One thing I have noticed on my 2011 Golf and most of the VW cars from my dealer is that they don't use the OEM VW plug just a standard 6ft extension cord hanging out 2-3 inches of your car, that just plugs into another extension cord into your wall outlet. I like the clean look that the OEM VW plug gives but the dealer responded it's because we also provide all of the new cars with battery warmers as well with an extension cord to plug the coolant heater and battery warmer so you only have 1 thing to plug in. After looking at what they were talking about it makes sense. The original extension cord installed on the car shorted out and started to smoke
but they replaced it and sealed it up better with electrical tape.
Canadian owners are used to using block heaters in most vehicles, especially diesels. Our cars are unhappy starting when the thermometer is below about -20ºC. In my area, most office and paid parking lots provide places to plug in, but you sometimes have to test the plugs to ensure they are working.
I have typically used a single sturdy extension cord with the male end hanging out the front of the car, (either through the grille or between the hood and grille, as you please) and the extra length plus three outlets under the hood connect to the block heater, a heated battery blanket and an intelligent battery trickle charger. The extra length coiled under the hood can be uncoiled to form a back-up extension if you need it. Some people also have an interior car warmer, which sounds nice. Watch the total wattage, and beware of the associated risks, and ensure installation is neat and tidy.
The nice flush-mounted and flap-covered connectors on the TDI sportwagens are nice, but the cords are non-standard, so hard or costly to come by. My 2011 has this, and I have just one cord, which is risky. If you go somewhere when you might have to park for more than 5 hours or so, you have to take the cord with you. I like to always keep a spare in the back of the car, and one hanging ready to connect in my garage.
Yes, in Winnipeg, you even have to plug in when you are parked in an unheated garage, despite the safety warnings. Block heater fires do occur, but rarely (I think) to cars with proper installation and good quality cords. if you have a garage *attached* to your house, it is a risk to consider.
The manufacturer of the nice (non-standard) flush-mounted connector is Swedish, Calix (
https://www.calix.se/en/start) and they make a bunch of clever stuff related to vehicle heating. Notable is that they have various connectors to integrate other things, but I'll bet the costs start climbing.
Cold weather people know that not all cords are created equally. Cheap ones go rigid in the cold and can snap. Buy nice thick ones with black rubber. Not vinyl. The Calix people seem to have top quality cords, so that is a plus.
I'm hunting for a second Calix block heater cord, but I'm not paying the prices I've seen so far. I'm thinking that some people who sent their TDIs back to VW on the buyback kept every 'extra' they could. Can't blame them, really. With prices like this, though, I'm worried someone with swipe my costly cord at a public parking lot.
My dealer says that people just bypass this cool Calix connector when it fails or they lose the cord, and put a regular plug end on, and do it like the rest of us Canadians.
BTW, most people have winter stuff in their cars here, including a shovel, methyl hydrate (to de-ice locks), maybe a down sleeping bag, warm mittens, fluorescent toque (that's a 'warm hat' for our warm climate friends) and a good set of quality jumper cables. We're talking the long thick ones the tow truck drivers have. The parka I wear in the winter can be turned inside out to be flouro orange. We don't mess around in the winter. When you know life in our cold, you know that you don't want to be fiddling with stuff outside. It just has to work. Period.