The Gasman

the s2000 has a/c ???

PLYRS 3

yes, it's the button that says A/C.

Mr.E.G.

i just want to take this opportunity to vent about a pet peeve of mine.

first, here's the setup...

yes, it is true that having the ac on will hurt your gas mileage (with the exception of rare cars that use some other means to power the ac compressor.) the reason for this is that the ac compressor pulley is turned by the engine by a belt. the ac compressor has an electric clutch that engages when you turn. so when the ac is not on you get better gas mileage because its just a pulley with little mass. when you turn the ac on and the electronic clutch engages in the ac compressor your engine is now rotating the inside components which have mass which puts more of a load on the engine causing it to get poorer gas mileage. same concept as having heavier wheels or drivetrain components.

the thing thats tricky is that unlike every other drivetrain component the ac compressor can be turned on or off so it confuses some people.

so here's the part that annoys me...

once your ac compressor is turned on the gas mileage sapping begins. its an on or off thing. your ac compressor is either on or off. thats its. the speed that the air comes out of the vents is controlled by an electric fan. i constantly hear people say that to conserve gas they drive with their ac on the low setting. it doesnt work that way. if the ac is on it doesnt matter if it is on low or full blast. again, its just an on or off thing.

cbehney

Well I can certainly see why people getting that wrong would get you upset...

Just kidding; I didn't know that, about the blower speed. In fact, I assumed the fan speed did matter - it just seems so logical. Learn something new every day. Thanks.

The Gasman

Well. THere is a tradeoff. First, assuming the temperature is warm enough that you want to be cooled off, sometimes the a/c would be a better choice as compared to putting the windows down or the top down. It all relates to drag. The drag caused by those situations may reduce your gas mileage more than putting the a\c down. I don't know at what speeds this difference exists, but I do know it's true.

Doug1627

That is very true, espically with convertibles.

I would think you will lose gas mileage with the A/C on until your on the highway with windows up A/C on.

TheSpeedRacer

400lbs load limit

cbehney

Same as the old limit. Which I think is driver, passenger, luggage/etc. (Not just passenger as was asked earlier).

G127

Technically, having the blower on a higher setting does lower gas mileage because it's causing the alternator work harder. But this is so insignificant it doesn't really matter.

The Gasman

hurrrmmm That really limits my chubby chasing.