Quote:
Originally posted by Aredubjay
It would make sense that, with windows down, at highway speeds, the drag on the car would be increased. Windows up would increase the efficiency of the .029 coefiicient of drag, I would think. That, and the variable displacement, pointed out by Beav, could possibly equate to better fuel efficiency, but, no, I have not substantiated evidence.
My father used to make us swelter in the summer because he didn't want to waste gas running the air conditioner. Of course, that was in the good ol' days, when "heavy metal" was used to refer to cars instead of music, plus, aerodynamics took a rumble seat to styling.
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Don't worry Aredub, they still do that in modern times.
My parents put me through the same exact thng, and I can't even legally drink yet. Grrr... just a few more months... *gulp*
Another thing I just remembered: internal combustion engines generally get higher thermal efficiencies at full throttle, as opposed to partial throttle, because of turbulence in the um... air throttle mechanism(?). Not sure if that only applies to carbureted engines, or to FI engines as well, but if it does, would it seem logical that the car would be running more efficiently by turning on the A/C (I don't mean using less gas by turning on the A/C, but that adding the A/C load to the engine would increase efficiency and thus require less of
an increase in gas added to the engine)?
Wow, looking back at what I just said, it seems very convoluted, but I can't think of any other way to explain without diagrams and a 40-minute discussion on the topic. Any takers?