Air Con on leading to power loss?

[matchboy]

agreed!  those who want speed get the gti, those who don't and want mpg get a gtd!! 

[FroGTI]

agreed!  those who want speed get the gti, those who don't and want mpg get a gtd!! 

I drove past a (parked) GTD this morning and felt hugely superior

[Keithuk]

Aircon uses about 3-5 bhp off the engine depending on which engine and aircon you have. I haven't noticed any power loss on my GTD but I can see it uses more fuel when switched on. Cruising on a motorway at 70mph the MFD shows 54.6mpg. Switch the aircon on and it slowly drops to 49.5mpg. Switch it of and it slowly goes back to 54.5mpg. 

[RickS]

Poser for you chaps and chapesses - with the mk4 gti when you had the air con on there was a severe loss of power when accelerating; in the mk5 gti there was a slight loss of power also.  anyone tested it in their mk 6 gti yet?  i had a go this morning and i felt that under hard acceleration i felt a small loss in power.  this may be all in my mind though - any thoughts therefore?

I don't know the precise power consumption of the climate control [the a/c compressor part at least] on the MK6, but on a Saab I had some years ago it used 15BHP to drive the a/c compressor [rolling road test], so you might notice it. Especially on hot days when this will be in almost constant use you also get a small additional drop in engine power due to hot ambient air not being as dense as cold air leading to a smaller mass of gas per "bang" in the engine.

[Steve30]

agreed!  those who want speed get the gti, those who don't and want mpg get a gtd!! 

I drove past a (parked) GTD this morning and felt hugely superior

You need to come up next to mine Frog , i am pritty sure your going to feel less than

[am1w]

I drove past a (parked) GTD this morning and felt hugely superior

Careful Froggy: Steve has got more 'twist' with his GTD and he might wring your neck!

[Keithuk]

I was doing a bit of research into the power used to drive the compressor. I didn't find any but I found Air conditioning for Cars with a link to Does the AC use extra petrol? I still don't agree with what they say. If the driver turns the AC off and opens the windows to cool down they say there is more air drag from the open windows than the power used to drive the AC. I'm not saying that the air drag will not cause a resistance but the compressor running will cause more.

Anything being driven by the engine uses the engine power. Using any electrical loads will make the alternator work harder which slows the engine down absorbing engine power. 

[Jimble]

Regardless of what the experts say, you can definatley 'feel' a difference when the ac is on, how much power is lost if any i have no idea.
I even notice the extra vibration through the pedals when the compressor is running, but i don't really care about any of it cos i'm nice and

[matchboy]

I even notice the extra vibration through the pedals when the compressor is running,

so that's what that is!!!!!  i thought something was wrong with my car!  cheers mate for clearing that one up!

[R32UK]

I have to say I can very clearly notice the loss of power. I dont use my ac at all.