Hey,

I noticed that on the console, there is a button for the air filter and whenever i press it, the A/C automatically kicks in. My question is that do i have to have the A/C on for the air filter to work and also, does/should the air filter always be on or only when i am driving in dusty areas?

 

I read in the owners manual that the air filter will only stay on as long as it senses the particles in the air. Since the filter is removing so called impurities from the air, I would think it would be necessary for the A/C to be on.

For myself I always have the A/C on regardless of temperature or else it feels stuffy.

 

There is a "recycle" button, and "automatic" vents on the IS's.

The a/c comes on because it kicks in automatic mode, and when the recycle button is pressed, it provides recycled air into the cabin. This might turn off after a certain period.
The automatic vent's button should not affect the a/c ??

 

Are you talking about the Pollen Remover.... It turns on the front vents, A/C, recycles the air, and passes it through an air filter to remove any pollen or other dust on the front passengers. I love this feature because I have hardcore allergies, and its great.

 

Regardless of if your AC is on or off, if you hit the cabin filter button, it will kick the AC on.

 

Hey,

Thanks for the replies. I guess my question is why is the function not on at all times? Because you can turn off the A/C while having the filter activated so what is the point of having it off. And what is this automatic circulation/venting process that I am hearing about? Thanks guys.

 

The pollen filter removes particles already in the cabin, and only stays on for 30 seconds after the button is pushed. The HVAC filter is what filters out impurities passing through the A/C system, and that, obviously, is always 'on.'

Javier

 

I think it stays on longer than 30 seconds. I think its like 3 minutes or something. I was using it earlier today, and it was definitely longer than 30 seconds. But then I turned it off because it was blowing too much. haha.

 

So the filter button we can select is actually just a pollen filter? And again, it requires the AC to be on... along those lines. I think I read that it's better for the AC, to leave it on year round, even up in cool climates? Still I would fear that may hurt gas mileage... thoughts?

 

Hi,

I do know that you should blast your A/C about once every month for a couple minutes if you do not use it often, but you do not have to have it on all the time. It has something to do with the A/C lines cracking or something. All i do is the first of every month, i just put on the A/C for about 2-3 minutes while the engine warms up then turn it off. I rarely use my A/C even in summer time because i always have my windows down and sunroof open. BTW, before anyone burns me for sayng that having your windows down uses less gas than using your A/C, my friends and I did an actual experiment that lasted a few hours and having our windows down as well as the sunroof versus having the A/C on at the medium setting used up rougly 14% less gas.

 

did you just lug around at low speed? What would be the advantage of not using the AC, now that you've paid for it? It's like not using the stereo or seat warmer. Saving it for the next owner, huh?

 

76% of statistics are made up

 

Interesting! I'd say the advantage of knowing it costs less to drive with windows down than it does with the A/C on is to justify those times when you just went the wind blowing in your hair on the hwy or around town, where it's not unbearable out. I've often taken road trips with the windows down, just because I like the feel of the fresh air. Sure it's great to know that you have the A/C if you need it, much like it's nice to know you have the 306 horses if you need them, still you don't ALWAYS use them.

 

You CAN???

 

Hey,

Two of us alternated cars and did a mixture fo driving through 2 days of 200km each day. I would say we did about 60 km in total of city stop and go driving, about 100 km of uninterrupted highway driving, and probably another 40 km or so of city driving but in a much less dense area so the lights are spread like 4km apart. We started the driving at about 1:30 PM on both days with the same car (Except mine had a spoiler). Even though i have heard spoilers do add to fuel consumption, it is something like .5MPG or even less if your car has a spoiler so it was not enough to justify the drastic drop. We both drove one day with and one day without A/C. I actually saw the same test being done on mythbusters which is what inspired us to do is because i was always told that it is better to drive with the A/C on rather that your windows down. The reason i want to know is because in Canada, we really only have about 4 months of summer weather and they are not like in nevada or any place like that. The hottest it ever gets here is probably abou 110 and even though that is pretty hot, it may only happen for about 10 days out of the year. Trust me, when you only have 4 months of good weather, you do not want to drive around with your windows up.