vRS AC - Not as cold as expected

[Stoofa]

So I'm driving my vRS for the first time today and we're playing with all the controls.

This is a 56 plate with no options, so the AC is the standard fitting, not the dual-zone Climate you're getting standard on new vehicles at the moment.

It's about 23oC outside (apparently) and we're feeling warm in the car.

So set the dial to the extreme left (blue box as opposed to the lowest number which is 18oC).

This apparently is the "extreme cooling" this will just make things as cool as possible.

We press the AC button, light comes on.

Air circulation is off and we move the blower to 3, vents open and I'll be honest - I wasn't impressed with how cold the air was.

I've just traded in my old Peugeot 307 and when that was set to cold and the blower set to 3 (AC on) then the air was extremely cold, enough to make you shiver.

We tried moving the setting to 18oC (lowest actual temperature) and again had the blower on 2 to start with and then 3.(thought maybe you needed to go for a temperature rather than the extreme cold).

Again, less than impressed with the temperature, didn't really seem to be doing a great job cooling things down and the air being blown in through the vents wasn't feeling very cool.

Is there a possibility there is a problem with the sytem or am I used to in effect a variation on AC with the Peugeot where it just blasted ice ccold air at me and the AC on the vRS is doing things differently?

If this is as cold as the temperature of the air is ever going to be I can see me getting extremely hot in the vRS on those rare warm days, something I never did on the Peugeot.

[ednmra]

In my experience, AC is usually colder than climate control unless you set the latter on Lo. But I have noticed that UK cars never seem to blow as cold as, for exmaple, US rental cars.

[bigjim73]

Get it back to the dealer, it isn't right.

My car doesn't have the climate and on the blue it's colder than Siberia.

[bigarn]

Stoofa,

I'm with you on this one. I had the dual zone on my last Vrs and it was great. It allowed the wife to freeze on the lo setting while I could keep some feeling in my body around the 18* mark.

Since getting my 57 plate Vrs estate with the normal bog standard AC, it doesn't seem to get as cold. Fine for me, murder for the wife (she likes it cold ??). Also the foot blowers don't work. Will need to get it to the garage.

[dan_the_v8man]

my vRS has dual zone and i agree, set on low its pants, my ford focus with manual aircon was freezing as was my mazda 6 with climate control

[sebulbus]

My dual zone is still chilling properly after 3 years (3 winters too). Get yours checked, maybe there's something fishy going on with a gasket. My other car with manual a/c also blows cold enough to make your hand numb in a minute or so.

[mannyo]

My elegance on the lo setting (dual zone) is really cold and can cool the car very quickly even after being parked in the direct sunlight in spain.

[vico1612]

mmm bugger .. looks like I also have a problem with my Elegance [ Dual Zone ] as I again noticed that the AC isn't as cool as it used to be

Today wasn't a hot day in Dublin and I couldn't cool the car , even on Lo ...

[sebulbus]

Was 37.5C today on the car thermometer (it's pretty accurate from what I saw) and full sunshine head on. The car was cooled within a couple minutes and remained at a comfy 23.5 for all the trips I had to take.

PS: Black on black interior here, and no privacy glass, the worst possible combination for sunny days.