Best A/C for hot climates

[qship1996]

Interesting, as I have heard lots of complaints from Prius owners over the a/c system being marginal in hot humid weather- and lots get their windows tinted to help keep the car cool here in maryland.

 

[ekpolk]

 Originally Posted By: qship1996

Interesting, as I have heard lots of complaints from Prius owners over the a/c system being marginal in hot humid weather- and lots get their windows tinted to help keep the car cool here in maryland.

I have no idea where these people are coming from. My Prius is BLACK, and I live in FLORIDA. My Camry Hybrid is BLACK, and it lives with me, under the unrelenting Florida sun. I recently took a temp reading off the roof of the Prius with my laser temp gauge, and it read "182F", yes, that's only thirty (30) degrees short of the boiling point of water, but no matter, the AC in this car will have it meat locker cold in a minute or so. The Camry Hybrid's electric AC is even more powerful. I don't know where this nonsense is coming from (probably the usual anti-hybrid suspects...), but it's just that -- nonsense. These cars have the most effective AC I've ever experienced, and I've been driving since 1976.

 

[Drew2000]

Few years ago I had a leased Ford Expedition XLT for work. It had the dual A/C with 2 evaporators/blowers (also two heater cores for winter), one front, one rear. I could turn the truck into a walk-in refrigerator with both systems cranked up. Too bad the truck got 12-14 mpg, as it was the most comfortable road-trip vehicle I ever owned.

 

[MrHorspwer]

 Quote:

The absolute best car AC I ever experienced was the first-gen Chrysler LH car (1993 Eagle Vision TSi) that was my wife's car for 15+ years. I think they erred on the side of oversizing the system because it was the first year of R-134a, and also the first year for the "cab forward" Chryslers with huge glass area.

That's funny. I was reading an article on Allpar that I found on this very forum which mentioned Eaton and his Chrysler chronies dropping the ball on the LH cars by undersizing the A/C system capacity. They didn't heed engineering's warning about the solar load placed on the interior because of all the glass and instead chose to size the system more in line with what Toyota was doing at the time.

 

[The Critic]

 Originally Posted By: ekpolk

Best AC I've ever seen is the electric AC system on the Toyota/Lex hybrids. These systems are totally electric, and draw power only from the traction battery -- unlike most gasoline/diesel cars, there's no belt (or any other contraption) bleeding energy from the engine itself. The Toyota hybrid AC is a credit to Toyota engineering. You can be sitting in the sun, on a scortching day, and even at a traffic light, with the gas engine OFF, the AC will still deliver a massive flow of ice cold freezing air. Electric air has to be the wave of the futute.

Agreed. My 2008 Prius rental had the best A/C of any car that I have ever driven.

 

[nthach]

 Originally Posted By: qship1996

Interesting, as I have heard lots of complaints from Prius owners over the a/c system being marginal in hot humid weather- and lots get their windows tinted to help keep the car cool here in maryland.

Our system worked great on a 100+ degree NorCal spring day. And yes, the Quest does have a pretty powerful AC system, low point was the hoses. I redid the system in the family beater - used OEM Visteon accumulator+manifold assembly, new O-rings that I Nylogged, 8oz of new PAG 46 oil and I evaced it on a Robinair machine for 40 minutes.

 

[brianl703]

Reminds me of the guy who installed a room AC unit in the back of his pickup with a huge 1500 watt inverter to run it.

 

[steve20]

A/C system in a 66 Pontiac Catalina = best

 

[Benzadmiral]

Oh, and the other thing I try to do -- if the car has been sitting in sun, even with the reflecting shades up, I open at least one door on each side, sometimes all four, and let some of the heat escape before I climb in.

 

[XS650]

 Originally Posted By: nthach

 Originally Posted By: qship1996

Interesting, as I have heard lots of complaints from Prius owners over the a/c system being marginal in hot humid weather- and lots get their windows tinted to help keep the car cool here in maryland.

Our system worked great on a 100+ degree NorCal spring day.

Our relatively dry air makes the life of an AC a lot easier than it is in high humidity areas.

 

[BearZDefect]

 Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

Most cars nowadays have larger window areas. On top of that, those window areas are more angled thus allowing more direct sun in. This makes is all the more difficult to cool the cabin. Window tinting helps a bit. Also, stay away from black cars. :)

Agreed about the angle, but today's cars seem to have smaller windows than a few years ago, perhaps excluding the windshield. Safety issues?

 Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

A lot of cars seem to struggle with cooling if you're not moving much (like when stuck in city traffic). It's usually not a problem on the hwy at steady speed.

I think this is from the compressor running at engine idle speed = not so much cooling. The radiator fans should be able to pull enough air through the condenser, even without a headwind.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

 Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

A lot of cars seem to struggle with cooling if you're not moving much (like when stuck in city traffic). It's usually not a problem on the hwy at steady speed.

I have been hearing that allot from people lately with late model cars..Is the condensor smaller on the newer cars then the older ones?..Back in the 60's,70's,80's and even 90's I never heard anyone complain about the A/C not cooling that well in bumper to bumper traffic like I do now now.

