Auto climate control
 

Not sure if this question goes here . . .

But regardless - with a Subaru/Toyota auto climate control HVAC, anyone know how low you can set the heat? Hopefully 55-60?

My absolute biggest problem with modern climate control systems is that you can't set the heat low enough. Let's face it, in a large portion of the US, we're looking at average temperatures below 40 degrees for 4-5 months out of the year. That means we dress warm. And I don't know anyone who takes off their jacket and extra layers every time they step in their car, which means heat set at 65 is going to be uncomfortably warm.

Thankfully, the car will be available with manual HVAC controls - but it'd be a shame to miss out on other upgrades in a package because of something so simple for the manufacturer to solve.

Wait? Youre getting to warm in your car during the winter time? Just open the window while driving? And no, I cant see this being a problem nor have i ever heard of it.

LMFAO

:bellyroll:

Most climate controls do give you control of the air coming out of the vents, just don't use "Auto".

That said, I don't think any companies go below approximately 65F/18C.

Jeff

It almost dipped into the 30's here this morning, I was freezing :D

Yeah take it off auto and set the temp that you want...

I can do this in my 1994 Aristo... which has the auto feature which I never use cause it just turns fan speed to full for 5 mins and temp to 18degress ces... then slowly winds back once temp is at 18...(winds back meaning easys off fan speed and makes it at a decent temp)

I rather just set it myself to 22 and not have to touch it.

Surely if my 18 year old car can do this... I am sure todays cars can do that alot better.


Auto works off an algirithem ... so it that car temp is ** change fan speed to * and temp to *... when reached * change fan speed to ** and change temp to **...

Opening the window just makes the heat crank up even higher, which makes things even more uncomfortable. Wintery air blowing in through the windows while the heat & fan crank up to max trying to compensate. I want 55 degrees in the car - not 85 degree HVAC fighting 12 degree outside air.

I've tried 3 different auto climate control systems in winter driving, they were all stupid and annoying - and could all easily be fixed by just letting you set the temp lower.

Pretty sure my truck goes down to 55. I'll check for ya

I just never understood the point of auto climate control, for me it's about as useful as a remote for a car stereo.

Just checked. It goes from 58 - 86.

Auto climate is a nice luxury feature. Set it and forget it, keeps the windows clear too. I agree it has no use in a pure sports car - just more complexity. There are air sensor intake tubes running under the dash of my truck. The system pulls in air from both driver and passenger sides to constantly monitor the temps. Plus it has two separate heat exchange doors/flaps, which is how it keeps two different temps. This is the upside to the Honda system - less complexity (relative to other auto systems). The downside is you can't have 58 degrees on one side and 86 on the other. In my experience, it won't allow more than a 6-8 degree difference, anchored to the driver's preference.

Auto climate control works. I have had it in the last 3 sports cars and it always worked just like it wanted it to. It will do the same in the 86 and BRZ limited. Just wished the FR-S at least offered it as an option.

I agree, it works . . . just not at a low enough temperature for a winter commute.

Yeah....

After examining the various trim options that have been announced so far, I'm torn.

I DO NOT WANT automatic climate control. I've never been in a car that had auto climate control that actually worked. Let me distribute the air myself. If I want a hot blast of air on my face or feet, I will set it to that. If I want a low flow of air to maintain a comfortable temp for what I'm wearing, it'll take me 2 min to find the right setting.

Every climate controlled vehicle I've been in forced me to adjust the temp every 5 minutes because the thing was just flat out schizophrenic.

I want the BRZ Limited....but it comes with auto climate control. I like everything else, even the Subaru nav systems are pretty decent (although I already have a standalone unit that I love). But damn, that climate control is pretty much a deal breaker.

Once we get complete listings on parts, accessories, etc, I may end up going with an FR-S, buying the extra parts I want piecemeal, and being happy. I realize that my current driving skill will probably not be sufficient for the different suspension tuning to be important, and we now know that the BRZ headlights can be retrofitted in....

I'm going badgeless anyways....

