air conditioning sub par for a luxury car

[ctrcbob]

[ I live in Scottsdale Arizona and let me tell you that this July has been one of the worst in the 27 or so years I have been here.]

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When it gets too hot, just go the Elephant Bar & Restaurant, there in Scottsdale, cool off, eat a good meal, and wait for the sun to go down.

(I love that Elephant Bar - one of the few reataurants in that area that is still open [at least as of last April], as so many in that area have closed).

I had Chapman Hyundai on Bell Road do the Side Airbag TSB for me while out there last April.

As for the A/C, like you, with the local temperatures around 95F and humidity around 80%, my Genesis A/C works great.

 

[wallymn]

I find the A/C to run very cold, but then again high temps in the low 70s don't work the A/C very hard.

 

[smillerathome]

I live in AZ too. I'm fine with the AC, except for the aforementioned 15 second delay. That's longer than necessary.

I did notice a huge difference after we got it tinted. A good quality heat rejecting tint can make all the difference in the world. I got the 3M CS20 in the rear & rear sides, CS35 in front sides.

The week after I got the car, I played golf at the Boulders Resort. The car sat in the sun for 5 hours, with a sunscreen over the windshield/dashboard. I still couldn't touch the steering wheel for several minutes. I called the tinting company when I got home that day.

 

[Yama1yzf]

One thing that helped my A/C was turning off ALL of the rear air vents including the ones that are mounted in the side panel between the front and rear doors. If I had not got in the back seat to check something out I would have never known they were there and they were fully opened. This made a huge difference in the strength and temp of the air coming out of the front vents.

BTW GM cars have arguably the coldest A/C around. Just plain meat locker cold.

 

[ctrcbob]

One thing that helped my A/C was turning off ALL of the rear air vents including the ones that are mounted in the side panel between the front and rear doors. If I had not got in the back seat to check something out I would have never known they were there and they were fully opened. This made a huge difference in the strength and temp of the air coming out of the front vents.

BTW GM cars have arguably the coldest A/C around. Just plain meat locker cold.

If you leave those rear vents on, as I do, make sure the center vent control is set to cold. On some Genesis, including mine, that center vent control wants to move by itself from cold, up warmer, (and perhaps hot). Have not tried to get it fixed as its such a minor thing, however I did stuff a small piece of cardboard in the side of the switch, to keep it on cold. Now that control stays on cold.

 

[NOLa]

I thought the term was recirculate rather than recycle.

On AUTO mode, the A/C goes to the recirculate mode to cool the car down faster-but I agree with others here that using the manual options cools down the car quicker for some reason.

A suggestion: if the car has been sitting in the sun for awhile, it's not a bad idea to open the windows for a sec to let the hot air out...your A/C can cool easier if it isn't recirculating and trying to cool that really hot air that was confined in your car. (I wish the Genesis had the same feature as my previous vehicle-the remote could roll down all the windows while you walked to the car.

Edited to add: I have also had the rear vent setting go to heat when I know it wasn't left that way-very strange.

 

[mongo]

I find the AC on this car is as cold as my Jaguar XJ8L, but the "high" volume of the Genesis doesn't move as much air as the Jag on high. But it's still plenty of volume and plenty cold. I've never thought of it being inadequate in the least bit.

It's definitely colder than my other cars (volvo sedan and honda van).

What I really love is the cooling of the driver's seat. THAT is just wonderful.

 

[LRH]

Beer cold AC in mine

I agree with SCOTTDK. Mine is also Beer Cold...especially with the air conditioned seat on high!

 

[crupp]

Living here in Atlanta I find the AC to work just fine. Like some have said roll down the windows for a minute and all is fine. I like to keep my interior cold while I am driving (69 or so) and have no problems.

 

[NOLa]

I had something different happen yesterday.

I was driving with the AUTO and Air Quality (circleA) buttons selected. It was very humid and I felt like the A/C should've been cooling better and I impatiently cut the temp down all the way until it registered "low".

I looked at the controls, and AUTO was no longer lit, nor was the Air Quality button. The A/C button and recirculate buttons were now illuminated. When I moved the temp back up, AUTO and Air Quality illuminated back again.

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[CUMan]

One observation I have had about the Genesis is that the air conditioning doesn't seem to cope well with the car either idling or stuck in slow moving traffic. When this situation occurs (with the AC on auto), the fan speeds up; but the air does not seem very cold. The AC in my car works great when the car is moving at speed.

My previous car was a 93 Lexus LS 400 that I had owned for some 11 years. That car's AC handled idling and slow moving speeds very well. It had the usual belt-operated fan behind the radiator and condenser, and it had two electric fans in front of the radiator and condensor. These front fans came on very rarely. I assume that their sole purpose for being was to provide more air flow in idling and slow speed operation. This may have been a bit of engineering overkill, but it certainly worked well.

