I've been in a few cars with auto climate control, and in fact I've owned two (both of which are at least 10 years old), and I really question the "automatic" part of auto climate control. In my experience, when you put the climate control on 100% automatic mode where it controls both blower speed and blower temperature, you just end up being unhappy with the way HVAC system supposedly maintains the temperature. The fans always seem to blow too fast or too slow, or the temperature of the air coming out isn't cold enough or something. It seems A/C is worse than heat in terms of keeping the vehicle comfortable.

My experiences have mostly been with Toyota and Nissan cars, but I've noticed the same thing on some Chevy's. Are there big differences among car makes or models in how well the auto adjusting system maintains the temperature? Does anyone here else agree that the "automatic" part of climate control often isn't very good? Most people I meet just like to fact that it displays temperature in degrees, and use the system manually.

6/30/2008 7:57:56 PM

works fine in the bmw and pretty decent in the chevy

6/30/2008 8:05:18 PM

I've always hated it

I usually set mine to the coldest temperature setting and adjust the fan to how cold I actually want to be..

The auto always tries to turn the fans up way too high and get the temperature really close to 68 or 70 or whatever. It's loud and annoying

6/30/2008 8:10:33 PM

i think women can't deal with the auto systems - they are effected by temperature change too much

the two cars i've driven for an extended period of time that have this (parents' '03 highlander and my '05 maxima) both of them have performed decent

the highlander's system wasn't the best in the winter and i'd crank the fan up because it never turned the fan full blast after it was warm quick enough for me but other than the initial part in the winter it was great

the only time i ever take the maxima off of auto is when my wife complains about being cold or hot or the fan is too strong or some other mess - it even has a setting for just her side and she can open/close/move the vents and still....

6/30/2008 8:13:15 PM

^^ same thing with me. in my parent's bmws they also have the auto vent setting which annoys the fuck out of me because if it's hot outside I want that cold ass air blowing right on my face when I get in the car, not some coolish kind of slow moving air coming from all over.

6/30/2008 8:18:36 PM

Yeah I don't like it either. I've used it in almost every brand that comes to mind but it never satisfies. Plus, it won't work without having the AC compressor on. I'm sorry, but if its 50 degrees outside and I want it 70 inside I don't need the AC compressor on hurting my fuel mileage.

6/30/2008 10:36:04 PM

I've been pretty damn pleased with mine in my '03 Accord but I think the GF's manual system is more than satisfactory.

It came with my car, which I bought for a damn good price, so what the hell...

6/30/2008 11:25:32 PM

mine works fabulous

6/30/2008 11:27:19 PM

Works pretty well in the Marauder except for two quibbles--one, it doesn't work very well when the outside temperature and the inside temperature are within a few degrees of each other, since it basically cranks everything back to the lowest level and the car gets stuffy. I usually end up opening windows. Two, when it comes on full blast, the fan is Fucking Loud--but I blame shitty Ford parts/engineering and not the operation of the climate control itself.

6/30/2008 11:35:11 PM

i have had similar poor experiences

7/1/2008 12:14:27 AM

Quote :

"Plus, it won't work without having the AC compressor on. I'm sorry, but if its 50 degrees outside and I want it 70 inside I don't need the AC compressor on hurting my fuel mileage."

the one in my honda will. you can select full or semi auto. you can have the fan on, compressor off for heat and it will maintain whatever warmer temp you want as long as it's colder outside.

the full auto setting on honda a/c's turns off the compressor when it's not needed. it also mentions it in the manual.

7/1/2008 4:25:11 AM

agreed.. in the audi, i push the little snowflake button if it is on full auto and i dont want to use the compressor. it maintains temperature pretty well. 10 years old, too, btw.

7/1/2008 10:31:29 AM

^^well in the instance I mentioned you wouldn't need heat to get that 70. You'd need the cold air from outside to offset the greenhouse effect of the sun (I'm assuming its a sunny day).

