Do NJ Drivers Still Need To Warm Up Their Cars In The Morning?

Who doesn't love a warm car in the morning? Since I wake up and hit the road well before 5:30 AM, I like my car to be nice and toasty before taking off. Unfortunately, I don't have an automatic starter, so I just sit in there until it warms up.

I wish I had one of those fancy cars with the steering wheel warmer. They're SO nice. One day...

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Back in the day, people thought that warming up their cars before embarking on their morning commutes actually benefitted their car's engine. While that was true for cars in the 1990s and older, you're actually not supposed to do that in 2025.

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Stop Warming Up Your Car In The Morning

It turns out, warming up your car to protect your catalytic converter is a now a thing of the past. Newer cars don't have to worry about driving before the engine warms because they take so little time to heat up nowadays.

If your goal is be more comfy and cozy before beginning your morning commute, then good on you. Sources at Southern Living reveal that you're not helping prolong your car's running life by doing so.

"If the goal is to reduce wear on the moving parts of the vehicle by starting the engine and letting it run thus allowing lubricant to flow, this is no longer needed. If the goal is to increase passenger comfort, however, this is a different matter entirely."

All you're doing when you keep your car running is waste money, gas, and time. Again, if you just want to be warm and comfortable, though, then have at it.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

Gallery Credit: Sophia Crisafulli