with it still running, then they can activate the "run mode" while they're exiting the car. That way, they're able to take the keys with them without having to shut down the car. And, if some knucklehead decided to jump into the car in hopes of stealing it, the car would automatically turn off once the brake pedal was depressed.

 

Frankly thats not true in most vehicles. I started a 2000 Ford Probe in @ -38F without an engine block heater after it had sat all night. Its was a near thing, and its not something thats probably good for the engine to do every day.... but you can start a car sub zero wtihout an engine block heater---usually. Its certainly nice to have the reassurace AND to have the oil a bit thinner than molasses when she cranks over though.

 

As I live in the Twin Cities, which is officially the Nation's Coldest Metropolis, I will weigh in on how cars tolerate the cold.
All you really, truly have to do is make sure your antifreeze is mixed to the right proportion and that you've got better than a half-tank of gas. The traditional 50/50 mix on antirfreeze only protects to around -20 degrees. It gets way colder than that here, and so you need to up the antifreeze content since water has the nasty habit of freezing below 32 degrees. Also, if your gas tank is low, moisture can collect in the tank and freeze, which creates terrible problems.
I have lived on the frozen tundra for nearly 14 years, and none of the family's cars (a total of 10) has ever not started due to cold, including the two that moved with us from Florida (there have been, however, mornings when we people haven't felt like starting). My '08 FEH came with an engine block heater (I think they're almost standard up here). This will be my first experience with one, so I hope I don't forget to actually plug it in.
Also, one little thing that seems somewhat counterintuitive. Do not heat your garage. The change in temperatures will cause evaporation in the gas tank, and when you leave the warm garage and hit the cold air, your car may stall.
Enjoy Utah--at least you'll have pretty mountains to admire while you're freezing your keister off, instead of miles and miles of plains.

 

So it would see that having a block heater might be a good idea. even if say for me living in dallas I could have it plugged in over night and then in the moring the engine would already been warm, and it would not run as much b4 it shuts down. Does that make since? Also ford has a habit in my past experience to pre wire/plug and play some extra things. Like the block heater, could it maybe already be installed and all one would have to do is get the plug end and then it would work or would it have to be installed from scratch?

 

An engine block heater is not going to prevent the engine running on a cold morning because it has to run anyway to heat the catalytic converter to operating temps.

This Winter in upstate NY we had a really cold spell where it literally stayed at about 2º for a week at a time. My mpg dropped as low as its ever gotten during that time & the gas engine rarely if ever shut off at all.

If the engine did manage to turn off(& some days it never shut off at all), it started right back up again 30 seconds later.

~John

 

I forgot about the catalytic converter! oh well.

 

That's good- it usually means the search function came through for someone!

 

There actually is not a catalyitic converter thermometer. Its temperature in inferred by the ambient temperature ( via air intake sensor ) and cylinder head temperature sensor. There is no actual water temperature sensor. This is also inferred from the cylinder head temperature.

If the head temperature is t, and the ambient temperture is x, then it is very predictable that the water temperature is y, and the catalyist temperature is z.

It DOES help fuel economy and readiness to go EV to have engine block temperature warmer when you start your day.

P.S. 50/50 antifreeze is good down to -35'F. 70/30 is good for like -55'F.