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Aircon just makes life more comfortable in summer, it has been 35C mid afternoon here most days and it's much nicer to cool down in the car or truck with aircon rather than suffer the noise and buffeting of having to drive with the windows open. In winter it's the quickest way of demisting the screen without waiting for the heater to warm up to get the demist working. Would I buy a vehicle without it? No - my minimum standard fit is leccy windows+leccy and heated mirrors+basic aircon+ a half decent sound system, anything over and above this is a bonus.
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I did on purpose. More to go wrong, and it doesn't stop me sweating in summer anyway.
How can it not stop you sweating? It makes the car cool so your body does not need to.
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I did on purpose. More to go wrong, and it doesn't stop me sweating in summer anyway.
How can it not stop you sweating? It makes the car cool so your body does not need to.
Well, tell that to my arnpits ;)
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I did on purpose. More to go wrong, and it doesn't stop me sweating in summer anyway.
How can it not stop you sweating? It makes the car cool so your body does not need to.
Well, tell that to my arnpits ;)
Any excuse to watch this again - Swedish Chemist's Shop, NTNON.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI45Q_Rp11A
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Air con will be top of my list of must haves when I buy another car in the future.
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Air con will be top of my list of must haves when I buy another car in the future.
Ditto. My first car (1996 Micra) had no electronic 'gizmos' like A/C or electric windows, so I relied on opening the front windows, rear quarter-lights/manual sunroof and the fan. When on the move, things were OK (unless it was a really hot day [over 28degC]), but horrible in slow/non-moving traffic jams.
My 2nd (and current) car has climate-controlled A/C, something I'd not compromise on for my next car. Far, far better than manual A/C as its an extra distraction to keep altering the cooling and/or airflow level on the move, and I'm sure the climate-controlled A/C's 'auto' function saves on fuel by only providing exactly what cooling/airflow is necessary to achieve the desired temperature. I also like its ability to know when its best to have the air recirculator on/off as well to ensure the car (in very hot weather) cools down very rapidly.
I wonder if (and when) cars will have full-on (proper) A/C with the ability to heat as well as cool (revsersible heat pump), as presumably most cars (perhaps except the most expensive ones) use an electric heating coil until the engine warms up (I hoping they use the heat emitted from the engine as its just wasted otherwise).
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I did on purpose. More to go wrong, and it doesn't stop me sweating in summer anyway.
How can it not stop you sweating? It makes the car cool so your body does not need to.
Well, tell that to my arnpits ;)
Any excuse to watch this again - Swedish Chemist's Shop, NTNON.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI45Q_Rp11A
Yes, grateful it is just my armpits :-D
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Very simple answer - no. I haven't had a car since 1996 without air conditioning (incidentally also ABS and increasing numbers of airbags too).
Air con is widely fitted these days, it's not *that* expensive to maintain and repair and greatly increases comfort all year round (when the temperature is above 4C).
I wouldn't prioritise it above ABS, EBD, EBA (brake asist), ASC (stability control) and a full compliment of airbags (6 or 7) but then I wouldn't consider any car without ALL of these things nowadays. They are readily available and have been fitted for 10+ years so I'd walk away from anything that doesn't have them all.
Interestingly, public information advertising in Victoria (Australia) where I currently live is pushing the selection of cars with collision avoidance systems fitted and uses graphic footage to demonstrate it.
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Interestingly, public information advertising in Victoria (Australia) where I currently live is pushing the selection of cars with collision avoidance systems fitted and uses graphic footage to demonstrate it.
Every car and motorbike I've ever driven has had that by default...
True it hasn't always worked faultlessly (What ever does?), but well enough to keep me and all other road users I've ever encountered, alive and uninjured.
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Interestingly, public information advertising in Victoria (Australia) where I currently live is pushing the selection of cars with collision avoidance systems fitted and uses graphic footage to demonstrate it.
Every car and motorbike I've ever driven has had that by default...
True it hasn't always worked faultlessly (What ever does?), but well enough to keep me and all other road users I've ever encountered, alive and uninjured.
I assume that this new electronic variety never checks its mobile phone, makes or answers calls (handsfree or otherwise), tunes the radio, changes the CD/iPod track, is distracted by passengers in the car, drinks alcohol, lacks sleep or is distracted by the scenery or other events occuring other than in the direction of travel ?
There was previously advertising suggesting that people shouldn't buy new cars without stability control fitted and this changed buying behaviour. Of course your driving abilities might outrank the electronic systems, I don't think that mine do though - which is the point isn't it ?
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I'm not convinced by electronic collision avoidance or any other system that allows the car to control itself.
Do not want to be in such a vehicle when the brakes and possibly steering get commandeered by the electronics of the car having a mardy through not getting an unplanned reboot.
