Would any backroomers know of any cars which allow you to have warm air coming from most of the heating vents but cold air coming onto your face? The only cars I know that do this are mercedes where the centre console vents give cold air whatever is coming out of the floor and side vents.
Mrs Ratty likes this feature a great deal, but we are put off by all the merc horror stories and hope that you might be able to suggest some alternatives. Thanks in advance (hopefully).
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Hallelujah, brother ! When you find one, let me and Lady Stripey know, please. Can't afford a Merc anyway.
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BMW 3 series does this......(well my last 330d did) you use a rotary wheel in the dashboard (centre vents) to select warm or ambient air. Seemed fresh enough to me !
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Rover P6!
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My '97 P Vw Transporter only allows cold air from the twin centre vents.As there is no outsive temp gauge on the van, this has the double benefit of warning when ice may be about, especially when icicles form on the nose!
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My Reliant Regal had that. Most of the engine came back into the cockpit, heeping the tootsies nice and warm. The puny little heater couldn't cope with the air inflow above 30mph, so the face got a nice icy blast. I always think that's the reason my hair went grey prematurely.
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Rover P6!
All Rovers do and always have done, including the 75 AFAIK.
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Mk3(facelift onwards), Mk4, Mk5 Ford Cortina.
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Isn't progress a wonderful thing?
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I read often, only post occasionally
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You're telling me that the Fords of yesteryear and Vauxhall Cavs allowed you to have cold coming out of the centre vents but warm out of the others yet modern Vx's and Fords don't?
Why not? Mind you - why - what's the point if you see what I mean.
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Adam
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You're telling me that the Fords of yesteryear and Vauxhall Cavs allowed you to have cold coming out of the centre vents but warm out of the others yet modern Vx's and Fords don't?
Yup, Even on a 1969 vintage Ford Capri.
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You're telling me that the Fords of yesteryear and Vauxhall Cavs allowed you to have cold coming out of the centre vents but warm out of the others yet modern Vx's and Fords don't?
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My 1969 Cortina 16OOE and IIRC the MK1 cica 1962 both had this simple system.
One of the biggest ommisions on so called modern cars.
I drive with the window shut so I miss it.
Why not? Mind you - why - what's the point if you see what I mean. --
Surprised you ask! Hot feet, a cool head, no wind noise, no A/C cost or failure, no fancy controls and no servicing required.
I still miss it. You should try it some time.
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Honda Accord circa 1990 did this.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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p.s.
www.users.totalise.co.uk/~cortina/dash.htm
Please ignore the black fluffy dice but admire the simple functional dash with the fresh air eyeball vents!
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My 1993 Polo has this. Cold, fresh air to the face via the dashboard vents, and toasty hot air to the feet. Makes for un-tiring driving, and it seems to keep me more alert.
All Polos had 'proper' ventilation, but I think it was stopped on the new versions introduced in 1994
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Thank you for all this information. So far it only looks like a merc or bmw can do this these days. I was hoping that more plain stuff like a skoda or honda would do it too.
How does it feel with climate control but no seperate cool air vent? Does your face get alternating hot and cold air, and does this irritate?
On an older merc the air going into the foot well and side vents changes temperature to keep the cabin temp constant but its hardly noticeable as the head gets cool air all the time from the centre vents.
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Thank you for all this information. So far it only looks like a merc or bmw can do this these days. I was hoping that more plain stuff like a skoda or honda would do it too.
According to the car by car breakdown the Rover 45 has this facility.
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Thank you for all this information. So far it only looks like a merc or bmw can do this these days.
As king arthur mentioned earlier, Rover 75's/MG ZT's have this feature. They are still manufactured "these days".
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'Eyeball' face vents on all classic Minis.
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My '91 416 Rover does.
Just to prove you can't please all of the people all of the time I actually don't like it!
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My 2003 Avensis (old shape) has this feature too!
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Is this the old Toad blowing some fresh air into the forum?
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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It *is* the old Toad. More likely to be blowing hot air than fresh though! ;-)
Changing the subject I changed the drive shaft oil seal on a 106 this weekend in an hour! Is this a record?
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Toad.....welcome back.....!
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As Adam says, why? why? Mixing cool and hot air together a sure way of catching a cold as any vet will tell you. These things haven't been dropped without plenty of research.
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As Adam says, why? why? Mixing cool and hot air together a sure way of catching a cold as any vet will tell you. These things haven't been dropped without plenty of research.
I assume this is a wind up.
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I assume this is a wind up.
