I've got an 06 2.0 A3 and I've noticed it takes quite a long time to warm up. Anywhere between 15-20 min of driving. Outside temps varied between -20 C to 15 C butmakes very little difference in terms of warm up time. Thought it might be a thermostat problem, took it to Audi and they found no problem. They said the warm up time was probably normal but could'nt say for sure. Thanks. Anyway I live near a highway to get to work and I'm trying to avoid "opening it up" until the engine got to a proper operating temp as per the owners manual. Any advice?

 

The A3 2.0 warms up very slowly - about twice as long to get the water up to temp as the BMW and Volvo I own. It may have something to do with a larger block bound water capacity for the turbo and intercooler.

 

I have the same thing. When the temps were cold out side. -40 C and up to 15C it took about 20 min to warm up. Now that its getting warmer it doesn't take as long. I asked my local dealer and they said the 2.0 just needs a little more time then a normal. Go figure but as long as I get up to half way to operating its warm enought you wont hurt anything.

 

Let's define what we mean by warm up. Warmup (net heat generation)is a function of heat created - heat dissipated divided by the thermal mass.So, an A3 can't take any longer to warmup than any other car with similar physics.

My 06 2.0T starts to blow hot air in the cabin within 3 minutes of a cold start at 5 degrees C ambient temperature. Prettyclearly that takes a warm engine and a closed thermostat to do that.

What metric are you using to determine when your car is warmed up?

 

Temperature is measured by means of a thermometer.
Warm engine for me is when water termometer dial is pointing at 12:00 o'clock and oil engine temperature reaches 185 F.

My A3 2.0 2008 takes a long time towarm upif compared to a RAV4 or to my wifeToyota Yaris.

 

It's the efficiency of the direct injection that makes it take longer to warm up. Very similar to diesel technology. My TDI took longer to warm up than my 2.0TFSI. However, I still don't think it's that long, but I live in SoCal, so the air conditioner is more of a problem than anything.


Cheers!

 

So what you're telling us, chef, is that the efficient FSI injection, by precisely regulating mixture, creates a whole lot less combustion heat? I don't think so.