To OP sounds like you may have an issue going on.
Me for example. This morning it was -2, not much of a windchill. I let my car run about 10-15 minutes. With NO heat on. Fan on zero. Went to leave, temp gauge not moved after idling. After driving a mile through my sub, staying around 2k on the tach, gauge budged! Drive another 2 miles or so while keeping between 2-2.5k on the tac and wait at a light. After the 2 miles(at most) to get to the light, my temp gauge was close to the quarter mark. Turn the heat on to 2 or 3(out of 6) and temp gauge starts moving down quickly. Turn heat down to fan speed 1 and give it some gas at the light while in neutral, keeping it around 1.5k to generate more heat. Doing this kept it pretty close to quarter mark on the temp gauge.
After that city driving occurred of 40-50 mph, again keeping it around 2k to generate more heat. A few more miles down the road and I'm almost to normal operating temp on the gauge. Stop at a light, turn fan setting to 4 after maybe 30 seconds of this I notice the temp gauge barely moving, so I turn down to speed 2, gauge stops moving....I can deal with 2 for now as I'm not freezing anymore. After just a few more minutes of driving/idling it hits the middle mark on temp gauge(normal operating temp) and stays there.
ONCE the engine temp finally reaches normal operating temp with this car for a few minutes, it seems the iron block holds the heat very well and will roast you right out of the car. However being an iron block vs aluminum it takes much longer to heat up but does HOLD the heat longer once heated. VS an aluminum block that will heat faster but dissipate faster.
This is the price we pay for a 1.4T that's as fuel efficient as it is....want quicker heat? Buy a car with an aluminum block or a diesel with an actual electric heater or don't complain about gas prices and drive something that doesn't get 40+mpg. There's always trade-offs. People will always complain about something and want the WORLDS BEST AMAZING CAR for 20k....doesn't work like that. Yes it stinks, but it's just part of the game, don't like it then sell the car because it's NOT going to change lol.