Date:         Sun, 9 Apr 2006 08:33:20 -0700
Reply-To:     John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: air conditioner
In-Reply-To:  <002601c65af4$fe914090$647ba8c0@MAIN>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

>
>
> As I understand it, and I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong,
> driving around with your windows open consumes more gas from the drag
> effect
> than running the A/C does, at least at highway speeds.
>

Best I can tell, that one's entirely dependent on the vehicle and how fast
it's driven. There are all kinds of tests all over the internet, both formal
and informal, and the conclusions seem to vary widely. The best rough
estimate I could see is that most cars have an economy breakpoint about 50
to 60-ish, where it's better to take the constant economy hit from the
compressor than the speed dependent hit from the windows. I'm not sure how
much of a drag hit the Vanagon takes from rolled down windows, but "highway
speeds" in a Vanagon tend to be lower than for other cars, so in the end
it's probably a crapshoot.

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"