 

[dataguy]

One observation I have had about the Genesis is that the air conditioning doesn't seem to cope well with the car either idling or stuck in slow moving traffic. When this situation occurs (with the AC on auto), the fan speeds up; but the air does not seem very cold. The AC in my car works great when the car is moving at speed.

I'll go further than that and say that the only good use of Auto is to maintain at a given temperature once it has already reached that approximate temperature. Otherwise, has a mind of its own. I can't stand that any adjustments other than temperature cancels auto climate control.

Sometimes, I want to actually hold a conversation without having to raise my voice over the highest blower setting, which Auto likes to use. Other times I don't want my hands and face to freeze off, and would prefer to use the floor and head vents, not just the head vents. Still other times, I want a lower fan speed, even if it took twice as long to reach my desired temp.

It pretty much defeats the purpose of an automatic mode to have to manually operate the controls and use the manual vent openings just to tolerate the A/C.

 

[nb_mike]

I find on my 3.8 sedan that the AC on Auto starts very slow(the fan), and after about a minute or so, it kicks in and does cool down. I really do expect better from a car of this magnitude.

 

[ACpilot1]

In order to cool down the car when you first get inside - just manually select the A/C and manually select the temp to "LOW" and then select the fan speed to maximum. Worked like a charm when we had an all time record high temperature last week.

Dan

 

[Pahaska]

I find on my 3.8 sedan that the AC on Auto starts very slow(the fan), and after about a minute or so, it kicks in and does cool down. I really do expect better from a car of this magnitude.

That is strange. In hot conditions, my AC fan goes immediately to high speed and generally stays on the highest speed for about a half-mile at 30mph when leaving the subdivision. It then drops a notch. It usually drops again at about a mile about the time I reach the highway.

Today, it was 104 and very humid and the fan stayed on high speed for a full mile at 30 mph. That is unusual.

By th time the fan speed drops, the car is comfortable. I never touch the AC controls except occasionally so that"Gennie" can understand my commands better. She often misunderstands when the fan is at high speed.

 

[dataguy]

The absolute best way to rapidly cool the car down is:

0. Avoid heat build up in the first place (window tint, rear sunshade if equipped, front sunshade, parking in the shade, windows cracked or sunroof vented)
1. Roll down the windows to quickly vent the built up heat.
2. Turn on the A/C
3. Turn on Recycle (the button closest to the center on the right side, not the circle A)
4. Turn off Dual
5. Set the temperature to Low (all the way down)
6. Set the fan mode to the front vents
7. Turn the fan speed up all the way or almost all the way
8. Make sure the rear passenger temp dial is set to cool
9. Once you feel cold air coming out of the front vents, close the windows
10. Turn on cooled driver's seat if equipped.

 

[GripperDon]

Hey I live were it Hot HOT HOT and the car's AC is great !
Follow Data Guy's Tips for the best response possible, Usually I get in and hold the door open a minute slide the roof back, Start the car with the AC left on auto as it always is, close the roof and the door and drive away and after the evaporator senses cold refrigerant the fans start blowing ( by waiting a minute so the compressor can get cold freon to the evap coil you don't get much hot air in the first blast ) and things get really nice very quickly.

 

[BocaDave]

Sorry (or glad) I don't have that problem in Sunny Florida. My A/C is the best I've ever used, it cools raplidly, and without generating a huge draft.

My car is black, wiht a dark interior... still no problem.

While I park it in the shade overnight (in my garage), during the day the car is parked out in the hot sun all day long, yet it still cools down very efficeinly at noon and at 6PM.

 

[danieltoye101@msn.com]

The A/C is best I've seen and I also live in hot and humid South Florida. I'm surprised that this was an issue at all.

 

[BocaDave]

The reason the recirculate function causes the car to cool in its fastest manner was clearly described on "Cartalk" on NPR in a manner even I understand.

In net: Best practice to get fastest cooling is to start off in Recirculate mode, and switch to normal mode once the car is cool.

Here's what they said, verbatim - bad jokes and all:

TOM: Air-conditioning decisions really should be made based on the comfort of the passengers. Neither recirculate nor fresh air is more efficient in terms of how much fuel they use. On most cars, the compressor does the same amount of work on both settings.

RAY: It's just that when you put it on recirculate, it recirculates the same cabin air (actually, it always lets in some fresh air). It takes the air it's already cooled down from inside the cabin and runs it through the evaporator again, making it even cooler. So in that sense, recirculate DOES cool the car more quickly.

TOM: On the fresh-air setting, the ventilation system brings in much more fresh, outside air, and cools that down. So it takes longer to cool the car that way. But, as you say, it does freshen the air, which might be important, especially if Daddy had one of Mom's bean-onion-garlic burritos for lunch.

RAY: So, recirculate does cool the car more quickly, but once it's cool enough, there's no good reason to leave it on recirculate. You can switch it to fresh air or keep it on recirculate -- whichever keeps you more comfortable