ANSWERS: 15
  • It will use more fuel when driving as the gas compressor takes a lot of energy to run, and to run it your car needs to use more fuel to drive both the forward motion and the compressor. Although, it can be argued the other way, that driving with your windows down increases drag on the car, also increasing your fuel consumption. I tend to believe the arguments that air-con on uses more fuel as you can feel the drag on the engine when you switch it on.
  • A fair amount of gas for the engine has to work much harder when the air conditioner is running.The belt required to run the air conditioner adds stress to the engine.Even though I will get no points for this answer,and possible negative points,I have done my own experiments and found a 15% increase in gas consumption.
  • Yes, My car: a 10% increase in fuel consumption and a 10% loss of power.
  • There was a "Mythbusters" episode on this very topic where they compared fuel usage on a car with the a/c running vs. the windows rolled down. The result was that the drag caused by the windows being down used a lot more gas than the amount needed by the added engine demand from the a/c compressor. Of course, the optimal result is to drive windows up with just a vent on, but heat exhaustion isn't condusive to safe driving.
  • You will use more gas but I don't consider staying comfortable a waste.
  • I believe it does, but wouldn't you want to drive in comfort instead of sweating? Although driving with the windows down is another option. :)
  • Oh yes. It does. In summer I drive with the windows down an inch. Opening the windows full means eating dust and breathing hard. Also opening the windows full means that you are creating a backdraft inside your car. But going back to your original question--yes air conditioning does use up the gas more quickly.
  • not that i know of
  • probably
  • Do you prefer a sauna? They use up energy too!
  • it does waste gas
  • my old toyota it doesn't seam to matter it uses a shit ton of fuel eirther way when I use the aircon I don't notice any difference in the distance traveled between drinks I reset the trip clock everytime i fill up.
  • There are studies that say it does, but not that much, in my opinion. I don't run air in the summer unless I have my windows down. I prefer the fresh air circulation but will turn on the air as well if it gets too hot.
  • Of course yes
    • 11stevo73
      What do you drive? It doesn't change the economy of my 1gr-fe power hilux one bit. Ive pushed the trip clock button many times and driven the same root on hot and cold days.

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