Well, if the car is cool, you may appreciate it when you finally do get in.

And if the car isn't (much) cool, it will only take a very little energy to get it nice and warm.

So, not necessarily “welll before you leave” but, yes, a little while before you leave.

 

I would turn the heat on about 5-10 minutes before you leave in that situation.

 

Your title mentions preconditioning. If you mean for the battery, no need. A 60-degree battery will do great and the car wouldn’t warm it anyway.

And for me, I cant see the need to preheat the cabin. You’ll be headed out dressed for winter, to a car that’s 60 degrees, which has a warm and efficient seat heater.

 

Your title mentions preconditioning. If you mean for the battery, no need. A 60-degree battery will do great and the car wouldn’t warm it anyway.

And for me, I cant see the need to preheat the cabin. You’ll be headed out dressed for winter, to a car that’s 60 degrees, which has a warm and efficient seat heater.

... and a [previously considered decadent] steering wheel heating. I actually keep the cabin relatively cool (esp. given dressed for Winter) and rather use the near-immediate seat/wheel heating just to take the chill off the materials.

 

No

 

The advantage of running the climate, even for a few minutes when not truly needed, is that the car will be partially awake so the infotainment will be ready a bit sooner than if waking up from a deep sleep mode.

 

I wonder if some have a longer lag time. For us, it's a number of seconds in the low single digits.

 

The good thing is that the infotainment system will forget your settings from yesterday and give you the chance to set them all up again. Lots of clicking on icons.

In the Internet Influencer biz it’s called Engagement Rate.

 

What is wheel heating for?

 

We're speaking of heating the steering wheel here and it's to keep your hands warm while minimizing how much general passenger cabin heating you need.

 

It’s bitter cold here. Our garage is heated to 60 degrees. Should I turn on the heat in my car well before I leave? Thanks

Your car is living in luxury...that's warmer than I keep my bedroom!
Is it a building shared garage or do you have control over it? If it's something you can control, I'd dial down the garage heat considerably and then start using the cabin preconditioning. I set the car temp to 60 anyway for driving and with occasional seat or steering wheel heat it is more than comfortable.