We layed up Val's Mitsubishi for 18 months whilst cruising. Just disconnected battery and covered with dust sheets in garage. When we returned, just charged battery, reconnected and it started almost instantly. No issues driving either.
I have reservations on the wear and tear caused by very slowly warming up cold engine oil, which will still be cool even when engine coolant up to temperature. I would also be concerned of sooting up plugs on earlier engines.
When I run up my narrowboat diesel engine during winter layup, I put a load on the engine via alternators (250 amp total). A 2kW heater fed by invertor/batteries simulates a prop load, obviously not possible with a car though.
