What uses more gas? (wasn't sure where to put this)?

Question

What uses more gas: the air conditioner at full blast, or rolling the windows down when driving? The air rushing into the car slows it down, causing the car to need more gas to drive, but I still think the air conditioner uses more gas... My dad and I had a small argument about it, but I honestly have no clue which one uses more gas. Don't ask me why I'm asking this, I was just curious, especially after watching An Inconvenient Truth. ><

Answer 1

using the airconditioner in a car almost doubles the gas consumption

take a long trip of equal miles ,using the airconditioner ,one way and not coming back

the person paying for the gas will drive with the windows down from then on ,

believe me

Answer 2

Of course, there are more factors.  If your are in the downtown, the AC uses more gas. If you are in a highway at 65 MPH, with 3 windows (I have read that this is the worst condition for the aerodynamics) down and the weather is not so hot, it would be better to up the windows and use the AC.

The size and shape of the car, and the speed are important when you compare the gas use.

Answer 3

Probably air conditioning. I know this wasn&#039;t part of your question, but PLEASE don&#039;t believe Al Gore. He&#039;s such a lier. That whole movie is filled with complete c**p. CO2 is a minor greenhouse gas, 30 times less powerful than methane, and only 3% of all of the CO2 in the atmosphere is manmade. But does he mention that? No, because it would make all of his &quot;convenient lies&quot; so much more inconvenient for him.

Answer 4

Darned if I know either..! I&#039;d put my money on the air conditioner though.

You might try a little experiment --

(1) Find a stretch of highway that&#039;s straight and flat when there&#039;s a good strong headwind. Drive into the wind with the a/c off and note the tachometer reading.

(2) Turn around so that the wind is behind you. At the same speed, turn on the a/c and see whether or not the tach reading drops below where it was when you were driving into the wind.

Answer 5

I have heard that rolling the windows down is best at slow speeds and windows up with air conditioning is better at high speed. The exact speed is not clear, but advice I hear is windows down only when driving is slow traffic but windows up at freeway speeds. That is because air drag caused by open windows increases greatly at high speeds. Double the speed is more than double the drag.

Answer 6

if your driving under 45 then having the air on uses more gas. if your going over 45 then having the window down uses more.