On Tue, 2006-05-09 at 17:20 +0100, Michael Rigby-Jones wrote:
> >Interestingly, despite all the "warnings", I've NEVER seen air 
> >conditioning effect my mileage at all. Now, I do drive bigger 
> >cars with bigger engines (my Olds was a 3.8L V6, my current is 
> >a 2.5L H4). I actually did a trial once in my Olds. I drove 
> >with the AC on, got a mileage, drove with the AC off (and 
> >windows closed) and the mileage was basically the same. I 
> >don't have definitive results with my current car yet on AC 
> >usage, but so far it seems mileage is pretty much the same, 
> >whether I use AC or not.
> 
> 
> On a large engined american car I guess the extra load of an A/C compressor is relatievly insignificant.  In Europe where smaller engine are the norm, the A/C definately affects fuel economy.  On the very small engined cars e.g. 1000cc Nissan Micra you can literaly feel the car slow when you switch the A/C on.

Don't get me wrong, I can feel when the compressor turns on and off, I
just find it odd that even with a bigger engine the extra energy used by
the compressor doesn't appear to change the fuel mileage by any
noticeable amount.

In your experience, what drop in fuel economy do you experience when
running that AC?

Thanks, TTYL

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