Thanks for all your wisdom Ray. Question: My 2019 Nissan Rogue is very slow to warm up. Texas is mostly hot but can be as cold as Alaska in winter. I have to drive the Rogue for about 15 minutes at highway speeds before the heater blows hot air. The dealer says that 4 cylinder engines need more time to warm up. Is this because they burn less fuel? In contrast my 25 year old 6 cylinder Maxima warms up in about 5 minutes. Maybe if I give our politicians a ride to work we would get hot air right away! Thanks.
Some vehicles are faster to warm up than others, period.
My turbo 4 heats faster than the V6 I had, the V6 heated faster than my V8 truck.
Something that helps, leave the HVAC off until temperature gauge begins to enter the normal range.
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I am not a mechanic but a few things come to mind. Your thermostat might be stuck open. You could have air in the heater core. The temperature sensor that controls the fan could be bad, making the fan run constantly, or some related relay could be stuck. You can test for that last one by starting the engine cold and opening the hood without the ac or defroster on. The fan shouldn’t be running at that point, if it is you have a target, if not you’ve eliminated one possibility.
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How long does it take for the temperature gauge in the dash to get into the normal range (about 40% from cold to hot if no numbers, 180 if the gauge has numbers).
This vehicle should be giving you a check engine light. Based on outside temperature, the computer allows a calculated time for the engine to come up to proper running temperature, if it doesn’t, it sets the check engine light.
If you have the dual heat control where you dial in the temperature and can dial in different temperatures for the driver and passenger, these can be problematic. I have this in my new Frontier and I don’t like it as it seems to have a mind of its own. No heat and then it blasts you with max heat. Instead of settling down to the desired temperature, it seems to go from all heat to no heat, back an forth when ever the cabin temperature strays off the desired setting. Not as comfortable as the older non digital systems.
The thermostat may be broken.
Tester
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Even a $40 scanner will give you temp readouts. If you have no code for low temp then I say your system is ok with the warmup speed.
Was it always like this? If this is a new problem, I’m agreeing with the others that it could be the thermostat.
Have you checked the coolant level?
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This is a nearly new Rogue, just 10k miles, no error codes or faults. Thanks to all for commenting. I have had thermostats fail in other cars. I don’t think that’s the problem, because once it warms up the temp remains stable. A bad thermostat would have the temp gauge moving up and down, maybe never fully stabilize or reach correct temp. I am inclined to believe the dealer who said that newer 4 cylinder Nissans are just slow to warm up. It is what it is.
You could try blocking off part of the grill.
I don’t think 15 minutes is a long time in cold weather.
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I wouldn’t do that. Not in Texas. Can get a hot day any time.
Well, one does have to pay attention to the forecast!
No modern car should need the radiator blocked off.
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Remote start. push the button on the key fob. wait 15 minutes, hop in the car and “bobs your uncle” LOL
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Letting an unoccupied vehicle run is a violation in some places and it wastes fuel everywhere.
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If the purpose is to warm up the engine/interior of the car. Then it’s not “wasting” fuel as that’s the intent of the user. The action of of running the engine is accomplishing the task the user is setting out to do.
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It does not take a 4 cylinder longer to heat up than larger engines. The dealer is blowing smoke up your *** when he says that.
The first question is, how long does it take for the temperature gauge to come up to normal. Even on the coldest day, it should be up to normal within 8 minutes, usually they get up to normal in about 3-4 minutes.
Engine temp and heater temp are two different issues. I need you to separate these. Does the engine temp come up long before the heater provides warm air? If so, this is not an engine issue but a heater issue. Please clarify.
EDIT: the dealer would be right if the engine comes up to normal temp in the required time frame but the cabin does not heat up for some time in that a 4 cylinder does not provide as much waste heat per unit of time as a larger engine. Combine that with the larger cabin of a crossover and it can take some time to feel the heat in the cabin.
My Subaru is like that, the engine is up to temp within about 2 miles (I do not warm up the engine before driving off) but I’m nearly to town (6 miles) before I can turn off the seat heaters.
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Again, +1
In the usual winter temperatures, my “cold engine light” turns off in ~1.5 miles, but on an extremely frigid day, it takes more like 2 miles before it turns off. Once that light turns off, I get heat, but I prefer to leave the seat heater turned on for a few more minutes, until the cabin is comfortably warm.
A partial solution would be if y’all who live in the colder parts o the country is to shoot that varmint today so he can’t see his shadow tomorrow that way you would have an early spring with warmer weather. 
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Unfortunately, our local forecasting groundhog just died. 