What you and beethead said is interesting though. In my experience every time I've turned off the AC button it goes out of "auto". Either that or my memory's not that great

7/1/2008 11:58:58 AM

if not auto, then it's semi auto.

regardless it'll try to maintain whatever the temp is on the panel, b/c in semi auto, it's pretty much in manual mode.

also, depending on the manuf. it won't turn on the a/c for just heat unless it's really humid inside or outside the car.

so RTFM.

[Edited on July 1, 2008 at 1:51 PM. Reason : the next car i get will have Ir sensors measuring the skin temp for greater accuracy.]

7/1/2008 1:50:52 PM

Quote :

"I've been in a few cars with auto climate control, and in fact I've owned two (both of which are at least 10 years old), and I really question the "automatic" part of auto climate control. In my experience, when you put the climate control on 100% automatic mode where it controls both blower speed and blower temperature, you just end up being unhappy with the way HVAC system supposedly maintains the temperature. The fans always seem to blow too fast or too slow, or the temperature of the air coming out isn't cold enough or something. It seems A/C is worse than heat in terms of keeping the vehicle comfortable. My experiences have mostly been with Toyota and Nissan cars, but I've noticed the same thing on some Chevy's. Are there big differences among car makes or models in how well the auto adjusting system maintains the temperature? Does anyone here else agree that the "automatic" part of climate control often isn't very good? Most people I meet just like to fact that it displays temperature in degrees, and use the system manually."

based on your posts here

im going with the problem is you, not the car

7/1/2008 3:44:36 PM

works well in my F-150.

7/1/2008 4:23:11 PM

it never worked well in my 04 grand cherokee, but it works great in my 07 bmw

7/1/2008 6:17:28 PM

Ive never been a fan of them, but in my wifes 05 accord, its reallllly nice.

The dual zone feature works excellent too.

Ive never been uncomfortable in her car, climate wise.

7/1/2008 6:22:42 PM

i hate it in my dad's 05 silverado. i always just put it on manual

7/1/2008 9:39:17 PM

had it in my millenia, it worked well


miss it like a motherfucker

7/2/2008 12:50:02 AM

My 97 explorer worked perfectly. I rarely touched it.


My only gripe was the lag between starting the car and the fan revving up when it was hot as fuck outside.

My GF's mountaineer does not adjust well when it is on dual mode (left and right).

7/3/2008 8:32:29 PM

arghx - useless user??

7/3/2008 10:04:40 PM

Quote :

"I've always hated it I usually set mine to the coldest temperature setting and adjust the fan to how cold I actually want to be.. The auto always tries to turn the fans up way too high and get the temperature really close to 68 or 70 or whatever. It's loud and annoying "

Couldn't have said it better myself, sometimes I wish I could go back to the 1,2,3,4 settings with a knob for hot & cold

7/4/2008 8:26:20 PM

^ what inspired this thread was me poking around Rx-8 forums and everybody is like "omfg the refresged 09 models finally have auto climate control! I can't believe Mazda didn't offer it before this." yeah whatever, I bet nobody is actually using the automatic part

7/5/2008 2:24:33 AM

had it in my 330

basically never used it.


I like stupid cars that don't try to think for me too much. I cannot STAND cars that automatically lock their doors at any time for any reason (and I don't like cars where you have to hold the door handle or do any other tricks to shut the door and have it stay locked). I'll set the AC where I want it. I'll shift my own gears.

7/5/2008 4:40:09 AM

climate control in the Prowler (Grumman, not Plymouth) is worthless, too. It will annoy the bejeezus out of you with its constant cycling trying to maintain a temperature, but altering cabin pressure CONSTANTLY. your ears and sinuses will hate you if you turn it on.

again, just turn it on. if you get cold, push the temp switch to "hot" for a second. when you get hot, push the temp switch to left for a second.

in other words, even for 60 million dollars, automatic climate control is still worthless.

7/5/2008 4:43:15 AM