Fuel economy and A/C

[Drew Dowdell]

Does anyone else notice a big drop in fuel economy when using the air conditioning? For people with automatic climate control do you ever manually turn off the air conditioner? 

[balthazar]

Turbo Diesel don't care what else you may be doing.

[Robert Hall]

Probably...don't know, don't care.  When I need A/C, I use it.

[David]

2 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Does anyone else notice a big drop in fuel economy when using the air conditioning? For people with automatic climate control do you ever manually turn off the air conditioner? 

In all my SUVs with the auto climate control, I have tested just that thought and barely got a 10th of MPG more driving with it off. Maybe due to the big V8 engines I have and the AWD system, turning off the AC auto climate control does not seem to make a difference. Even in my Daughters 99 Durango 4x4 with the 5.9L V8 on or off makes no real difference in how it consumes gas it would seem.

1 minute ago, Robert Hall said:

Probably...don't know, don't care.  When I need A/C, I use it.

I know in my parents Delta 98 Station wagon when we went to visit relatives in LA, we would turn off the AC going over the Grapvine into LA as it made a noticable difference on MPG plus over all power and I think this was a real issue on 70's and 80's auto's. Now with the big powerful engines and use of more electric assist parts, I do not see any difference on either a true 4x4 or AWD auto's.

[Robert Hall]

5 minutes ago, dfelt said:

 

I know in my parents Delta 98 Station wagon when we went to visit relatives in LA, we would turn off the AC going over the Grapvine into LA as it made a noticable difference on MPG plus over all power and I think this was a real issue on 70's and 80's auto's.  

I remember that with my diesel Escort and my Bronco II..gutless wonders on hills w/ the A/C on.  With the Bronco II was particularly noticeable in Colorado..it was scary slow on steep sections on I-70 in the mountains...

Edited April 20, 2019 by Robert Hall

[daves87rs]

In my Cobalt, only a little bit.

IN my Equinox,, it starts chugging gas like college kids at a frat party....

[riviera74]

In my Lucerne, not much change.  Then again, in FL, A/C is almost mandatory.

[Drew Dowdell]

On 4/20/2019 at 2:36 PM, daves87rs said:

In my Cobalt, only a little bit.

IN my Equinox,, it starts chugging gas like college kids at a frat party....

See, this is my experience too in my Encore.  The A/C seems to be causing more drag on the engine than in other cars. Using A/C is the difference between up to a 4mpg difference for me. 

I just did a Pittsburgh - DC - NJ - NYC - Philly - Pittsburgh trip.  On some of the legs, it was cool enough outside that I was able to just use the vents and manually turn off the A/C. My fuel economy went up to 34mpg on those legs.  When I had to use A/C, it would drop to around 30.   This is off the DIC of course. 

I kept it at the speed limit pretty much the whole trip as I already know that my MPGs drop a lot above 70 mph.

[daves87rs]

2 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

See, this is my experience too in my Encore.  The A/C seems to be causing more drag on the engine than in other cars. Using A/C is the difference between up to a 4mpg difference for me. 

I just did a Pittsburgh - DC - NJ - NYC - Philly - Pittsburgh trip.  On some of the legs, it was cool enough outside that I was able to just use the vents and manually turn off the A/C. My fuel economy went up to 34mpg on those legs.  When I had to use A/C, it would drop to around 30.   This is off the DIC of course. 

I kept it at the speed limit pretty much the whole trip as I already know that my MPGs drop a lot above 70 mph.

Yep, noticed that on my first trek with the Equinox as well. Even driving it times, it would creep to 35mpg. Threw on the air on our first warm day, and it dropped all the way down to 28.

The only other car I saw a decent drop with the AC on was my old S10......