Car doesnt seem to warm up.

Hey all,

It seems like my car takes forever to warm up.
Last night after 20kms of driving the needle barely moved off the C
With the heater on it doesn't help either when I put my foot down the temp would drop.

What could be the problem
thermostat
temp sensor

any help would be greatly appreciated

thanks

id start with thermostat

with the cold weather lately this could be expected. The heater will cool the motor down if on as well. If you are doing freeway driving then the cool air will be cooling down as well. The only way to check for sure is to drive in traffic

in traffic it struggles to reach the optimum heat.

My main concern is that if the engine is cold, how much damage can it cause??
As i will using the car when i go snowboarding. pretty much every weekend.

as stated - it wont reach to optimum because the thermostat is likely seized (failed) in the OPEN position.

Its been pretty cold lately, ive noticed my needle doesnt move till about 10mins into a drive.

Thermostate stuck open.

if your temp gauge shows it comes up to temp when the car is parked then your temp sensor is probably fine...

Then as others have stated check your thermostat

thanks for the input so far
will have it checked out over the weekend.