I purchased a new to me 2023 ES 350 (premium) CPO with 18k miles this past October. I guess I've had it set to climate concierge/auto at 72 or 73 degrees pretty much since the moment I left the dealership, and never tried the air conditioning until the past week or two. I'm finding the AC is *really* cold. I have to up the temperature setting to 75 before the fans calm down, and even then they're pretty strong. Is this just how it is and I need to get used to it? For reference - prior to this ES 350 I was driving a 2013 Honda Civic I bought new and drove for 11 years.

 

What is the temperature initially?
It starts strong to reach your setpoint faster.

 

Either 72 or 73 degrees (f). I've had it set to one of those two degrees ever since driving off the lot.

 

I've had my 2019 for more than six years and now and find this car has the coldest AC of any I've owned. 72º is generally too cold for me as well - I hover between 73 and 74 for my own personal comfort.

 

Thanks. Yeah that's what I figured. I'm amazed at how cold the AC in this thing is. IIRC, back in the day at least, ice cold AC was about the only thing American-made cars did well.

 

In the 70's, many foreign cars had weak AC, unable to deal with the high temps of the western and southern US. At one point, local dealers invited the mfgs to send reps here, and they drove them around Phoenix or Dallas or someplace like that with the windows up. Very soon these manufacturers beefed up the AC compressors (some of them did so by buying the AC parts from GM).
I don't think weak AC in foreign cars is an issue any more, but the observations of the OP suggests to me three things:
1. As noted above, the AC (and heat) run on high speed until the set point is reached;
2. The AC is designed to cool the car in Texas in the summer. For everybody else it's an extra-heavy-duty system.
3. Finally, this is a much better problem to have and to deal with than the opposite.

 

If you operate it in AUTO, it will try to cool down the car as soon as possible and then maintain the given temp.
You can operate the fan manually.

 

I myself don't bother setting the temperature. I simply turn off the AC compressor when it gets too cold but let the fan blow.

I do hate how there is no shortcut to shut off the compressor on the ES 350. I have to go into the car menu, climate option, turn off compressor then back to Apple car play.
I miss the old days of the dedicated AC button.

 

Me too, it's really buried and not easy to reach.
Not optimal for max MPG experiments and trying to prevent mold on the evaporator.

 

Bingo!
I always turn off the compressor when I'm a couple of blocks from my destination to accomplish just that by turning it off.

 

I find the AC similar to you guys. Coldest AC I have ever owned and I need to increase the temperature.

 

Or just set it to run on outside air only, no recirc.

 

And I am not complaining
I live in a hot weather climate.
It is amazing!

 

When you enable the ECO Drive Mode it ramps down the compressor and fan settings of the HVAC system.
While ECO also softens the throttle response you will always get Wide Open Throttle if you floor it, even in ECO mode.

 

Going from an 11 year old Civic to an ES, man that's one helluva upgrade! Congrats!