While sitting in the car in the works carpark this morning, I noticed that the coolant temp gauge was only sitting around 60 degrees...

I had been sitting in the car idling for around 10 minutes when I noticed, but I'm not sure if the temp gauge got any higher than this.

I'd driven approx 14 miles over the space of 30 mins, heater seemed ok, maybe felt a little colder than usual. Outside temp was around

-2 degrees.

I've read other posts, that noted that the gauge would drop if the car was idling, if this correct ?

Once warmed up it should be steady at 90. Mine never moves from 90 once its warmed up.

If the ambient is cold enough and the heater is working hard my temperature gauge will slowly drop to 70 or 60 degrees when the engine is idling. All three of my 2.0 TDIs have done this.

Once on the move or the heating is turned down or off and the gauge is straight back to 90 degrees.

Your heater matrix acts like a radiator with the fan running and pulls out more heat from the coolant than the thermally efficient diesel engine can put back in (at idle).

Thanks for the replies guys...

Hopefully its just a case of the gauge dropping due to me sitting idling..... I'll keep an eye on it tonight !

I've sat in my car at idle for over 25 mins before now from a cold start, in mild weather, and it didn't reach 90. These engines are so efficient, idling isn't enough to get the engine warm!