DBH

2022 GTS. It takes a couple of minutes to settle to "normal" idle RPM. Maybe due to GTS having sport PASM. However, I thought all (newer) cars had high RPM at cold start-up mandated by big brother to bring cats up to temp faster thus reducing emissions.

Ironman88

Point #1 above - completely agree.

Point #2 above - I would not do this and not advise anyone to do it.

Sport mode raises the shift points equating to higher engine RPMs being achieved prior the shifting out of each gear. This is precisely what you do not want a cold engine to do. You should strive to keep the engine speeds down until it warms up.

peterp

In many modern cars, the only way to warm it up effectively (short of manual shifting) in very cold temps is to use sport mode. That's because the standard shift points are very, very low in many new cars (to meet fuel economy & emissions targets). For example, the Base Macan's 2.0t (and Audi Q5 2.0t), normal mode shift points are around 1500 RPM -- the engine stays at 1400-1600 RPM all the time (on the highway, side streets), which is way, way too low for effective warmup in very cold temps (normal mode is probably fine for 30 or 40 degrees and above). When it is very cold (20's and below), you can feel that the engine is very unhappy being lugged at 1400 RPM the first several minutes of driving -- it is much happier at 2500 RPM and the engine will warm up much faster.

When you change to "sport" mode and drive normally (not putting your foot in it) , it shifts around 3000 RPM, and steady state is around 2500 RPM instead of 1400 RPM -- that 2500-3000 RPM range is generally considered the ideal RPM for warming up effectively.

The only time sport mode will shift at much higher RPM's is when you put your foot into it, which you should never do when the engine is cold regardless of mode selected. If you have a car that shifts at 4k+ RPM in sport mode even when driven lightly, then I'd agree with you to not use sport mode, but I don't think a car exists that shifts at very high RPM with light throttle in sport mode. Maybe a car with "race" mode might do that, but I still doubt it, and race mode is different than sport mode.

Ironman88

Opinion noted.

Again, running the car in sport mode initially - especially in cold temps is not something I would ever do, nor would I advise anyone to do.

peterp

What RPM range do you think is best to warm up the engine when driving around from a cold start?

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DBH

I never put extra strain on the engine before OIL operating temp is reached. In other words, leave it in normal mode and drive "reasonably". Isn't this what the Porsche engineers envisioned?

Ironman88

The advice below is 100% spot on. The shift mapping in normal operating mode will keep the RPM's well below 3k.

DHL

I think this is a bit old school, probably more important when folks ran 20-50W oils and not the very low 0W and 5W weight oils used today. My 2002 E39 M5 had LEDs on the tach to reduce RPMs when cold, which slowly opened higher RPMs as the car warmed up. These are gone in modern BMWs and Porsches so I have to believe the engineers would have reduced redlines at cold temps if this was really a concern. With modern ECU technology it would be easy to reduce redlines when the engine is cold so why don't they do this?

I use sport mode just after starup even if the engine is cold because lugging the engine constantly does more harm the a few 3000 RPM shifts. If your are careful and don't stomp on the accelerator sport mode still shifts mostly below 3000 RPM if you are light on the throttle, and this is well withing engine operating parameters. You do have to be mindfull of switching to sport mode while underway, as I have had it downshift and shoot RPMs well over 4000 RPM on switching. I make a habit of switching before I start the car to avoid these transients (or do it while idle at a stoplight).

peterp

If Porsche had a different engine mapping for extreme cold versus warm, then I'd think whatever it did by default was optimal, but (as far as I can tell) it shifts exactly the same at 10 or 20 degrees dead cold as it does 80 degrees with a hot engine.

The question is, which one puts more strain on a cold engine -- lugging it at 1400 RPM in 6th gear (or whatever) when it's very cold, or running it in 4th gear (or whatever) at 2500RPM?

I've always heard that 2500-3000 RPM is ideal for warmup. The RPM discussion is more often asked in the context of idling to warm up. The answer (I suspect we all agree) is that idling for warmup is always the worst choice -- it takes forever to warm up so that the engine gets more wear from being at low temps for much longer, and oil pressure can be lower at idle speeds. In that idle discussion, I've always heard that around 2500-3000 rpm is best for warm up.

The goal to minimize wear is to warm up the engine/oil as quickly as possible without putting strain on the engine. For sure, oil warms up faster at 2500RPM than 1400RPM, so the total time spent with cold oil is reduced. Is 2500 rpm harder on the engine than lugging at 1400 rpm under load? I personally think it is less stressful to run at higher RPM. When I drive the 2.0t Macan Base in single digit weather, the engine feels like it is really straining at the default 1400 rpm, and it feels entirely happy after dropping it down a gear or two to 2500 rpm. That's not an acid test, of course, but the engine sure feels very unhappy at 1400rpm in very cold temps.

Larson E. Rapp

Exactly. Switch to Sport or Sport+ as soon as the engine starts if you like, just take it easy on the loud pedal until the oil temp comes out of the blue zone.