Doesn't bother me in the least if everything else is controlled by that which knows best, but brakes and steering, no ta they can keep that.
Part of the reason i shall never have a electric parking brake on any vehicle i own (won't have any choice on lorry i drive soon unless i get the HINO requested)...in the event of brake failure you still have the handbrake, not wonderful by any means but better than nothing...
..and yes i have had full brake failure and yes the very good rear drum handbrake saved the day.
Edited by gordonbennet on 03/08/2014 at 09:48
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I wonder how long it will be before I hear somebody say, after an accident, "it wasn't my fault, the collision avoidance system didn't work"?
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Lorries in many ways are now getting sillier than cars for electronic take over, its going to lead to further dumbing down of the skills of the person required to attend the wheel, thats a very serious issue in my opinion and needs looking at by those who have the power to apply some common sense brakes.
Not sure if cars have got to this stage yet, but when you switch the ignition off on some of the latest lorries, the engine obviously switches off, the electric parking brake is applied, the gearbox is put into neutral and the lights turned off for good measure.
Now i'm a bit old fashioned here, and its not that long ago when as a lorry driver you also left the vehicle in gear just as you would a car (thats not as straighforward as its used to be with automated manual on any vehicle), i've driven lorries with a transmission handbrake drum so effectively working on one drive axle wheel only with a normal diff (secondary dead man brake you used as a whilst driving temp parking barke would come off in those days as air pressure dropped if you applied it when parked), on some designs the parking brake worked on the drive axle only and i've had drive brakes worn enough that the lorry has started to roll away when warm with parking brake fully applied....even now some lorry designs only apply the parking brake to the tractor unit and not the trailer.
In an ideal world things like this don't happen, but when everything becomes automated the person behind the wheel, bike, car, bus , van or lorry loses the feel for whats normal and whats happening, the world isn't perfect hwoever and things go wrong, systems fail, people make mistakes, vehicles get neglected maintained badly and abused.
In practice whats going to happen is that drivers will increasingly come to rely on these systems, in theory they could switch off the ignition when the lorry is still doing 5mph and step out leaving the thing to its own devices....and quite how you're supposed to leave one of these new things (i do not want) in gear is anyone's guess, probably end up on a disciplinary at some companies for even considering such a thing.
Edited by gordonbennet on 03/08/2014 at 10:57
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When I worked for one company about 10 years ago, They had these engine cut off timer installed on all there FM12's If you did not touch the throttle for 2 or 3 mins it would stop the engine. It was a pain as usually you'd stop in traffic and just as the traffic started moving it would cut the engine.
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Farm-type Landrovers I drove in the 50s-60s had transmission handbrakes. Maybe they still do?
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>>”greatly increases comfort all year round (when the temperature is above 4C).”
4 degrees Celsius?!?! I doubt I even switch my simple (on-or-off) aircon on unless the temperature is above 20 C. And my wife and kid (who are fussy) have never complained. (In fact, does it ever even get down as low as 4C in Australia?)
>>”EBD, EBA (brake assist), ASC (stability control) and a full complement of airbags (6 or 7) but then I wouldn't consider any car without ALL of these things nowadays. They are readily available and have been fitted for 10+ years so I'd walk away from anything that doesn't have them all.”
You must have plenty of money then - I consider anything beyond just a driver airbag a bonus!
>>”public information advertising in Australia is pushing the selection of cars with collision avoidance systems.. ..There was previously advertising suggesting that people shouldn't buy new cars without stability control fitted and this changed buying behaviour.”
Are driving standards worse in Australia then, or the roads coated in teflon or sumfink?? because in the UK I’ve never seen ANY public information advertising about stability control or collision-avoidance systems.
Crikey, it sounds calamitous outdoors – sounds like we shouldn’t even dare venturing out in anything less than a Chieftan Tank (with climate control, of course) !
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Are driving standards worse in Australia then, or the roads coated in teflon or sumfink?? because in the UK I’ve never seen ANY public information advertising about stability control or collision-avoidance systems.
Perhaps Oz goes doen the route of advice rather than compulsion. Stability control is compulsory on new cars sold in the EU and the same has been mooted for collision avoidance.
I think I'd rather have the Oz approach if that's the case.
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Answer to the original question is no. I had a problem with my climate control in the S-Type this year but got it fixed without costing too much and it was worth it, as the first day I had it working again it wasn't far off 30 degrees C in my office that day. I went out for a while to cool down by sitting there running the car, not going anywhere.
I've always had the climate control on since I bought the car 3 years ago and it makes a difference. If you're chilled to 16C on a blazing hot day, you feel cool and relaxed. You don't want to be hot in the car. It makes you uncomfortable, which makes you impatient and stressed. Not a bright plan.
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