this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2026
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This really depends on Keyfob range. My current cars tend to be around 50ft, though i haven't tested it tons past that. Prior to these, I had a Mazda Protégé5 that I could lock/unlock from 300'+ with line of sight. Thats more than enough to start/cool/heat/etc without actually leaving the house.
Honestly, even 50ft is probably fine. Only time I can think of wanting more would be leaving a large venue and wanting it heated/cooled in the parking garage before I got there... but I'd be worried about it being stolen while running at that point.
Where it's the most beneficial is when I can walk around e.g. a mall and the decide to heat/cool the car before leaving, or coming back from a hike I can start cooling 15min before we arrive at the car so it's nice and cool when we get there. If I can only start it 300' feet from the car, I might as well just wait the 30sec it takes to keep walking until I get there, it won't make a difference.
Edit: for EVs it doesn't need to start/enable the entire car, it only starts the AC unit.