With the coldest mornings closing in, has anyone got any cheap ways to make getting in the car at 7:30am more bearable? Mine's so freezing and takes so long to get warm that it's almost painful. I'm used to the cold but when you're sitting still on your backside shivering for the first 15 minutes it's just downright unpleasant!

I put on my heated seats :p

Portable heater, extension lead to house, no defrosting and toasty, then you can turn your car heater off till your engine gets up to temp , thats the problem with diesels they can take 8 miles to get warm , try cycling 12 miles before 7 in it 

With the coldest mornings closing in, has anyone got any cheap ways to make getting in the car at 7:30am more bearable? Mine's so freezing and takes so long to get warm that it's almost painful. I'm used to the cold but when you're sitting still on your backside shivering for the first 15 minutes it's just downright unpleasant!

Have you not heard of a coat?

Or gloves and hats...........

Heated seats and an aux heater are the OEM options to help warm you up. The latter comes in two varieties:

- Electrical versions that kick out up to 1kw of heat until the engine warms up

- Diesel/petrol versions that heat the entire engine on a timer, this way the engine is warm before you start the car

 

I've recently added the electric version (PTC heater) to my octavia and I get warm air within a minute of starting the car. Not tested it in below freezing temperatures yet as I only fitted it recently so time will tell if 1kw is enough power or not!

 

There is a thread about fitting the same on a fabia that might give you some ideas: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/215106-ptc-auxiliary-heater-for-quicker-heating-in-winter/

Depending on where you park your car you could fit a Clifford alarm with intellistart so you can start the csr from your fob! Used to have it on my Focus RS was great for warming up. Car remains locked and steering locks on and you either neede to put key in ignition or type security code within a few minutes of opening a door.

One of the guys on here made a blanking plate for the air intake which allowed the car to warm quicker by using the warmed air In the engine bay.

heated seat cushions £9.99 for sale in aldi with 3 years warranty 

7.30 in the morning and your moaning, try doing it at 4.30. This is when I'm cold, not still under the Duvet for another few hours. Man up

7.30 in the morning and your moaning, try doing it at 4.30. This is when I'm cold, not still under the Duvet for another few hours. Man up

Good point

7.30am is a lie in.

As said get a heated seat cover that plugs into the cigarette socket. They're in Lidl at the minute for 9.99.

Nice toasty bum within a couple of minutes

After getting our 2nd Fabia, I'm pretty much attached to it's parking heater. It's programmed to start within 30 minutes when leaving to work. It's nice and warm inside, the coolant needle is in the middle and the engine starts a lot better. 

Edited 25 November, 201510 yr by Alexandru

Depending on where you park your car you could fit a Clifford alarm with intellistart so you can start the csr from your fob! Used to have it on my Focus RS was great for warming up. Car remains locked and steering locks on and you either neede to put key in ignition or type security code within a few minutes of opening a door.

Does not work with a diesel, it will never warm up just idling when the weather is cold. Diesels are thermally efficient so need to be driven at reasonable load to get any sort of temperature into the engine in cold weather.

Edited 25 November, 201510 yr by mannyo

After getting our 2nd Fabia, I'm pretty much attached to it's parking heater. It's programmed to start within 30 minutes when leaving to work. It's nice and warm inside, the coolant needle is in the middle and the engine starts a lot better. 

 

I was reading about how they work. They use fuel from the car's tank right? Seems really weird   

I've been thinking about one of these;

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Coolant-Block-Heater-Engine-Pre-Heater-Hotstart-ATO-ONE-220-240-VAC-/231157916341?hash=item35d215e2b5:g:KwwAAMXQC-tS~HtX

 

They fit inline in the coolant system and heat up the coolant so you get warm air once you start the engine.

 

You would ideally need to mount a socket of some sort to make it easier to plug in and I guess an external plug socket on a timer.

 

Phil

Did you not get your PTC heater done then Phil?

Edited 25 November, 201510 yr by softscoop

I've been thinking about one of these;

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Coolant-Block-Heater-Engine-Pre-Heater-Hotstart-ATO-ONE-220-240-VAC-/231157916341?hash=item35d215e2b5:g:KwwAAMXQC-tS~HtX

 

They fit inline in the coolant system and heat up the coolant so you get warm air once you start the engine.

 

You would ideally need to mount a socket of some sort to make it easier to plug in and I guess an external plug socket on a timer.

 

Phil

that's the econd e-bay link that;s not worked today     in line heaters really need some circulation to spread it around other wise the sensors can "hicup" once the engines started  unless it's battery/engine powered

Did you not get your PTC heater done then Phil?

 

No. I'm still in two minds whether to just go for it.

 

I get so close to ordering the bits then chicken out! lol

 

It's fairly straight forward but fiddly.

 

Phil

I was reading about how they work. They use fuel from the car's tank right? Seems really weird 

They do use fuel from the car's tank. Average consumption is about .5 litres/hour for a 4.4kW one.  Mine is setup to run about 30 minutes before leaving to work. IMHO, fuel/month would be the same or maybe less, because this thing prevents engine from coldstarts and basically it shouldn't burn more fuel to warm up. Another good thing is that you don't need to defrost the windows in the morning. You leave the blower on 1st or 2nd and it starts along with the heater. 

 

Later edit: Yesterday I've made a few phone calls to try and setup a Webasto thing on my Fabia. It seems that's pretty expensive, ~ £850-900 for a basic model, the remote is sky high expensive, ~ £150, when the standard control unit in the dashboard is sold separately for  £70. 

I'm still in love with my 1.4 8V and not replacing it with the 16V one, even if it has parking heater lol.

Edited 26 November, 201510 yr by Alexandru