I try to avoid sleeping on bare ground outdoors, especially when it may be cold. The Earth is a pretty big heat sink. If I have a sleeping pad on me and I have the option, I'll almost always use it inside the car. Exception for perfect weather and visibility nights.
I would not want to sleep on the bare metal frame of my car either though. Having seats that fold flat is a key feature for me- you have a perfeclty flat campsite ready to go anytime.
i left a water bottle in my subaru for a few days in well-below-freezing temps (i think it got down to the teens at night). it took a few days for the water in the bottle to freeze, which certainly surprised me.
A person could calculate the heat loss using the ASRAE tables. I’m too lazy but am sure it’s warmer inside a car. Yeah, somewhat of a heat sink but not as vast as the entire outdoors.
Couple studies on this came out of eastern Idaho U back in the late 80's. Physics dept if I recall. Car was better. That's pretty much all you need to know.
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