You aren't forced to push the AUTO button. You can still control the whole system manually.

^^^Gonna have to agree with LSx, it just looks awful. I don't even like the Scion ones...


This looks just amazing!!!

http://flipside909.smugmug.com/Cars/.../IMG6885-L.jpg

I've got to see it in person, but I like the simple look. I don't need HVAC controls to look fancy.

Yeah actaully I love the look of the interior in the FR-S/BRZ. It's got this distilled simple effective look to it. It's almost like a simple, blocky but extremely easy to use 80's style set-up, before designers went nuts with interiors and tried to make them look fancy without thought given to actually USING them.

The only thing I don't like is the faux carbon trim in the FR-S, but that's easy enough to fix.

I've been experimenting with mine for a couple weeks.
First, I'm not sure why you would set the climate control to 80 in the winter. I hope it's not because you think it will warm up the cabin faster.

On a typical VA cold morning (30-40 degrees) I set mine at the temperature I know is going to be comfortable depending on how many layers of clothing I have on. That's usually 69-70.
Once the engine warms up the mixing flap opens all the way and the blower kicks on full blast - to feet vents only. The system slowly decreases fan speed as it reaches my target temp.
After the cabin reaches target temp the system switches to some combination of face/feet and partially closes the mixing flap so that cool air is going to the face vents - not cold air nor hot air.

I never get hot air on my face, unless the face vents nearest the windows are open - they are always supplied with HVAC air, even if the system is set to feet only. But those vents can be closed manually.
I keep them closed in the winter but open them in the summer for maximum A/C cooling effect.

For those who haven't seen the BRZ in person yet, the hvac design is great, but the toggle.switches are actually kinda crappy imo. Theyre flimsier and more plasticky than I had hoped for. Initially, I was hoping that theyd feel stiff and springy like ur power window buttons. But, unfortunately they're kinda flimsy and spongy when you press it down. What I mean by spongy is that after u press em down, they dont flick back into position as quickly as ur average Toyota window button would. Id still take em over non-silver Tonka truck wheels any day tho. And the blue-to-red temperature dial is soooo last century. Someone needs to make em grey(cold)-to-white(hot). It would look more flush and less tacky imo :)

I haven't been too impressed with a Subaru or Toyota interior. My 2004 Honda Accord had a better interior than anything I've seen from either company since then (excluding some Lexus interiors). When I got my WRX I took a huge downgrade in the interior and I have what was the top trim package.

That said the BRZ/FRS interior doesn't really surprise me. The toggle buttons are sort of gimmicky just like they were/are in the Mini. I'm happy to see they're offering some technology integration (at least in the BRZ) and I like auto AC so I'll deal with the kind of weird looking Subaru offering.

I agree with dookie. The toggle switches act more like buttons than literal switches, its hard to explain but easy to experience. Instead of flicking a typical switch you actually just push it down, and slightly back. And like he said its a soft push rather than a spring back up. Its not at all a problem for me, and they do look great, but it is different from what i imagined.

Also, the silver color on the toggle switches was a bit more matte than I was hoping for. Was hoping for at least a wannabe brushed aluminum look, but meh. Function over form I guess...

Sorry to bring back an old thread.. but I have to say.. I hate auto climate control systems. I much prefer manual adjustments.

My biggest issue with the auto systems is that they seem like they are constantly running the A/C compressor. The only time I want to run A/C is when it's very hot and needs to cool down, or when I need to defog the windows and the A/C pulls the moisture out. Otherwise, I don't want it on.. it robs power and fuel efficiency from the motor. But the auto systems love having it on. Yuck!!!

I'll agree that the appearance of the auto system is nice.. digital gauges with LED readouts are nice to look at, but that's not a good trade in my mind. Three simple adjustment wheels just like they've designed is perfect.

One last thing.. I like how the premium skips the push start system and gives a much larger cubby hole for phone and other stuff.. I don't want push button start either.. My wife has it in her car and it doesn't really do anything for me.. It certainly isn't worth upgrading to a limited..

