AC - most reliable?

[k-ink]

Which make or model of car has the most reliable AC? Or worst while were at it!

[J4CKO]

VW Ac is crap, generally anything Japanese lasts pretty well.

[joebongo]

My E38's AC is pretty fierce people tell me, the pusher fan is enormous and also acts as a backup if the main engine fan fails. Same fan on 2001+ 5 series as well possibly others.

[lazyitus]

J4CKO said:

VW Ac is crap, generally anything Japanese lasts pretty well.

Of all the VW's I've ever had, none of them had an air con problem. However, the wife's Civic's air con packed up.

[Turkey]

Not MG-Rover. The ZR had a weak brazed joint on a pipe which split when I changed the cambelt and put a bit of force on it. On the ZS a pipe rubbed through on bodywork and the gas escaped. Not expensive problems, but not that cheap either (about £200 for new pipe, receiver dryer and regas).

I think one of the reliability studies posted in the last couple of weeks showed Honda to have lots of aircon faults, but I might be remembering that wrongly.

Edited by Turkey on Saturday 10th July 19:01

[Dave200]

I've always found French cars' aircon to be one of their only redeeming features...

[Daniel1]

k-ink said:

Which make or model of car has the most reliable AC? Or worst while were at it!

my impreza sti is shocking. It blows cold but never cools the car down

[stemll]

According to the guy regassing our V70 a couple of weeks ago, the Focus has the best insofar as lowest temperatures achieved. He mentioned he'd seen a lot of compressor failures on VAG cars just coming out of warranty.

[AndrewW-G]

Given that almost without exception the air con in cars is made by a handfull of parts suppliers, is it not the installation that would lead AC to fail?.. . . . . . . . . in most cases I've seen, its a lack of servicing or old age thats killed AC


All apart from the XJS, I've only ever been in 1 where the AC still worked

[ILOVELAMP]

stemll said:

According to the guy regassing our V70 a couple of weeks ago, the Focus has the best insofar as lowest temperatures achieved. He mentioned he'd seen a lot of compressor failures on VAG cars just coming out of warranty.

The aircon on my old focus was great, always blew nice and cold...if anything it was sometimes too cold lol.

[Willy Nilly]

1998 Honda Civic. 102,000 miles. Air conditioning has not been turned off since 2002 when I bought it. It has never been touched, still cools the car.

The air conditioners CaseIH put in the tractors and combine harvesters was biblical. I think it is heavier duty than standard car AC, the compressors on them was and the one on my new steed is also the same brand as the one on my car, but physically bigger with Heavy Duty stamped on the side of it

[Silent1]

The air-con in a testarossa is beyond awful

[peterbredde]

The air-con in my 2002 plate Mitsi Galant has never been re-gassed and still blows cold.

[DennisTheMenace]

The Aircon in my old Honda accord aeroshed , 174,000 miles and 14 years old worked perfectly , best air con ive had wes in my old mk1.5 ford focus , that thing could double up as a freezer !

[900T-R]

A/C is one of few things GM does very well - not that surprising given that they bought one of the first fridge companies in 1919...

[Red&WhiteMonkey]

Well the blowers stopped working on my 2002 e46 yesterday. I'm just hoping its the final stage resistor (hedgehog thing) and nothing more expensive than that.

[Dab of oppo]

My old Nissan Patrol had A/C that powerful you could see your breath on a hot day! Epic!

[Speedracer329]

My XJR is 12 years old & the ac is still wonderfully cold when required!

[k-ink]

Also, which AC units are a doddle to change if they die?


I agree with the above sentiments, my old Subaru Impreza's AC was appalling! When it died the guy said it would be a dash out job and a real nightmare to get to all the parts. So it clearly wasn't designed with ease of replacement. Not ideal in any respect!

[J4CKO]

The A/C is pretty good in my Saab also.