How good is the A/C performance?
- Thread starter euro-D
- Start date
Usually, the HVAC is not designed to cool the cargo area, even if it is a station wagon or hatcback or SUV (basically a vehicle with an open cargo area). I've been told that the 3-series A/C is quite strong, though so I would imagine that if you just run the A/C on full blast for a while, it should be able to cool the cargo area decently (although not as cold as the cabin would be).
Hmmm...I've always considered two things about my car to be less than the ultimate in driving machines. The AM radio reception in my car is simply awful (I guess the price I pay for not having some obnoxious wire antenna sticking out of the back). The other is the a/c.
I would imagine this is largely based on where you live. But I think the a/c performance is just fine to okay. Not the ultimate. Germany is not known for its temperature extremes (on the hot side). I've been amazed by the a/c in a Mercury Sable in the heat of August (that car has one hell of an a/c unit...it's spits out cold air in volume). Perhaps BMW has made modifications to the a/c performance to compensate for the extra volume of a wagon...who knows. I would expect the regular a/c unit will be perfectly adaquate. But if you're in a place where it's absoultely necessary for more than just a month or two...I might have a slight concern. In that case I would tint the windows (but not to ghetto black).
The a/c units in the 3er are great...i'm just saying they're far from the "ultimate" a/c machines....and I think that's a result of BMW's attention to other performance measures (wieght, engine power, fuel economy, etc.).
I would imagine this is largely based on where you live. But I think the a/c performance is just fine to okay. Not the ultimate. Germany is not known for its temperature extremes (on the hot side). I've been amazed by the a/c in a Mercury Sable in the heat of August (that car has one hell of an a/c unit...it's spits out cold air in volume). Perhaps BMW has made modifications to the a/c performance to compensate for the extra volume of a wagon...who knows. I would expect the regular a/c unit will be perfectly adaquate. But if you're in a place where it's absoultely necessary for more than just a month or two...I might have a slight concern. In that case I would tint the windows (but not to ghetto black).
The a/c units in the 3er are great...i'm just saying they're far from the "ultimate" a/c machines....and I think that's a result of BMW's attention to other performance measures (wieght, engine power, fuel economy, etc.).
I wonder if there is somewhere that lists something the equivalent of BTUs for car A/C units.
In a house, it takes some minimum of BTUs to cool a certain square footage and then you add for sun exposure and other factors.
The extra volume of space in the cargo area, plus more glass probably means it would take a significantly more powerful a/c unit to cool the 325 wagon compared to a 325i or else you will be waiting quite a bit longer for the cabin to cool down in summer.
Sounds like the sedan has a just barely adequate system, so if the exact same system is in the wagon, the wagon is probably pretty poor at cooling down on a hot summer day.
In a house, it takes some minimum of BTUs to cool a certain square footage and then you add for sun exposure and other factors.
The extra volume of space in the cargo area, plus more glass probably means it would take a significantly more powerful a/c unit to cool the 325 wagon compared to a 325i or else you will be waiting quite a bit longer for the cabin to cool down in summer.
Sounds like the sedan has a just barely adequate system, so if the exact same system is in the wagon, the wagon is probably pretty poor at cooling down on a hot summer day.