 

[ffhdriver]

My experience for the most awful AC were my two Volvos. If you didn't run them on recirculate they didn't cool well.

 

[ekpolk]

 Originally Posted By: BearZDefect

...

 Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

A lot of cars seem to struggle with cooling if you're not moving much (like when stuck in city traffic). It's usually not a problem on the hwy at steady speed.

I think this is from the compressor running at engine idle speed = not so much cooling. The radiator fans should be able to pull enough air through the condenser, even without a headwind.

Another reason to love electric-driven AC with a variable-speed compressor. So far, as far as I know, we're only seeing this technology on the hybrids, but I hope it spreads to other cars. It really is that good. You can be sitting in summer time grid-lock traffic, with the gas engine OFF, and the system will feed in just enough cool to keep you happy. You want meat locker cold? It'll give it to you pronto. If you want to extend the time before the ICE comes back on (to recharge the traction battery), set it a new notches warmer.

 

[XS650]

 Originally Posted By: ekpolk

Another reason to love electric-driven AC with a variable-speed compressor. So far, as far as I know, we're only seeing this technology on the hybrids, but I hope it spreads to other cars. It really is that good. You can be sitting in summer time grid-lock traffic, with the gas engine OFF, and the system will feed in just enough cool to keep you happy. You want meat locker cold? It'll give it to you pronto. If you want to extend the time before the ICE comes back on (to recharge the traction battery), set it a new notches warmer.

That's not going to happen until we go to 42 Volt automotive electrical systems, if that happens in our lifetimes.

 

[01rangerxl]

I have been very happy with the R134a system in my truck. Even with black paint, the A/C gets the inside cool very quickly. It has never been recharged or anything and it still works great after 7 years. The rear windows have factory tint and the interior is relatively small compared to most other vehicles, so I'm sure that helps a lot. Some of the A/C components are probably shared with the '95-'01 Explorer as well, so they may be overpowered for a Ranger. The worst A/C I have come across in a newer car is in the Mazda 3. My mom and sister both own 3s and those cars take forever to cool down. The lowest fan speed is pretty useless, and the black interiors absorb a lot of heat. They are great cars in every other way, but the A/C could be a lot better.

 

[ekpolk]

 Originally Posted By: XS650

 Originally Posted By: ekpolk

Another reason to love electric-driven AC with a variable-speed compressor. So far, as far as I know, we're only seeing this technology on the hybrids, but I hope it spreads to other cars. It really is that good. You can be sitting in summer time grid-lock traffic, with the gas engine OFF, and the system will feed in just enough cool to keep you happy. You want meat locker cold? It'll give it to you pronto. If you want to extend the time before the ICE comes back on (to recharge the traction battery), set it a new notches warmer.

That's not going to happen until we go to 42 Volt automotive electrical systems, if that happens in our lifetimes.

Maybe, maybe not. Assuming an adequate supply of current (amps), it should not be that technically difficult to design a system with whatever level of stepped up voltage is necessary to drive an electric AC system.

 

[demarpaint]

 Originally Posted By: Drew99GT

All I can say is, I remember the days of my old man's early 80s GM boats with R-12. Traveling on summer trips, it was like riding in a meat locker! A/C just isn't what it used to be.

+1 Back in the day GM had the best A/C, and nothing beat a fully charged R-12 system.

 

[MariusVT]

Of the cars Ive owned, the 93 cherokee was the best AC when it worked. Of course it started leaking and eventually wouldn't hold freon to save its life and became a 2/70 AC system. Of course that was still an R-12 system. Of our 2 cars now, a mazda 6 and a mazda 3, the 6 has great AC but the 3's is terrible. With the AC in the 3 set to max(4 of 4), it equals the output of the AC in the 6 on setting 2 (of 4)

 

[440Magnum]

 Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer

 Quote:

The absolute best car AC I ever experienced was the first-gen Chrysler LH car (1993 Eagle Vision TSi) that was my wife's car for 15+ years. I think they erred on the side of oversizing the system because it was the first year of R-134a, and also the first year for the "cab forward" Chryslers with huge glass area.

That's funny. I was reading an article on Allpar that I found on this very forum which mentioned Eaton and his Chrysler chronies dropping the ball on the LH cars by undersizing the A/C system capacity. They didn't heed engineering's warning about the solar load placed on the interior because of all the glass and instead chose to size the system more in line with what Toyota was doing at the time.

Sometimes Allpar really disappoints me, but its kinda like Wikipedia in that there are many contributors and not all are equally accurate. That particular claime is just dead WRONG. The proof is that Eaton wasn't even at Chrysler when the first-gen LH was designed ;-) He became president in 1993, the LH car hit the market in the fall of 1992. We bought ours in March of 1993- best post-1975 vehicle I've EVER owned. Now, the first year of the LX vehicles (Magnum and 300) DID have under-sized AC. Badly undersized. Sucky. But they fixed it by the 2nd model year. Are you sure the article didn't say LX?