Cost of air con in a car

[Heston]

Hi all

anyone know roughly the cost to have air con installed in car over here...cant cope with another Summer without it!

[Retro P]

Don't really know, it's definitely not cheap though I wouldn't think there'd be much change from 1000 euros

[Heston]

Thanks

Oh my goodness looks like its another sweaty Summer with the windows open!

[Retro P]

One good trick the Spanish use it to buy a small electrical circular fan and mount it on the dashboard of the car, it's very effective and you can get them from most car part suppliers, they plug into the cars cigarette lighter socket!

[spanish_lad]

get aircon installed?? aftermarket aircon?? never heard of it being retro installed

[stellastaff]

Yep, about 1000€ sounds right. We looked into it as our car has none-we decided to just keep winding the windows down!

[alaninspain]

When calculating the cost, take into account it can reduce your fuel consumption by up to 25%.

[Heston]

Retro thanks think will go with the fan idea!!

[daneinspain]

The option of installing ac in a car is not very popular nor recommended and not cheap as you can see. Its usually about 1500. It is usually very problematic, you are better off buying a car with air con but then it reduces fuel consumption and power so I dont use it on my cars.

You can always cut out holes at the bottom of the windscreen and install a flap like on my land rover defender simply move the lever inside and lots of nice fresh air (it has a grille so I dont get wasps in my mouth!) There are other tricks like opening front windows as well as rear to let air flow in and out so it doesnt accumulate or hang a wet cloth in the window - air passing over water is cooled down and hence cold air.

[Heston]

defo gone off the idea will have to save up for new car with Aircon!

Daneinspain

[julian]

I presume the air con increases rather than "reduces" fuel consumption

[Mixter]

I presume the air con increases rather than "reduces" fuel consumption

Thats what i thought. But its never 25%. Weve had air-con in cars for a few years now, and always still got good MPG returns. While flaps and open windows are an option - they are a very poor substitute, as all you are getting is warm air, dust and insects.

[julian]

i couldn´t live here without air con in the car !!!

[Julie]

I have air con and it is a great drain on fuel consumption in my car, i would agree with the 25%, but having said that i wouldn't like to be without it

[Campo Kenny]

The smaller engined cars do suffer from the economy side of aircon more than a larger engined vehicle.


The other thing is though, just having your windows open or a sunroof open really puts up your mpg through drag, the car is just acting as a big air-brake with any of these open. You save this loss with air-con and your windows shut

Kenny

[daneinspain]

Good point kenny but if you do open windows a bit front and let air escape out of rear windows its not as bad as opening front windows fully. Personally the ac makes me ill so I dont use it unless its that hot!

[Mixter]

Weve run 2L turbo diesels for about 7 years now. The air-con has NEVER been off - its just in the 'on' position forever. And, weve never had less than 50 MPG out of these motors - and that includes thrashing them down the motorway at times.

[Valencia_Paul]

No I have never heard of anybody fitting air-con to a car that didn't have it from new.

I remember driving my boss's Ford Grenada 2 litre diesel years ago and when you turned on the A/C you could feel the loss of power. I think modern car A/C units are much more efficient and I reckon the extra fuel consumption is no more than 5 to 10%.

You would probably add 5% fuel consumption to a non A/C car by driving down the motorway with all the windows open due to extra drag.

I couldn't imagine driving in Spain without A/C now although I have suffered without it in the past - you know when the small of your back is soaking wet and you stick to the seats.

[El Cid]

There are so many factors to consider with regards to the effect of A/C on fuel consumption.

I have never noticed any difference in my car and its pretty easy to test as the computer records fuel consumption over very short periods so turning it on and off would show up at a constant speed.

I have tried it and the increase, if any, was not significant - certainly nowhere near to 25%.

There is an (inconclusive) article from the New Scientist here http://tinyurl.com/32mdlr

Sid

[Mixter]

No I have never heard of anybody fitting air-con to a car that didn't have it from new.

That said, there are - or were, A/C options in some cars - if you paid extra, like the old sun-roof/alloys thing. So, in these cars, they must be half set-up for it from new. Im thinking the Peugeot 306's etc.