Dear Scotty,
Big fan of your channel, you are awesome! I bought a 2010 mazda6 (automatic) with 47000 miles a couple of months ago and I'm loving it! I recently started doing food delivery as a side gig and was wondering if you think I should turn off the car if I'll be away for a couple of minutes. Is it better to switch off the engine or to keep it running for 3-5 minutes??
If the engine is warmed up, then you can turn it off and on during your drop-offs. But turning off and on the engine while the engine is cold (not at operating temperatures) is not good for it. The most wear occurs on cold start-ups.
How sure are you that the car won’t get stolen if you leave it unattended for 5mins?
That's what I was thinking too. I'd be worried more about a stolen car than turning the engine on and off a few extra times.
Precisely!
If the car is unattended and it will get stolen, by all means turn the engine off. But constantly turning it on and off while engine is cold is how you wear the engine out.
But if you are like at a red light or can lock the car then for like 2 3 minutes it should not be a big deal I think you should leave it alone just like the stupid auto start stop systems it will wear the engine out.
Scotty answered this question in one of his videos. If you are in a good neighborhood, leave it running, otherwise, you have to run behind your car.
I know right! I had to check the date on the question just to double check.
I wanted to say that Scotty agrees with your comment. That's all!