Just wondering if this is normal? It is pretty cold here lately (-25 degrees celcius). I was at a friends place and was there for about 5 hours after the engine being warmed up. It took at least 15km to warm up (part of that hiway and it still never even got up to where the temp guage usually sits.

Maybe this is normal but all I can do is compare it to my protege5 that warmed up FAST (no matter how cold it was)

Also, I have noticed that after driving the car for a while, I will see air in the part of the overflow resevoir where the black hose is connected. Bascially, just follow the overflow hose to the overflow tank and that column on the tank is mostly full of air (not coolant) (see pic). I always thought that line should be full of coolant. The dealership said is normal, but a mechanic friend said there should not be any air at all in it (even in the overflow hose)

Any thoughts on this? Could air in the system cause a VERY SLOW warm up?

Thanks!

 

for an all aluminum block which sheds heat very well. Along with a very efficient engine. If you are moving along at highway speeds at -25C you are scrubbing heat extremely well. Think of the wind chill effect at those speeds.
I've been enjoying the same temps here in Calgary and one thing that helps is to manually choose a higher gear and get the RPMs up. Driving in 5th or even 4th on the highway will heat things up a lot faster. This transmission will try to keeps RPMs as low as possible for fuel economy (and less fuel burnt means less heat). That being said, I drove around town trying to get some christmas shopping done yesterday and the temp display showed -26 to -27C the entire time. The outie was toasty warm inside and worked great.