Comments on: Grand Financial Experiment #3: Saving Gas: Windows Down or A/C On? (Part 1)

By: Fuel Efficient Cars

Fuel Efficient Cars — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:53:37 +0000

I love to have the windows down on a nice and cold night, but if it is humid and hot, no way in hell am I picking that over AC =p. Saving 5miles of gas from keepin the windows down though that is pretty good. I guess if it is a decent day it could happen. Hey Single Ma, I’m a AC girl too woot. Nice video too, your pretty cute =p.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:47:21 +0000

I am a big believer in the windows down for in town driver and putting the windows up for highway driving. I can get close to an extra 100 miles a tank when I do.

By: Obbop

Obbop — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 04:41:12 +0000

If thou art akin to me and revel in having the window down, especially at freeway speeds, allow this humble writer to suggest ye obtain a noise-reducing ear plug to wear in the ear closest to the open window.

The noise can cause hearing loss over lengthy time periods.

I use one of those foam-type plugs.

By: Grand Financial Experiment #3: Saving Gas: Windows Down or A/C On? (Part 2) | Punny Money

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 02:00:48 +0000

[...] In part one of this experiment, we saw that driving my MINI Cooper with the windows down in stop-and-go traffic was more fuel efficient than turning on the air conditioning. Now let’s see what happens when we move onto some faster roads… [...]

By: jim

jim — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 01:20:26 +0000

Hey Nick, I’ve read studies where the breakeven point is at 65 mph, at that point the drag of the windows equals the extra fuel use for the AC. So far your studies have agreed… try it at 70 mph on 95 and then I’ll treat you to a beer if you make it to Columbia without getting a ticket.

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 17:02:45 +0000

Obviously I’m doing it far more scientifically than anyone before since I have a MINI Cooper and a video camera. I’ve already completed all the filming, and I was quite surprised by the end result.

By: denon

denon — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 05:24:27 +0000

Yeah, Mythbusters did it, several others people have also done it much more scientifically. End result is usually dependant on speeds/conditions, etc, but usually it’s close to a wash from the ones I’ve seen.

By: RS

RS — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 18:37:51 +0000

I heard once that they covered this experiment on MythBusters. I thought that it came out that AC didn’t really have a negative effect. Anyone else hear this?
-RS

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 14:01:12 +0000

I’m sure I’ll still use the A/C in my car when it gets really hot, no matter how this experiment turns out.

But we’ll soon see if A/C really is more fuel efficient at higher speeds.

By: Single Ma

Single Ma — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 13:24:18 +0000

I love this post!! The video makes it even more interesting. Thanks for taking the effort to do all of that.

However, I am still an A/C kinda girl, no matter how much it costs me. LOL