I never had to do that as a kid. I was far too busy walking 20 miles to school through snow and ice, uphill in both directions.

 

Ah, brilliant...yes I do have kids. Hang on, he's only 3 months old, so how is he going to reach the windscreen?

 

Congratulations on your new son. It will be very interesting to see what your driving when he turns 16.

 

Only 20 miles, you were pampered as a child.

 

It will. He won't be getting behind the wheel though, don't think I'd trust him with my car (if I've got an e60 now, I'm not planning on downgrading), oh yes and because the legal age for driving here is 17! ;-)

 

I dont' have a garage so I have a few tips for you:

I bought a little electric heater with thermostat. I have a long cable running from the back of the house to the car and connect the little heater that is mounted on a flat board so that it never touches anything. The plug is IN the car and the cable runs via the door rubbers. In the house I put a programmable timer that turns it on approx 20 minutes before I usually take off. I also put a warning ' plug' in the key ' hole' to remind me to remove the cable from the heater.
Depending on the distances between your car and the house where you can put the timer safely (in my case no one can steal the cable and during the day there's no power on it so kids can't hurt themselves. Still I throw the plug over the fence in the morning to make sure there's nothing to play with. In your case you may be able to have the cable enter the door that you open to put your coat in or bag or whatever.

Found the above the perfect solution (if you don't have a built-in pre-heater (standheizung) which is ridiculously expensive) in any car I've used.

Important points to put into place are:
- heater may not get tooo hot (overheat safety built in)
- interior materials may not get too hot (mount it on something so it cannot fall over and lean against the upholstery) I mounted mine on the back seat, blowing air diagonally through the car towards the steering wheel)
- electricity plug INSIDE the car (because someone can unplug it (I'm thinking of playing kids) however, outside may be a better idea considering driving off without unplugging. Therefore:
- do something to make sure you do not drive off without unplugging. I block the hole where the key fob goes, you can also lead the cable around the gear stick or something like that.
- use a programmable timer to make sure: it starts in time so the car is heated up slowly but surely without too much heat needed and: no electricity on the cable when it's not used.


When I get into the car, the windows are demoisted or defrosted, the interior is reasonably warm (I don't need to keep my coat on which is good as I don't like to drive for over an hour with it). I do put the vent on the minimal position so that the heater starts working but does not start blowing untill I'm 5 min's away. I found that it blows colder air than I have inside the car for those few minutes. But pushing 'off' makes it take longer to start blowing warm air. (or it seems so)


The door rubbers can be dried using 'talcon powder' (this is a straight translation, don't know what it is in English) It's the white, extremely fine powder that is used in shoes before long walks or to powder baby's buttocks after wiping. Avoid using greasy stuff, did that on another car and it gets dirty quickly plus when you scrape past it, it smudges your clothes. Also: it doesn't work very well.


Hope this helps your thoughts toward a solution.




About the kid solution: you may want to start training with de-icing the headlights?

 

Thanks BMDiesel, I'll look into it.

And yes I know what you mean...it is called Talcum Powder in English.