BHORT

Anybody have any opinions on the standard air con on UK cars? I have it on my MY99 and it seems pretty poor compared to my last car. It even seems to struggle on these 15°C days, what is the Summer going to be like! Will it get better with more use.

Paul Wilson

You may need the system recharging, I don't know if this is warranty work or not, also make sure you use the air-con for at least 10 mins every week otherwise the seals may perish.

DJB

I have aircon on my MY 98 and it seems pretty effective. It was fitted after arrival at the dealer (as they all were then). I'm not sure if this has changed since for the MY 99. Sounds like yours may have a problem.

D.

Stupot

My Aircon makes it so brass monkeys you can see your breath sometimes!!

Stu

strong

Paul,

I've heard the recommendation to use the air-con at least once a month for about 10 minutes, but 10 minutes a WEEK?! Who told you this?

Paul

Paul Wilson

Think it was "Honest John" in the Daily Telegraph. Anyway it doesn't really apply because if you use your aircon whenever it would help you end up using it more anyway.
i.e.
It's raining and feeling a bit damp in the car - stick the A/C on recirc for 5 mins with heating on
Misty windscreen in the morning - A/C on heating on screen clear in less than 1 min
Cars warm after sitting in winter sunshine

I end up using the A/C in my car almost every day

Kev

Does anyone know how much it costs to have air-con fitted as aftermarket ?

soutm

I had it fitted as new at £1500.00
Not sure of the aftermarket price, I assume you mean another non subaru air con.

My judgement on the Subaru air con is poor with a capital P.

Based on the comments here maybe mine needs some investigation.
MY99

Regards Mark

AlexM

Hi,

Does the standard UK have an adjustable anti-icing thermostat? I think most systems do to stop the a/c output air getting so cold that it freezes the water in the evaporator drain...

Incidentally, I use the A/C almost as much in winter as summer as it is great for demisting during cold starts, and the relative lack of humidity when using A/C + heating is more comfortable anyway...

Whether or not it is a particularly good a/c system I would never own another car without a/c. Shame that IM are charging £1500 for a £600 a/c system.....

I'm also past the point of caring about my terrible fuel consuption anyway, so I can't be bothered trying to improve it by not using the a/c.

Cheers,

Alex

BHORT

I think that it is interesting that both comments from MY99 owners of which I am one state that the air con is poor. My dealer assured me that the inside of the car could be like a fridge if that was what I wanted. However, to add some extra info to my first post I find that I get a minute or 2 of very cold air followed by a minute or 2 of normal temperature, this overall process then continues with just a small overall affect on the temperature inside the car. I will be having it looked at soon at my 7500 service. Does anyone know how to tell if the air con was dealer fitted or fitted at the factory. My dealer behaved strangley about the air con when I said that I was thinking of not having it fitted after all even though the car had not even reached the country. Perhaps IM have started to buy cars with factory air con but still charging dealer fit prices.

RobScreene

I think the price is now down to the £1000 mark.

Anyone ordering now, please make a pint to thank me personally for this price drop. It's all just because I bought my air-con option late last summer!

Rob.

Paul Wilson

Bhort,
were you ragging it at the time? As the A/C unit has a clutch on it and disengages at a certain rpm.
And yes the cost is now about £1000 , when I looked into buying a second hand UK car I looked at how much it would cost to retro fit air con. The cost was the same from dealers and air con suppliers.

strong

[Edit: looks like Paul Wilson just beat me to it but I'll leave the post anyway...]

Just in case some people aren't aware, the air con is switched off temporarily at high engine speeds or loads. I have on rare occasions been able to hear it disengage when accelerating passed around 5,000 rpm.

Paul

[This message has been edited by strong (edited 15-03-2000).]

DJB

When I bought my MY 98, my dealer arranged for the car to arrive a week early so that the air-con could be fitted in time for the agreed release date. As I understood it, at that time all cars had air-con fitted after arrival in the UK and in many cases the work was carried out by specialists (exclusively acting for IM/Subaru) at the dealers' premises. I'm not sure whether this has changed for the MY 99 - maybe this is why the price has fallen.

D.

Paul Wilson

I think one reason that aircon cost fell was that the cost in Europe was about £1000, and people were just stoping off on the way down to the south of France to have it fitted.

jwhitton

I have ordered aircon on my Dutch UK spec RHD car and it is a dealer fit option.
Note the air con kit for the LHD and RHD cars is different. Make sure a Dutch dealer knows he will need to order the RHD aircon kit.

jon

DavidLewis

I also experience the same on/off symptoms as BHORT. You can even here the clicks and the compressor switches on. This is at constant speed. My dealer tells me this is normal since the compressor is not on all the time. BUT....I would like it to be. Does anyone know if it can be modified to produce constant (and cold!!) air.

David.

[This message has been edited by DavidLewis (edited 17-03-2000).]

BHORT

David,
which year car do you have,is it an MY99? Have you had you car during the Summer month, if so how was the temp inside your car? My last car was as cold as I wanted it to be even on a very hot day but i do not hold out much hope for this one.

andrew benn

Not one-hundred % sure about this but in my 96 STI the temperature gauge is not like other cars with just hot and cold, it is marked with actual temperatures in centigrade. If my thinking is correct and car A/C's work on the same principle as all other A/C's then the idea of conditioned air is that it tries to keep the area at the temp that you have specified on the dial, therefore if you set it to 18 degrees in the summer it will not spill out 18 degree temp air all day, it will pump out cold air until the sensor reads 18 degrees, then the temp of air coming out will increase, or slow down until the hot summer air outside and the sun beaming through the window increase the temp in the car to more than 18 degrees forceing the A/C system to kick in again.

please let me know whether this is of any help or also if I am completely wrong.

andy

BHORT

I think that the STi has climate control as standard i.e. it will try to maintain a constant temp inside the car by swithching on and off. I think that the UK system is just on or off by selection so should be cold at all times when on. I may be wrong though

DavidLewis

Hi BHORT.

Mine's a MY98. I had the air con all through last summer, including a august fortnight in the South of France/Northern Spain.

The 'coldness' is adequate. Not exceptional like my BMW 5 Series (o.k., I know, but I saw the light )

BUT...as you've already mentioned, when the compressor is 'off' the incoming air temp goes up, so all the cooling thats done when the compressor is 'on' is wasted.

Andrew.
Yep, I understand how climate control works. The aircon on mine is the 'aftermarket' either on or off type. Maybe there is a temp gauge in there somewhere but the 'on/off' symptoms are even more obvious when first switched on.

Never mind....its something I've lived with (along with the extortionate price)