It has been in the mid 90's here in the midwest; finally had to use the A/C. Ouch!!!! Dropped me from 50 to 43 mpg, city and highway. Feels like winter mpg again. Oh well; should cool off a bit. I can see this is the point in ownership where I might stop watching the mpg and start watching the road.

 

I know! The heat is on the way...been in the low 90's last week. This week will be in the high 90's, if not 100's here in the West.

At first, I had the AC set to 65, but was able to turn it up to 76-78 and still keep cool. It seems to help the mpg alot. Only, 3-5mpg lower with AC on vs AC off. The hotter it is outside the higher the setting can be.

My wife can't stand the heat, so she makes me turn on the AC when I would normally leave it off.

Try To Stay Cool!!!

 

I didn't notice too much of a hit on a 1200-mile roundtrip from Colorado to Oklahoma and back last week.
I left the climate control set on Auto and 72 degrees, and was still able to average 46.8 mpg.
I did drive a bit without the AC in northern New Mexico and Southern Colo., because the AC switched over to heat (it was 56 outside) on the way back.
I was pretty impressed to get what I got, considering I was more concerned with comfort than high mpg.

 

I left the A/C at 75 on auto the whole way from Wisconsin to Texas last weekend and managed to average around 52 mpg for the entire trip. I'm still waiting to see what 100+ days will do though.

 

as one told me, the smaller the engine, the more tax AC will put on you! In the hybrid's case we all got small engines .

Atthough that's a wish on my part

 

what setting is best for maximum fuel economy? i know each has their own level of heat they can take.

 

Short experience here. Yesterday was the first day of 90+ in my section of PA this year. I had the AC set on Auto/ 70 to 72 degrees. I didn't see any affect from this (I got 49mpg on the way to my mom's place without AC and I got 50 mpg on the way back with AC. Usually I get 1-2 mpg better going back due to the way a few hills play into the picture). The car did autostop for me with AC on.

Eric

 

Real men don't use AC

J/K. I got to the point where I turned off the MPG gauge and now just enjoy the ride.

 

Probably, people aren't using the auto air correctly. Basically, don't mess with the fan or temp controls. I always see people crank the temp control down to the coolest setting thinking that it'll cool the car faster. Just set it to the desired temp, like most here (70-75) and it'll automatically do regulate the temp as quickly as possible and probably as efficiently as possible. Don't manually hit the recirc button either, the auto temp controls will do it for you when needed.

 

I lost 7 mpg with the A/C set at 76-77 degrees. I can't imagine what it would be if I set it for 72! Really takes a toll on hilly drives.