The a/c air recirculate (outside/ inside air) is always set to inside when I restart the car?
Every time I get in I have to switch to outside .. is there anyway to change this default setting?

 

I do not think so friend. I noticed this as well and tried a few things to see if you could change it.
I will say this though, when activated, the A/C will work more efficiently as you are pulling cabin air into be cooled versus exterior air. For trips longer than about 10 - 20 minutes, it is smart to use this feature as it is more efficient in the cooling process. Of course, if you are wanting "fresh" air, than deactivating the circulation feature is best.

Side note: Check you cabin filter regularly. This can help make a difference in the cooling process.

 

+1 on this tip. I just changed my cabin air filter and the amount of air from the registers is much more now. Feels nice on these 90+ degree days.

 

In my 05 (which should be the same as the 04) I get in on a hot day,it will be on recirc. Then after driving for a while (depending on how hot/humid it is) it will switch to fresh automaticly. And back to recirc again as needed.

 

Which is lame. When it's 90° outside and 130° inside the parked vehicle, logic would say it makes more sense initially to start by cooling 90° outside air. All the computer needs to do is compare temperatures and draw the air from whichever source has the lower temperature and change as the situation changes. Duh!