How do you use your climate control?

**Keen4Green** · 05-09-2010, 08:30 PM

I live in southern CA and most of the time I can drive w/ just the fan on. Since my previous car (VW Beetle) didn't have an auto climate control, I got used to setting everything manually. Now the weather is getting hotter, into the mid 80's, and I'm forced to use the a/c occasionally. But I'm not sure exactly how to use the auto climate control, or whether it's even necessary.

If it's hot and I want to cool the cabin down quickly, I just adjust the temp manually to, say, 62, hit a/c on and increase the fan speed. After it's comfortable, I'll turn the a/c off. Sometimes I try out the auto button but it usually blasts the a/c for a while, which seems like overkill. Also, I'm not sure how my manually set temp setting (e.g., 62, 64, etc) affects the auto function.

So I guess my question is what is the most efficient way to use the climate control/air conditioning? Does anyone use the auto climate control? If so, what is the benefit vs. setting manually as situation dictates? I'm willing to sacrifice a little temperature comfort if there is a gain in mpg, but when the temps start to hit the mid to high 90s in a couple of months, I may think otherwise.

runtohel121 · 05-09-2010, 08:38 PM

I usually just have a steady temperature on my Insight with low setting and ocassionally turning it off when it is cool enough. I previously drive a 98 Honda Accord EX with auto climate control and a 02 Acura TL-S with auto climate travel. All the cars with auto climate I just leave it on low fan setting when I don't need it. Auto climate is kind of annoying in my opinion where it automatically adjust when it needs the "AC" to be on or not.

I would just set it at Lo and then turn on AC if you really need it. But where I live near Bay Area, the temperature isn't that hot yet.. I can survive with windows.

InsightRider101 · 05-09-2010, 08:38 PM

Cars now a days don't really use up any more gas using the AC all the time. You could treat it like your electric AC at home and set it to a comfy temp. I like rolling down the windows, but if I gets too hot I'll crack it..

Cobb · 05-09-2010, 09:56 PM

I find pressing the auto button then dialing a temp works best. Sure it may run the ac, but that helps auto stop to work later on and reduce the ability of the windows to fog by removing the moisture from the cabin. It adjusts the air speed and mix of heat to outside ait too to get your temp.

chiawy · 05-10-2010, 05:50 AM

I set my temp to 24C auto, before approaching a stop I will off it and when auto stop kicks in I turn on the Auto climatic control again. With this I find that auto-stop last longer until the accelerator is depressed when my I2 is in a total stationary mode.

noseph · 05-10-2010, 08:16 AM

In my previous 2001 1st Gen Insight I almost never ran the Climate Control in Auto, I did not like it's choice of outlets. So far after 3 months in my I2, I have run Climate Control exclusively in Auto, except for times when I have needed defrost or the weather has been perfect and I am able to turn everything off.