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I have a diesel car with electric heating (via wires) in the windshield and rear window. I get warm air within seconds and the electric heating wires obviously

• gambiting 4y ago
  Well depends how "old" is old for you - my last diesel was a 2016 1.6dCi Nissan Qashqai and that car was hopeless in winter - it would honestly take the better part of 30 minutes for hot air to come out if you were just sitting there idling. That sounds like whatever car you have has an additional electric coolant heater, if the warm air comes out "in seconds". I think some Mercedes cars have that? It's definitely not a standard everywhere.
  • hnbad 4y ago
    It's a 2016 Ford S-Max (2015 edition). The electric windshield heating was, I think, part of the "winter" package and not standard issue but it's an option available in many models from many different car companies. I'm not sure how the electric hot air works but I'm guessing it's part of the A/C (likely literally just a heating coil that is turned on if the supplied intake air is colder than the A/C setting). The only issue with electric windshield heating is that the wiring in the windshield makes them more expensive and thus more expensive to replace. It's definitely more common in temperate to colder places (for context: I'm in North Germany).