Exactly, warmed up or overheating? I don't get the lack of a temp guage at all. Especially with BMW's cooling history.

But in the case of 2008+ models, I'd say that just about any car is ready to rock and roll after a good 5 or 10 minutes of driving depending on the outside air temp. Shorter times in the summer, longer in the winter. Plus in atuo's the car will shift early anyway to keep the rev's down.

 

What I like about the M models is that they have oil temp, not coolant temp like most cars out there. The oil temp was usually warmed up on my E46 M3 after about 10 minutes of driving. Then you can slam away!