How does Climate Control affect MPG?

monkey_boy

monkey_boy

monkey_boy

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How does aircon usually affect MPG? When it was first around I don't doubt that it guzzled fuel quite happily but have things like climate control, which presumably reduces the amount of power it uses when the correct temp is reached, made it all more efficient.

I've got climate control in the leon and the X5 and it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of difference, but then I don't tend to leave it off long enough to notice properly.
 
its effect is greatly exaggerated

It puts a strain on the demands of the engine, running the aircon pumps and systems etc..

but it will only effect it by a few mpg. Usually 3 or 4mpg or something like that.

Using Aircon / Climate is good for the aircon as well. Aircon systems that only get switched on twice a year in a heatwave have a nasty habit of going wrong due to lack of use, hoses perishing and leaking etc..
 
3 - 4 mpg is middle ground between the negliglbe effect crowd, and the crowd that come in and say it loses them 15mpg or whatever.

I was hoping taking the middle ground in my guestimate as to what constitues "not much" would avoid me getting picked on.

Apparently not lol :D
 
I'd put it at 3-4mpg in the 2.0 TDCi Mondeo, it's enough that I don't leave it permanently on but I do try and it a couple of times a week just to keep it working.

The technology has certianly improved I drove an old Astra with aircon and it guzzled petrol, anicdotal evidence also seems to suggest some car makers are better at it than others!
 
Depends on the weather and setting but typically 5-10% worse MPG which gets worse still if in traffic a lot of the time.
 
In 2.5ltr I do not really notice a difference at all with the Climate control on or off. But I notice a big difference with the window open (even a crack) so climate is preferred...
 
Interesting....

In my wife's 1.6i with air-con, the difference was 4-8mpg on average.

In my 2.5 V6 with CC, it averaged between 2-4mpg depending on how hard it was working.
 
When I attempted to measure the difference in fuel consumption Climate Control made on my old Mondeo I found it was not measurable, so it might account for 0.2 of an mpg or something but it's really not worth worrying about. The same applies to A/C.

Now, if we were driving around in Saudi Arabia, say, where it's 40 degrees in the shade and the sun's blazing down on you all the time then, yeah, it might consume more power but in the UK? Forget about it. It's irrelevant.
 
Mr Jack said:
When I attempted to measure the difference in fuel consumption Climate Control made on my old Mondeo I found it was not measurable, so it might account for 0.2 of an mpg or something but it's really not worth worrying about. The same applies to A/C.

Now, if we were driving around in Saudi Arabia, say, where it's 40 degrees in the shade and the sun's blazing down on you all the time then, yeah, it might consume more power but in the UK? Forget about it. It's irrelevant.
Click to expand...

Indeed, surely even out of ECO mode the compressor is hardly ever going to be needed anyway?
 
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