It went from hot/sunny/humid to hot/cloudy/humid.....and the thing I noticed is that the AC works astonishingly well when the sun is gone. I assume our fishbowl cabin doesnt lend itself well to efficient AC operation. It was the best AC usage I have seen yet, because the MINI AC leaves a lot to be desired!

 

+1 Here. I can't even feel the air blowing on me usually unless it's on full blast.

 

I had to turn it on to 60 to work properly, usually in my Jeep it was set at 69 all the time. The AC is just worthless unless you are out in the car for a while. And it seems to kill the MPG, not to mention sucking half the performance out of the car.

 

Interesting...it gets pretty hot and humid in this neck of the woods and I rarely run the fan at the highest setting--sometimes only for 5 minutes or so to take the edge off if my MINI has been sitting in the direct sun. For that matter, I only set the temperature control to the cold stop during this short period too.

At 90 degrees, my temperature control **** is one-third into the "blue" and my fan is on setting 2. This is enough to keep me cool and comfy even when motoring in cloud free conditions. I typically have the air flow directed to the dash panel and the footwells.

Incidentally, I have the "manual" HVAC; no auto climate control here. I lose about 3 mpg with constant A/C operation...

__________________

 

I have climate control, but run it on manual, set to one bar at about 17-20ºC. It is more than adequate to keep things cool, even when it is +38ºC out and sunny. (I set my readouts to celsius years ago and never looked back)

 

No kidding. Especially in stop light traffic. Put another occupant in the car and it crawls. FYI, window film helps with the cabin temps....A LOT.

 

I agree completely,...the sun goes in,..A/C works great...otherwise, a very marginal system....I understand though, that our cars components [compressor, condenser, evaporator, etc] are all necessarily small and compact, and that has a lot to do with an A/C systems capability.
Yes,...my freon level is correct....................its just the way it is.

Steve

 

I hate A/C. period.

 

I actually feel the opposite, the air is too strong for me, even on the lowest setting with circulation off.

 

You guys might want to try covering the sunlight sensor on the dashboard to see if it simulates cloudy day AC. You never know...

 

From what I could see yesterday, I believe all that sensor does is increase the fan speed when sun hits it.

 

I think the real ac killer is the sunroof. It would be good to hear from a white roof car w/o sunroof. The ac does kill performance on a just a cooper. 85+ degrees seems to hurt the performance also. Car runs great at 70 deg/no ac.

 

No sunroof, manual controls, Hyper blue (color matters). I almost never use it because it makes it very hard for me to leave a stop light, furthermore I have to have it up at 3 with the two passenger vents closed or 4 (if all vents are open) for it to do me any good. So most of the time I just roll the windows down because I am moving anyway.