How good is the AC on everybody's 5? Most of the time my wife drives the 5. She says that the AC doesn't work very well, that her Hyundai had better AC (or maybe vent placement). I've never had a car with AC, so I wouldn't know. When I drive it, it seems fine to me, it blows cold within minutes of start-up. Oh yeah, it's an 06 with just over 20K on it, and the windows are tinted now, too. I don't want to waste the time to take it in to the dealer, just to have them tell me there's nothing wrong with the car. Thank you.
Dumb AC question
- Thread starter daan
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rweatherford
Member
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- Mazda 5
Ditto on the #4 and you MUST use recirculate (known as MAX on some brands) On a hot day you just can't get very cool air without recirculating.
Two things.
1. point the vents towards the ceiling, for two reasons:
a) hot air rises, and cold air falls, so by pointing the vent up, you can cool the hottest air first
b) it will also get cold air back into the back faster
2. Check the in cabin a/c filter. I just had the one in my 06 changed, and the a/c performance was noticeably better.
1. point the vents towards the ceiling, for two reasons:
a) hot air rises, and cold air falls, so by pointing the vent up, you can cool the hottest air first
b) it will also get cold air back into the back faster
2. Check the in cabin a/c filter. I just had the one in my 06 changed, and the a/c performance was noticeably better.
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- 2002 BJFW, 2007 BK3P, 1979 SA22C, 2005 BK3P
i have never been impressed by mazda's air conditioning, this car has been no exception
I find that it's not too bad. Like DocMagoo, we also have a Toyota Echo and I'd say the 5 blows a little cooler. One thing I would point out is that optimal A/C operation is quite counter-intuitive. While settign the fan to hig and using Recirc gets things going well right off, you usually get your coldest air on a lower setting and using outside air. If you think about it, this makes sense, because the slower traveling air has more time to exchange heat, so the exit temperature is lower. The downside is that slower fan = slower cool down, so I still think you have to start full on to get things comfortable.
This is something I learned from the Prius people. In their quest to get the best gas mileage, they have to run the A/C lower. I have tried it with my ECHO and once I get that initial blast, I turn the fan to speed 2 and outside air. If I get to a stop light I usually need to switch to recirc to get a little more air moving, but when the car is rolling, I end up getting too cold sometimes. So far this has worked up to 100 degree heat.
My only concern about the lower speeds would be very humid weather like is say Texas. You might need the A/C full bore to drain the humidity out of the air.
This is something I learned from the Prius people. In their quest to get the best gas mileage, they have to run the A/C lower. I have tried it with my ECHO and once I get that initial blast, I turn the fan to speed 2 and outside air. If I get to a stop light I usually need to switch to recirc to get a little more air moving, but when the car is rolling, I end up getting too cold sometimes. So far this has worked up to 100 degree heat.
My only concern about the lower speeds would be very humid weather like is say Texas. You might need the A/C full bore to drain the humidity out of the air.
Is this something that's supposed to get done during dealer service, or something I can get at myself, ie like changing an air filter?
You can probably do it yourself if you had a Mazda5 service manual. I got a coupon from the dealer for an a/c filter change, so I had them do it when I dropped it off for an oil change.
I bought an '06 when the 5 was first released, and the single greatest thing that you can do to increase AC performance is get it tinted!
I made it about a month in the Nebraska heat and had to get it tinted & it made a WORLD of a difference.
Before the tint it seemed to take forever to cool off, and never got exceptionally cool IMO.
After the tint, it cools off pretty fast once moving. I'd say it gets downright cold in a few minutes when set at 60F after sitting in the direct sun on a 95F day for 5 hours.
I currently have a little over 35k miles on it and no AC recharge or tune up service yet.
*edit*
N/M the tint comment.
What kind of Hyundai did she drive? If she's coming from a tiny scoup or something, she needs to realize the 5 has a ton more real estate to cool off...so that might be her 'problem'.
I made it about a month in the Nebraska heat and had to get it tinted & it made a WORLD of a difference.
Before the tint it seemed to take forever to cool off, and never got exceptionally cool IMO.
After the tint, it cools off pretty fast once moving. I'd say it gets downright cold in a few minutes when set at 60F after sitting in the direct sun on a 95F day for 5 hours.
I currently have a little over 35k miles on it and no AC recharge or tune up service yet.
*edit*
N/M the tint comment.
What kind of Hyundai did she drive? If she's coming from a tiny scoup or something, she needs to realize the 5 has a ton more real estate to cool off...so that might be her 'problem'.
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I agree on the tinting side. I tinted the rear side windows, and I had no problem with 'inadequate cooling' even with 6 adults. Of course when you are in Nevada desert the vehicle will be real hot, and it will take time for the entire cabin to cool down to body temperature.
When the parking area is 'safe' I crack open the side windows 1/2 inch and use a 'sun shade on the windshield'.
When the parking area is 'safe' I crack open the side windows 1/2 inch and use a 'sun shade on the windshield'.
An '00 Elantra. I tried to tell her about cooling off a larger, all-glass area but I got the "You think I'm crazy" speech so I let it go. ("pick your battles...")
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- 2008 Mazda5 5MT Sport w/ Popular Package
Smart man... (lol2)
rweatherford
Member
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- Mazda 5
You my friend will stay married for a long time..... 
Ok...I drove the 5 for the first time last week when my car was in the shop and I have to admit, the A/C was awful. Granted - it was 110+ here all week but compared to the other cars we own / have owned (TSX, CX-7-wife's daily driver, G6, Rondo, Impala-my daily driver) it just couldn't keep up. I don't know if it was the fact that it had no tinted windows or was a 4-cyl. but for whatever reason it couldn't hang. At night when the sun wasn't out but it was still 95+ outside it did a lot better. It would get me to think twice down here in this climate.
ScottyBoy21
Member
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- 2006 MAZDA 3
speaking of dumb questions how do i make a thread?
