High RPM when cold

My wifes 01 rav seems to run at about 3000 rpm's when it is cold out when you first take off. After a mile or so it starts running at normal rpm's. Does anyone know why it is doing this? She also had a 01 celica that did the same thing. It seems to run fine once it has warmed up a little. Any help would be appreciated.

I dont want to sound like a shmuck here, so forgive me if im in the wrong, but when i have an engine that was cold (depends how "cold" we're talkin here) it would be a typical way-below-freezing Boston winter day, and id make sure that i wouldnt let the tank go below 1/2 full and would throw in a bottle of dry gas. Sometimes something in the throttle body would freeze up, and till it got warm it wouldnt go away. The drygas usually took care of that.

Check with yer mechanic to see where the idling RPMs are maybe?

I dont want to sound like a shmuck here, so forgive me if im in the wrong, but when i have an engine that was cold (depends how "cold" we're talkin here) it would be a typical way-below-freezing Boston winter day, and id make sure that i wouldnt let the tank go below 1/2 full and would throw in a bottle of dry gas. Sometimes something in the throttle body would freeze up, and till it got warm it wouldnt go away. The drygas usually took care of that.

Check with yer mechanic to see where the idling RPMs are maybe?

all toyotas have that feature so the car will warm up faster. its called cold start. they will typically run around 2000-2500 rpms for around 5 min or until engine reaches a certain present temp and then the idle will back down