Reasonable MPG or not?

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

Temp is at second to last click for the coldest temp. Fan speed starts off at 4 and with fresh air coming in until the air actually get cold. I'll switch it to recirculating and drop the fan speed down to 3 until it gets colder. Once that happens, fan speed drops to 1 or 2 depending on how hot it is that day. Air is in the middle of the face mode and the face/feet mode. I should also note that I insulated my AC line (was it the low pressure line, I forget, the DIY is somewhere here on YW), which I found to help a lot. I should also mention that before, I used to have a 10 mpg hit the second I turn on my AC (according to my SGII), but have recently gotten better mpg's than if I were to drive with my windows down and no fan (like I used to). Not sure what happened.

I never tried any other combination as that usually gets the temperature where I want it to be. Back when I got the car, I left the air mode at the face/feet mode, but switched it to the middle of that and full face since I noticed it cooled the car quicker.

Wow. You're getting great results. I almost always baby my A/C more than you describe and we're getting the same Summer MPG. If I've had to leave the car in the blazing sun for any length of time and neglected to leave the window cranked open a bit, then I'll start the A/C at the coldest setting on vent and the fan on 2 until the heat dissipates. The rest of the time I keep the fan on 1 about 98 percent of the time and the temp at 10 o'clock about 90-95 percent of the time. I find that the fan on 2 vs 1 has a slight effect re gas consumption, but turning the temperature below 9 o'clock has a significant and fairly rapidly accelerating negative effect on gas consumption the closer I set the dial toward 6 o'clock. I only shut the vents (put on recirculating) when I start to smell a skunk or see a dead squirrel/possum/skunk/dog/cat/doe/raccoon in the road ahead of me (a much more common sight than when I lived in California....I'm not complaining though, I just adjust accordingly). I usually keep the behind the cup holders vents closed and just use the center ones.