These are very good points. I've been considering the premium lately because I don't really need the auto a/c, nor the fog lights. And the spoiler isn't really that great looking imo. But I really just dig the look of the ac knobs, cuz I don't want no Corolla in my driveway!... TOUGH CHOICE!

No apology necessary for me - I still haven't seen an answer to my original question . . . :)

Anyone who's sat in a BRZ (or new Subaru if it's the same system) who can tell me how low the temp can be set?

I think it was either 62 or 65, and max was 85?. I think I saw it somewhere on these forums... or maybe it might have been in the user manual? Try checking there, bro.

Good luck!

I don't think that's the case, not for all such systems at least.
In my car (and also on the GT 86), the AC button on Off would disable the A/C. As far as I can tell, even with the AC On the compressor is not constantly on; when idling I can feel (very faint) it coupling/decoupling. People complained about slight revs variation when idling, because of this :)

Huh. Unfortunately 62 is still too warm.

I see the problem all the time in families with small children - my business is for children, and most of my members are pretty well off young parents. A lot of them have nice cars with an auto climate control. So they get everyone dressed up for the winter weather, and then they go in the car, in a carseat. 10-15 minutes into the drive the car warms up, and the kids start sweating their tiny little asses off because the car gets way too warm . . . are people seriously going to pull over, unstrap the kids, take off their jackets & extra winter clothing, buckle them back in, and then carry on? Oh, and then bundle everyone back up again once you get to your destination?

Looked as soon as it came out, nothing there. Although I did learn that you should never exceed 30mph with snow tires on the BRZ. :bellyroll:

So... you want freezing temperatures in the car? Set the HVAC to "Low", this should disable the heater. Open the windows, if that's not enough :p

No. Like I've said a couple times now - 55 degrees. Or 50 on sub-zero days, since I'm wearing even more winter gear.

Anyway, I guess it's a moot point since it turns out there really isn't anything a Limited offers over the Premium that I care about. I prefer cloth seats, definitely don't need them to be heated, and I don't give a crap about keyless start. Foglights and spoiler are easy aftermarket add-ons if I decide I want them.

I was joking :) 50 is quite low, though.
I would rather get rid of some of the winter gear, so the 16 :p degrees limit on my car is not an issue. I would go with the automatic because it works OK for me, but mostly because it looks way better; each with his own preferences.
About other stuff:
- I don't really want leather seats, if the cloth ones are durable enough I'd rather have them. Not sure how Alcantara feels, but I'm not very comfortable with leather in both winter and summer.
- heated seats... a must IMO for leather seats, I don't really care for cloth.
- keyless entry&start - want.
In other words, it looks like I would have to either give up on some things I want, or accept others that I don't.

On most Subaru Auto Climate controls, the lowest temp shuts the heat off.

Buy an Audi. The auto climate is phenomenal! I set mine to 72 degrees Fahrenheit and it gets there quickly every time, whether the cabin starts at 22 degrees or 102. The heated seats get me warmed up until the cabin gets there, and I always take my coat off when I drive; I hate being encumbered by a big winter coat, and it's worse in little sports cars like these.

I've heard Subie's system isn't all that spectacular, so I think I'm going to be disappointed. However, I hate f***ing with fan speed and zone all the time, especially when it's hot out and and I want to adjust A/C. It's either freezing or sweating my ass off; never a comfortable medium. Not to mention the Tonka Tough HVAC knobs on the BRZ/FR-S make me want to puke!

Im a bit confused by BRZ's hvac system in the limited trim. Is there manual control? Or is it strictly automatic all the time?

If you've ever sat on a couch that looks like it's made of suede then you've sat on alcantara. Alcantara is not as course as cloth seats tend to be so I prefer it. It has the gription and breathability of cloth as well.

maybe sort of off topic but does anyone know if i could have the auto climate control put into a manual climate car and vice versa?

Yes you can. Just don't press the AUTO button, and you can turn the knobs like normal A/C units.