Just as the post states im just curious if it takes the northstars abit to warm up when its cold outside. I feel it takes quite some time to warm up before the heater starts to blow hot air. maybe its normal compared to my previous car which was a 91 Z24 cavalier v6 that warmed up within a couple of blocks or so. The cady seems to take 2-3miles driving in town before she warms up. is it cuz im not use too having a bigger car or is this normal for some of us?

 

Assuming the climate controls are set in the AUTO position and the temp selected is above 70 degrees, the blower will delay turning on till approx 150 degrees coolant temp. If it takes 3 to 4 miles to get there, I would suspect a partially stuck open thermostat. This engine runs around 200 to 225 degrees as normal. It uses a 195 thermostat. If the car gets to temperature within a few blocks then setting the temp above 80 will not make it warmer quicker, it will just make the hi fan run longer.

 

In weather around freezing, the blower on my 99 STS starts running within 1/4 - 1/2 mile and is blowing quite warm air within a mile. (Very hilly terrain around here and especially so in my typical routes.) Within 2 1/2 - 3 miles the it's fully heated with the temp gauge at dead center. When driving, it's definitely the quickest to heat 8-cylinder I've ever owned or driven, including earlier caddys with aluminum blocks.

It was outdoors once after about 1/4" of freezing rain that an ice scraper wouldn't faze and I noticed that it seemed VERY slow to warm at idle. The rear windowand outside mirrors weremelted enough to remove the ice WAY before the windshieldlet alone the side windows. Even my full-size truck that's always parked outdoors will more quickly melt ice enough to remove.

 

It sounds pretty average to normal to me. I wouldn't gauge the distance you drive, I would just gauge the time running, and mine takes a good 5 minutes before it starts throwing a decent amount of heat.