I just leave mine on auto, with the temp set at 20c. even in heavy traffic last week it was nice and cool.

I wish the mondeo had CC but alas it has standard aircon, so I find myself constantly adjusting the air temp control to apply heat to the cooled air.

I must admit, when i first got the Octavia, i was dubious about the CC in comparison to the AirCon in my previous Astra.

The Astra would give a really good blast of cold air, and cool the car in minutes, but after that it was a case of constantly adjusting to keep the temp bearable.

Now i've got used to the Climatronic in the Skoda, i find its streets ahead of manual Aircon. The Exterior temp display was showing 29C yesterday, but with the CC set to LO with ReCirc on the inside of the car was perfect

Its just a question of finding a setting that suits you best, but ReCirc is a MUST.

Would not be at all suprised if the a/c gas is low -- we quite often have to top the gas up,think about it if they can save 50g of gas per car - it will be quite a big saving - a lot of people will just think the system is working so it must be right - but it's not always the case.

As I said 50g per = 50g worth of gas better off per car - at quite a few thousand car's a week it soon adds up.

OK, Recirc - duly noted.

Cheers!

Mark

Well theres nothing wrong with it but it certainly doesn't get as cold as the cc in our old Jag xj8.

No trouble with mine either. Is cold (21C) within a minute, even in this week's heat. I'm glad I'm rid of the endless "too warm, too cold" resetting that I had to do with the manual aircon.

And why would you want fridge temperatures anyway? So some of you actually enjoy walking around in supermarkets with temperatures down to 15C these days? :eek:

Will remember the Recirc tip. Might just be helpful tomorrow (32C expected)...

Originally posted by Dutch4x4 in this post

So some of you actually enjoy walking around in supermarkets with temperatures down to 15C these days? :eek:

Too right! :icecream:

Rob.

I didn't know about the recirculated air mode tip for getting maximum cooling quickly. However, I am aware that the Owner's Manual contains a warning that the recirculated air mode should only be selected for a short time as no fresh air flows in from the outside. And there is a further warning about not smoking in the car if recirculated air mode is selected.

Originally posted by robmawer in this post

Too right! :icecream:

Then enjoy your manual aircon as you do, Rob.

(He's mad... )

In the interests of scientific research, I used my aircon last night on the way home. The results can be summarised as follows:

- Outside temp was 34 when I got in - fluctuated between 29 and 32 on the way home

- I left it on Auto, temp set to 19. Initially I turned on recirc but turned it off after 10 minutes or so

- It took 10-15 minutes to cool the car down (but it had been parked in the sun all day)

- Once cool, the aircon was easily able to maintain the temperature, the fan speed dropped to almost idle

- The air coming out of the vents was not very cold to start with, but got progressively colder (my aircon doesn't get used that much - this may explain that fact), to the point that by the end of the journey I had to point it away from me as it was making my arm ache where it was blowing on it

- It costs about 1.5mpg (about a litre of petrol a day for me) to run the aircon on Auto compared with Econ, plus of course the loss of "go" from the car. (Try running downhill on a trailing throttle and press the Econ button - you will actually feel the car speed up)

Yes, I also noticed the relative minor dropback in fuel consumption compared to what I what used in the Subaru.

On a long run to the south and back I did 37 mpg with the CC on all the time, and averaging 90 to 100 mph, with repetitive bursts of power in between for brisk overtaking - was pretty pleased with that.

Also, I feel that the loss of power in the Octavia comes in a lot softer than in the Subaru.

In all, very similar experience to Nick's.

I don't have any problems with my CC. I think its greaty and couldn't envisage myself buying another car without it.

I just think to myself how would I feel sitting in my car with the temp being 30+ and me having no AC/CC? I'd rather have it and live with it's little qwerks.

Anybody think differently?

Cheers.

Adrian.

Originally posted by Dutch4x4 in this post

Yes, I also noticed the relative minor dropback in fuel consumption compared to what I what used in the Subaru.

On a long run to the south and back I did 37 mpg with the CC on all the time, and averaging 90 to 100 mph, with repetitive bursts of power in between for brisk overtaking - was pretty pleased with that.

Normally on the way home I can get about 36mpg - down to 34.5 yesterday - never going over 85. Looks like the fly-by-wire engine is MUCH more economical than mine ... :(

The most graphic illustration I had of the power-sapping effects of using aircon was in a Daewoo Matiz SE Plus. Using aircon knocked 10mph off the top speed in the blink of an eye!

In my experience, all cars with air con take a while before cold air is produced -though I'd say that European models definitely have less efficient systems than hotter countries. It always seems to me that it gets going quicker, the faster you go -which I suppose is logical, since you're getting more cooling air over the condenser.

Just my 10p-worth.

Phil

Originally posted by ncarring in this post

Normally on the way home I can get about 36mpg - down to 34.5 yesterday - never going over 85. Looks like the fly-by-wire engine is MUCH more economical than mine ... :(

Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that, Nick. "On the way home" doesn't sound like a 350-mile hog in two stretches on the same day!

I'm still averaging only 28.5 mpg when taking all of my journeys into account.

33 mpg is the best I've done "on the way home" (35 miles on a variation of city roads, country roads, dual carriageways and motorways) and that was by taking it easy all the way.

Originally posted by DGW in this post

It coped very well today with an OAT of 32

It takes me back a bit, but all aircraft are WAT-limited for take-off - where W = weight, A = altitude and T = temperature. If any or all of those are outside limits then you don't take off. Period. :(

Yeah, the recirc does make a difference in getting the car cooler quicker, used to do this all the time in my Focus, right enough ...

Originally posted by DGW in this post

The most graphic illustration I had of the power-sapping effects of using aircon was in a Daewoo Matiz SE Plus. Using aircon knocked 10mph off the top speed in the blink of an eye!

Denis I hope you were not exceeding the speed limit when you discovered this.....

Originally posted by ffelan in this post

Denis I hope you were not exceeding the speed limit when you discovered this.....

I was - I was doing 85mph on the M25 at the time!

naughty denis!

Sounds a bit suspicious to me, not least because it's a Daewoo Matiz, but also because it was on

the M25...

Rob.

It was a Daewoo Demonstrator Fleet car and I was delivering it to somewhere around the Redbridge area. Honest!

PS Should I move this post to 'What's the fastest you've been' or, perhaps, 'my Performance'?

leave it denis its too hot for effort!