Car pigs up when A/C on?

[Porfeo]

Hey, I'm normally a windows-down kind of guy. I love the feeling of the wind rushing in and also appreciate the extra sonary input that is blocked out when the windows are up. However it reached 106 here in northern Mexico today, so I yielded to my sweaty back and turned the A/C on. I hadn't really noticed it that much before, but I felt the car loose a ton of power and become slower, heck, even perhaps .. a bit .. emm ..... sluggish.... Is it just me or do you guys also feel your cars pig up quite noticeably when the A/C on? I know there is the extra drag that the compressor adds on to the engine, but I felt unreasonable levels of engine load compared to the smooth revving when it is off.

 

[MS3 GT]

u will lose power when u turned on the A/C.......

 

[wassup61]

Its more likely to be heatsoak.

 

[Porfeo]

Yeah, I do realize that the A/C compressor is driven by the belts connected to the motor. However I never realized how much this drag seems to affect the performance of the car. Is it becuase of the small engine? On my last car (2.5l 6 cyl BMW) you did feel some power loss but not at this level.

 

[Donas64]

dude. Just be glad you don't drive a P5. When I turn my AC on I go from dog slow to "who stuck a 2 cylinder in my P5" slow.

 

[wassup61]

The AC on the MS3 has a load clutch. When you go WOT the AC disengages. It is more likely heat soak.

 

[ForceFed]

Nope....Its the A/C.
And a LOT .....almost all newer cars.....Disengage the A/C Compressor under WOT.
Nothing special about it being on the MS3.

I am sure the heat didnt make it run any stronger either.....but that combined with the Compressor Drag will slow any car down.

 

[BillTheCat]

I run A/C for about 10-11 months of the year, because I live in Florida and hate the heat. But I don't notice a great increase in power when I turn it off for a week here or there.

 

[tiagotiago]

Estoy de acuerdo con la mayora de que el prender el compresor no debera de causarte problemas. Yo tambin lo tengo prendido muy seguido(tambin ha estado haciendo un calor de la ch....), y aunque si se pierde un cachito de potencia, no se arrana ni nada.

Quizs sea lo de heatsoak que exagere el problema de falta de potencia, o que el tanque de premium no fue tan...premium :S

...a ver si no se aguita la raza porque te contest en espaol jaja.

 

[essejkcamraw]

I run A/C for about 10-11 months of the year, because I live in Florida and hate the heat. But I don't notice a great increase in power when I turn it off for a week here or there.

+1 I rock AC more than i do with the windows down, FL just isnt a windows down state. but when winter is here for that two month period its amazing! but i get NO power loss with the AC on.

 

[MikeHTally]

Mine is also not affected to a great deal by the A/C. When I summon the horses, the compressor shuts off, as it does in all our cars, including the 300C.

 

[BSTD3]

106 + A/C = crap for power...

 

[Moultese]

It's a combination of many things really.

Most 4cyl cars will lose some performance when the a/c is turned on.
Also, because it's so hot out, you are experiencing heat soak, so your car will lose some performance there too.

 

[MS3-510]

I have the A/C on almost all the time since I'm a cool person and have noticed a slight power drop. It's definetly not as bad as my old WRX. The performance really dropped when the A/C was on.

 

[oaklandopen]

it's not really a heat soak thing it's an incoming air temp thing....the hotter it is the less dense air is, so therefor less fuel is used. less fuel and less air equals less power

an the opposite of that would obviously be cold air. cold air is more dense thus blah blah blah blah blah ....worse gas mileage too

the only part i can't stand about using AC is that when it's engage and you're shifting you have to change gears faster or else the shift gets jerky. some cars (like my tacoma) you can hear the compressor kick in whilst driving so i can adjust my shifting speed. but with the ms3 i can't really tell when the compressor is on/off so there's always a point in my shifting when the rpms drop too fast for my habit and it jerks

 

[JCell]

i live in fl, but i never use the ac anyway

so i simply removed it

 

[MikeHTally]

Man, I couldn't survice without my A/C. The humidity would be the end of me.

 

[Metro Gray]

the only part i can't stand about using AC is that when it's engage and you're shifting you have to change gears faster or else the shift gets jerky. some cars (like my tacoma) you can hear the compressor kick in whilst driving so i can adjust my shifting speed. but with the ms3 i can't really tell when the compressor is on/off so there's always a point in my shifting when the rpms drop too fast for my habit and it jerks

Maybe this is why the car is difficult to shift. Maybe I need to experiment with turning the A/C off to smooth out the slow starts.

I assume many of you are not using the Auto Feature on the MS3 to maintain the interior temps since the auto feature keeps the A/C on at all times.

 

[coyfish]

Yep I was windows down for a good 5-6 months. Now the florida sun is getting to me. With the A/C on the car feels much slower, takes more gas to engage 1st, rpms drop 2X as fast meaning you have to shift 2X as fast or feather the hell out of the clutch. Its annoying but better than being sweaty .

 

[oaklandopen]

If i want to be cooler i use the auto climate control. If i want to be warmer i just use the regular settings and only face&feet combo so as not to use the compressor. I really wish we could utilize just the feet without the compressor going on