Is your A/C any good?

[steemax]

haha id hate parking my car in the sun the whole dawm day. no bueno!

That's what I'm dealing with right now... it's just baking under the sun from 8 to 5 every day.

 

[nouse4aname]

Had to have that mildew smell in mine addressed twice when I owned it. But otherwise it was a great a/c. Never had to turn the fan above 1 and left the temp dial set on 70 degrees and it would blow out some ice cold air in no time. Though I gave it a bit of help by having ceramic tint installed all the way around including air blue on the windshield.

 

[Edmundo]

GTi AC is certainly not among the best out there; however bringing down the interior temperature from over 100 F to a comfortable 60-65 F is no easy task for any AC. As usual, opening the windows when starting the car to flush the warm air out and using the recirculation setting will improve cooling time. On the other hand, R134 refrigerants would appear less efficient than the older R12.

In the end it's a matter of individual preference. I've had American, Japanese and other German cars and by comparison the GTi is not all that bad.

 

[Thunderfunk]

Yep A/C in the GTI is the worst I have ever had to deal with in a car. Heat on the other hand is amazing.

 

[whitegti6]

I don't understand. I live right outside Memphis. It gets Hot here. I've never had any problem with the A/C. Like has been said, flush the hot air out, role the windows back up, and it works just fine.

 

[WAP]

I don't understand. I live right outside Memphis. It gets Hot here. I've never had any problem with the A/C. Like has been said, flush the hot air out, role the windows back up, and it works just fine.

This, for me at least. Chicago gets hot and muggy in the summer and I've taken my car down to the South (KY, TN, GA, the Carolina's VA and West VA) and the Southwest (UT, AZ, NM, TX, OK). Temps sometimes above 100* and my AC handled it like a champ. Rarely have to turn it above 2 and or set temp lower than 72 (I have Climactic). If you park outside during the day, it helps if you crack the windows a bit or tilt your sunroof up (if you have one). It's the best car AC I've ever had.

Disclaimer - first time I went to use it this spring and - nothing. 4 months out of warranty. Took it in and dealer refilled the R134 and didn't charge me. They injected die but couldn't find any leak. Told me to monitor it and bring it back in a few weeks and they'll check it again.

But other than that, it's been a tremendous AC for me in some of the hottest, muggiest parts of the country.

 

[Fingolfin]

Wow surprised as i'm satisfied with the AC. Bought it in the winter and hasn't gotten really hot here yet but I usually don't turn it past the "1" setting. Gets cold fast in my opinion. Should be even cooler once I get tint.

 

[youloze]

I must be one of the lucky ones. My A/C is cold and it blows great (insert juvenile joke here). The two little vents in the back are pretty useless though.

 

[smrtypants44]

I've always had this complaint since they day I bought the car. My A/C is just plain useless. It's currenty 94.F outside and it would take my A/C around 20 minutes just to make it bareable inside.

It'll blow hot air for around 5 minutes before it starts getting any cooler than the outside temp.

It's not just me either. Our old S80, 2004 Lincoln Aviator, and Infiniti Q50 would freeze the cabin within minutes even if its 95 outside.

Am I the only one?! Maybe I have a faulty unit? I just need someone to give their input so I know whether or not it's all GTI's or just my car has an issue.

Thanks!

This happened to me, it was the compressor. $2k later my AC works amazingly.

 

[Kad10]

Living in Florida, we get heat.....that said, I absolutely love the GTI's ac system. Cools instantly and is just great.

I also have 15% tints and keep a sunvisor up whenever I park the car. Gotta save the leather

 

[janeirouno]

Live in Va and we get those 90+ and close to 100 days and sometimes weeks in the summer. Never had an issue, vent the hot air out and turn on the A/c, --> USE THE RECIRCULATION!!! <-- This.

I do the window down and close the opposite door technique to flush the hot air out. Then if it is really bad, a min of driving w/ the windows down to get the rest of the hot air out and done, the a/c does the rest and works like a champ.

 

[mmmoose]

I'd even go ahead and say it's useless to have. It destroys performance drastically in my car.... adds lots of weight and just plain sucks.... better off removing it lol.

I was under the impression that newer VW's had a unique separate AC pulley design that puts less strain on the engine (instead of running all the car's accessories off the same serpenting belt). Had a service rep tell me that... was he just blowing smoke up my ass by lying?

Either way I hardly notice any strain in performance when the AC is turned on. I'm betting the loss in power is more attributed to heat soak from higher outside temps/humidity instead. There's really no escaping that with any turbocharged car.

On a side note my 2014 GTI has a great AC system compared to my older 2008 Rabbit. Even when the Rabbit was brand new I noticed right away that the AC was worse compared to my previous cars. So I don't know if I just lucked out with my new GTI or what but there's definitely a noticeable improvement.

 

[soze]

May have to air blue my windshield. A/C is so so.

 

[iPanir123]

My girlfriends 1998 corolla has 10x better ac and not only that my ac smells horrible

 

[Blaznjoe]

maybe it wouldn't hurt to drop by the dealership on a hot day and test out the AC in a new one.

Careful......on my 90 day dealer check up after buying my GTI they asked if I wanted a software update that had to do something with climate control system. I gave them the okay. I have no idea if it improved anything but my factory gauge sweep was gone afterwards. I wasn't "tuned" so I didn't care and just VAG'd the gauge sweep a few months later. Make sure they get your permission to F with your ECU.

BTW....drove to lunch at noon today and my A/C worked fine. :iono: