I have an RC-350. It starts at about 1800 RPM. The idle stays high until it warms up. Always putting it in gear with high idle unless you let it run for 15 min. Even does it when its warm out. This is extremely annoying. I guess this is normal, so I am selling this car. Ticks me off every time I start it.

Does the RCF do this as well?

All my other cars stay below 1000 rpms when cold. Wondering if this is a Lexus or Toyota thing.

 

Yep. The RCF does that as well in a cold start. Though, the idle drops pretty significantly after like 45 seconds. Here is my cold start video. You can see it drops after a little while

 

Bummer, car sounds great but has that idle. Is it annoying? Does it feel like your foot is on the gas when you put it in gear?

 

To be fair, most cars old and new have a pretty high idle. Most if not all Lexus/Toyota cars do idle higher when cold than most other brands, but I don't see why it would be annoying, aside from the extra noise.

They mostly do it so they warm up faster, because generally speaking cold oil doesn't really like to flow and when in the winter, people want their heat and they want it now.

 

Putting this thing in gear at 1500 rpms, even after waiting several minutes is annoying.

Starting at 1800 rpms can’t be good for the car.

If some people want a high idle to warm up quickly, there should be a setting you can change.

Except for no acceleration, its a pretty good car. Was thinking of switching to RCF. But, if it does that idle thing too, will switch to another brand.

 

It is something common across the board. All of my other cars do the same. They start idle at high rpm in cold starts. It is for emissions purposes because the engine emissions are high when the engine starts up cold. The high idle is done in order to bring the catalytic converter up to temperature quickly so that they start to control the emissions quickly. The idle drops after it is properly warmed up. My Corolla XRS is a 2005 and I have had it since 2004. It always start at 2100 - 2200 rpm on a cold start and takes a long time before it drops down to 1000 rpm. My RCF is much quicker in dropping the rpms from 1800 rpm down to around 800 - 900 rpm once the cats are warmed up,

 

My 2010 IS350 doesn't idle that high and that long on cold mornings. But I park my cars in the garage, so that's probably why. It's not too cold.

 

Literally every modern car has a higher idle on a cold start up. It really is an odd thing to get annoyed at ...out of all the things cars do that can be annoying. Maybe just stick with 80 & 90s domestics, or a bicycle?

 

I have a 2020 Ram 1500 5.7 Hemi. It starts at about 1500 RPM. Its down to 600 RPMs in two minutes.

Also have a 2014 Buick, it idles high at startup but drops quickly.

I have a 2005 sequoia. It does idle high longer than I like, but its not as annoying as the RC.

 

Definitely normal, especially when its colder out in the morning. My IS350 won't drop its rpm in cold weather (sub 30 F) for probably ~15 minutes. Although, 15 minutes when its hot outside seems a bit excessive.

 

So I started up my car yesterday after it has sat all week. Startup idle is about 1800-1500RPM and then drops to 1000RPM within maybe a minute? Garage in Florida but it had been cold... but like 60's cold. Idle of 1800RPM for 15 minutes sounds like a temp sensor is out of whack or something.

 

It's normal and won't harm the car. I don't know about the RC350 but the RCF even lowers the RPM redline to I think somewhere around 5k only (can't remember exact number now) when the car is cold and it gradually starts rising until it hits the regular redline when the car warms up. I start my RCF and basically wait until the "start up" bar completes and it's good to go but technically you can just turn it on and put it in drive and go. I've had my RCF 5 years now 55k miles and have always done this

 

Dropping under 1000 RPM after a minute sounds reasonable to me. Thats what you would expect. So, maybe this is just an RC350 thing. Or Lexus V6 thing. I hope.

 

If you are parking outside in the cold, it would be much longer. Not sure how cold it gets in Tennessee. In my video above, it drops after 30 seconds because it always stays in a heated garage.

 

All cars do it. Fast idle on cold start helps cold fuel vaporize and burn better (better for the environment) and also helps the engine warm up faster for better fuel efficiency. Oils nowadays are very efficient even at freezing temps. In the past they where not as good so warming up a vehicle was a good idea, especially pre 70s when some cars had non-harden cams.
Colder is not always better.