No perfectly serious. Vet is our family 'pet' name for our doctor ('i'm off to see the vet!'). As for research this is must be the reason or cost maybe? It seems a majority of people seem to like it but most makers have still dropped the idea.
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>>"Mixing cool and hot air together a sure way of catching a cold..."
???
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our volvo v40 has this facility, its a T reg not sure if the news ones still have it or not!
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"Mixing cool and hot air together a sure way of catching a cold as any vet will tell you"
As opposed to say, breathing in a virus?
One of the first tests the Common Cold Research Centre did was to see if being cold (or wet, or part warm, part cold) affected your chance of catching a cold. Result? No.
V
PS And back on motoring, Aircon is designed to give you dehumidified air, so open vents would mess with that. Not saying it's good or bad, just that aircon would be affected.
PPS. Though I see no reason why a decent system couldn't pump air at differing temperatures to different parts of the car
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I read somewhere many years ago that modern ventilation systems did away with the pure fresh air that came through the dash vents, in favour of an all-inclusive system that still provided cooler air to the face than feet but it wasn't 'fresh'.
Climate control seems to work well for me. Set it and forget it. Find the best temp setting for you (ignore the numbers and just find the best position on the dial) and leave it to it. It is designed to feed warn air to the feet and cooler air to the face.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Though I see no reason why a decent system couldn't pump air at differing temperatures to different parts of the car
Honda Accord does this - full blast heating to SWMBO whilst I have it at a constant 20 - zoned heating IIRC.
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One of the first tests the Common Cold Research Centre did was to see if being cold (or wet, or part warm, part cold) affected your chance of catching a cold. Result? No.
Pah! Doctors, what do they know?
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I would be interested to know too; I have a pair of 92 Sierras which allow fresh air from all the vents with hot to the footwell; if you do want hot from the vents you just push the hot/cold lever to the top, and get what you want. Ford Escort van, same, Austin Maestro, same, Rover SDI, Triumph 2000/2500 same - in fact I have never owned a car in the last 20 years without this feature; until I bought a Subaru Legacy; hell on long journeys, you either freeze or suffocate, only 4 choices selected by buttons. The wretched thing mists up badly, and to correct that you lose ALL air from the dash - travel in a disgusting fug of smelly Japanese plastic.#
I think part of the reason in that it`s easier to assemble the dashboard/fascia by plugging wiring connectors together than by connecting a cable; so, the excellent air-blending flaps we used to have in well designed ventillation systems in the past have been dropped.#
So much for progress. No doubt before long, some clever dick will re-invent the wheel, and mixing flaps will come back into fashion. Until then, we`ll just have to suffocate, or make do with an older model - that`s my choice. (truly we don`t use the Subaru for long journeys, always the Ford).
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Cabsusa has a point in that this problem does appear to have arisen with increasing Japanese influence, like the Europe/Japanese steering-column stalk differences.
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IIRC the reason is the change from the lever controls (e.g.Sierra) to rotary controls. Apparantly the rotary control does not give as much flexibility as the lever.
Fashion and style rules over function - should we really be surprised?
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My Rover 2000 TC did this in 1967 and no car I've had since has had anywhere near as effective a heater system. I could be warm driving through Winnipeg at 30 mph, no fan, just ram air, with an outside temperature of -40 F. Moreover, it would respond instantly to any change of temperature selector, going from hot to cold as fast as you could move the lever.
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I much prefer the 'modern' system of having all 4 dashboard vents linked to the ventilation system.
Old Mark 1 Golf drove me mad when all I could get was cold air from the middle.
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Rolls-Royce Phantom? Maybach? Even if they don't I'm sure the makers could do a specialised adaption!
cheers, SS
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I used to feel as strongly about this as some of you, but recently AC - particularly climate control - systems have got better. I certainly get cooler air on my face than my feet in my A4: like most diesels it takes time to work properly from a cold start but it settles down and gets it right most of the time.
But I have fond memories of the quarter-vents that my first three cars had (Austin A50, MG 1100, MG 1300): in winter they kept the screen free of mist, and on a hot day you could swivel them round and get a better blast of air in your face than any modern system could ever generate.
Progress, eh?
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The honda CR-V allows fresh air through the middle vents, so its always cold coming out of that.
The X300 and X308 Jaguar (had a mixer knob, so you can get fresh air/or hot air), not sure about X350
The Mitsubishi Galant (93-99) had the feature. (Mk 6 fiesta doesn't but the air through the middle vents seems colder than those on the outer vents, but don't know if thats just wishful thinking).
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