Being a day man I love that my night heater makes sure my truck is snuggly warm each morning (only off July and August) so can I fit one to my car?
If not I want to hibernate.
A few cars have a preheater as an option, fuel powered to heat the water in the cooling system. Switchable from the Keyfob.
Aftermarket your best bet is either from a scrapper, or a 240v system that you leave plugged in overnight.
Heating the coolant is a better bet as it means you have minimal engine wear, and better mpg.
Back in the day… there was a device marketed by Kenlowe called the ‘Hotstart’ which did exactly as described by the previous reply, you connected it to the heater pipes and plugged it into the mains overnight so the engine was warm the next morning, not sure how successful it was in terms of sales (I worked in a motorfactor for 16 years and can only recall selling one)
powdertank:
Back in the day… there was a device marketed by Kenlowe called the ‘Hotstart’ which did exactly as described by the previous reply, you connected it to the heater pipes and plugged it into the mains overnight so the engine was warm the next morning, not sure how successful it was in terms of sales (I worked in a motorfactor for 16 years and can only recall selling one)
They still make them
Its widely used still in Canada in cars and trucks.
Up here a lot of diesel cars have heaters for the Engine\cab.These are 12 volt and can be pre-set time wise.I Think you have to look at a Scandinavian car site or accessory site.My old one was Webasto.I’m not sure about petrol cars.
You could just buy a Webasto style heater, I did one on my old VW camper. Not cheap though
My landrover has one. Press the key fob button when I wake up, by the time I get outside it’s fully defrosted and toasty warm inside. 
Just looked at the webasto prices PHEW might just set my alarm 5 mins earlier.
What system are you using 109lwb?
Shunter at works got in on his range rover,set the timer in the car,heats up seats windscreen and steering wheel,toasty inside lol
Many coaches have the aforementioned Webasto fitted, which heats the coolant and circulates it around the radiator heaters inside. Even for something capable enough to heat a coach they are surprisingly compact.
That said, it only takes my car about three minutes of steady driving for the water to reach normal temperature even in sub-zero weather. Not much use if you want to keep the ice off the windows, though.
I only live 5 mins from work. I’m a wuss brrrr
Olog Hai:
That said, it only takes my car about three minutes of steady driving for the water to reach normal temperature even in sub-zero weather. Not much use if you want to keep the ice off the windows, though.
Unless it’s a Smartcar, my poor little car in this weather has slightly less cold air coming out of heaters, rather than warm air. I don’t think the little engine on the motorway can produce enough heat to warm inside very well
A lot of the higher spec BMW’s in the UK had auxiliary heaters in the passenger front wing but are disabled for use here, needed someone with the software to activate it, last one I owned that had one was in a 2002 530D but never checked the last few.
Honked:
Just looked at the webasto prices PHEW might just set my alarm 5 mins earlier.What system are you using 109lwb?
It’s a factory fitted webasto that I’ve modified to come on by using the follow me home headlights. Press the fob once to turn the lights on, and that also fires a signal to the heater to activate. Press the fob again to turn the lights off and the rest is magic.
The factory way is it just comes on when you start the car and the temp is under 5 degrees, but that’s not much use when the car is covered in ice and I’m late for work. 
Maybe im missing something here…start car, leave it running for 5 mins with the heater/air con on full demist while indoors having a cup of tea? Surely cheaper than the outlay for a seperate heater…
Possibly, but not cheaper if someone nicks your car from your drive while you are enjoying your cuppa…as my neighbour found out
when the insurance refused to pay out.
Cold car …wtf 
MTFU
AndrewG:
Maybe im missing something here…start car, leave it running for 5 mins with the heater/air con on full demist while indoors having a cup of tea? Surely cheaper than the outlay for a seperate heater…
Yes you are. most modern diesels don’t heat up by ticking over, and you can knacker the DPF by doing so, also the car is unlocked and running outside, so some sod could drive off in it…
peirre:
Cold car …wtfMTFU
Oi stop picking on me lol
I’m getting older and grumpier and it’s one of my legitimate moans.
AndrewG:
Maybe im missing something here…start car, leave it running for 5 mins with the heater/air con on full demist while indoors having a cup of tea? Surely cheaper than the outlay for a seperate heater…
I don’t know where you live but I wouldn’t leave my car running unattended for 30 seconds, yet alone 5 minutes. And as said, most diesels won’t heat up at all in 5 minutes running idle, so it will cost you fuel, potentially block your Dpf and egr and cost you time still having to de-ice the thing.