Anyone else notice a lot more people driving with windows down, a/c off?

[goofy1]

sorry Jay. i wish i had a car that looked like that. but alas no, mine is just a Toyota Tercel Blackhawk edition. which boils down to blackhawk written on the side and i think alittle more torque or hp or something like that. but with a big guy like me in the car the extra power means nothing.lol

[Lug_Nut]

Yes, I do.
I notice more people when I drive with the windows down, and a/c off.
I notice a lot fewer people when the weather is such that I have the windows up, especially in the winter when the defroster is cranked up high. Nice days when the weather is such that I want to have the windows open seem to bring out more people.

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

... I dont have AC so its windows down all the time except at interstate speeds then they're just cracked.

I tried that, but the tempered glass crumbled when I tried to just crack it...

[GasSavers_bobski]

Originally Posted by goofy1

yup. and i shake my head because thats worse on the mpg's than driving with a/c.

Didn't Mythbusters bust this one?
I mean, if you're cruising at 90 MPH or above, then maybe. But if I switch the A/C on, there's a noticeable drag on the engine. Opening the windows has no effect in that respect.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by bobski

Didn't Mythbusters bust this one?
I mean, if you're cruising at 90 MPH or above, then maybe. But if I switch the A/C on, there's a noticeable drag on the engine. Opening the windows has no effect in that respect.

I remember mythbusters did a test where 2 "identical" vehicles were put on a track, and driven till they ran out of fuel, one was driven with the windows down, the other with the a/c on max. Just for variations in tolerances I think the test should have been run twice, switching which vehicle is running a/c between the tests. I think that would have provided more meaningful data than one tank of fuel. Don't we bust on people for reporting fantastic gains with short fills, or only 1 tank of fuel?


-Jay

[Loserkidwac]

Yea i think mythbusters said bellow 50 or 55 windows were better for MPG and above that the AC was better...i got in the habit of driving with the windows down cause of the VX lacking it...now with my MSP i always do unless someone else is in the car and says turn on your AC lol...on my mixed commute I don't know if it would make a big difference maybe I will try the AC on for the next tank and see...

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

I remember mythbusters did a test where 2 "identical" vehicles were put on a track, and driven till they ran out of fuel, one was driven with the windows down, the other with the a/c on max. Just for variations in tolerances I think the test should have been run twice, switching which vehicle is running a/c between the tests. I think that would have provided more meaningful data than one tank of fuel. Don't we bust on people for reporting fantastic gains with short fills, or only 1 tank of fuel?


-Jay

yea i think they used 2 suburbans or some huge suv thing...

shoulda tested 2 identical 4 banger cars where turning the AC on has a noticeable performance loss

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

yea i think they used 2 suburbans or some huge suv thing...

shoulda tested 2 identical 4 banger cars where turning the AC on has a noticeable performance loss

Yeah, they used 2 SUV's, I'm quite sure they were Ford Expeditions.

-Jay

[hybriDatsun350]

Turning the AC on my car yanks on that little engine. I hate doing it, but it's been freakin hot around her lately. I only use it while on the freeway though. Having the windows down just seems like I'm turning the car into a parachute.

Oh, and I have really noticed people slowing down. About 6 months ago the average speed on my commute to work was about 75. Now people are cruising along at 65-70. Very noticeable.

[thornburg]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

yea i think they used 2 suburbans or some huge suv thing...

shoulda tested 2 identical 4 banger cars where turning the AC on has a noticeable performance loss

Not only were they using huge boats and only ran one very short test, but they were "forced" to run slower than intended "for safety reasons". They used computer monitoring (like a scanguage... maybe actually a scanguage I don't remember what it looked like) which read that at 55MPH it was more efficient to use the AC, but then they decided since that didn't actually measure fuel use, they needed to do a "real world" test. The track run, originally planned for 55MPH was dropped to 45MPH. Given that the increase in drag from open windows will increase at a rate greater than a 1:1 linear rate with changes in velocity, going from 45 to 55 could very easily have changed the results of the test.

I'm generally a mythbusters fan, but that one pissed me off.

[theholycow]

It's pretty easy to poke holes in most of their experiments. I enjoy watching the show, but I don't consider their results as proven.