If you drive a car with the air conditioning off and the window rolled down will it save you gas?

Question

one friend tells me that not using the air conditioning saves gas, but someone else told me you might as well crank up the A/C because if you roll down the windows it just creates drag on the car which slows it down and wastes gas that way to. so whats the deal? i must knowwww lol

Answer 1

I think it really depends how fast you're going.  Highway driving or city driving?  There'll be a lot less drag city driving than fast on the highway.

Answer 2

Riding on the highway with the windows down creates more of a drag so it hurts mileage.  At lower speeds one can see a very small difference but it so small it is not worth sweating like a pig to get it.

Answer 3

Hi Mel, Myth Busters did a show on this one time and they came to the conclusion that there was no real difference between riding with the windows open and closing them and having the AC on.  The fuel mileage was almost the same in their tests.  So if you're hot use the AC.  Personally I like the AC on and the windows open.

Answer 4

Hope you're having a great day!

To gas saving is a tricky issue if you go to the wrong blogs.

Unfortunately, the industry keep providing us with misinforming information to protect their own interest.

Please click on http://www.aimnsearch.com/water4gas

You will discover how easy is to gas saving

All my best,

Answer 5

I personally prefer the stench of diesel exhaust so I roll with the windows down...but I have no choice, my AC doesn't work.

Answer 6

The trade off occurs around 50 MPH.  At speeds above 50 you're better off rolling up the windows and turning on the air conditioning.

j

Answer 7

if you are driving on highway keep windows up and air on but in town is ok yes it does drag air and slow down also use cruise control on highway saves gas and set a 60mph saves to a little

Answer 8

The show mythbusters did that experiment, and in actuality the car using its A/C went farther on a gallon of gas, than the one with its windows down.