Which small cars have the best Aircon?

[RichALee]

Looking for a small car - city or small hatch - for my wife. Due to allergies she'd like something with excellent Aircon, both cold and well-filtered. She liked an MY17 Octavia we had a couple of years back, but that'd be too large for her use case.

Happy to look and new or used.

[donkmeister]

Get a 2-seater with the biggest engine option. You'll usually end up with the HVAC system from a much larger car.

[untakenname]

An aldehyde cabin filter will be best though afaik only Mazda produce them
https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/...

[Olivergt]

dibbers006 said:

Can you not just replace the filter with something more robust for your needs and leave it on recirculate.

This would not be my first option, recirculate should not be used for long periods of time, there is effectively very little fresh air coming in to the cabin.

I can't comment on a small car with good aircon, but I would imagine the newer the car is, the more likely it will have good aircon. Regular filter changes would also be a good idea, maybe twice as often as recommended.

[What The Deuces]

I personally think VAG cars have rubbish aircon compared to the BMW's, Fords and Volvo's i've also had. I'd avoid

[jamei303]

The XC40 is Volvo's smallest car and the higher trim levels have an intelligent PM2.5 filter system.

[bungz]

Years ago my then Mrs had a new Aygo "Blue" edition.

It had absolutely arctic Air-con, you couldnt have it on for more than a few minutes before turning the car into a walk in freezer.

[BIRMA]

My wife has had her Yaris Hybrid now since 2012 the air-con is ice cold and the whole car has never gone wrong, we do have it serviced with Toyota at the correct intervals and with it now coming up for 80K miles it has proved to be a good buy. One, zero road tax. Two, utterly faultless and nice service people and each time it goes in for a service they extend the battery life warranty. I wouldn't like to do a long journey in it but I have fun trying to get to our local Morissons without using the petrol engine. Can't fault the car in any way at all.

[Dr Interceptor]

Fiesta - given the platform is used for larger things like the Ecosport and Puma, it will have an HVAC system capable of handling a bigger cabin.

[Haltamer]

It's very worthwhile looking at aftermarket air filters; I have a MANN Filter -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075NW7JNT/ref...

Makes a tangible reduction in outside smells compared to standard paper filters.

Furthermore, You can increase AC efficiency with tinting (And insulation if you want to get really extreme).

Another one to consider is the fitment of air filters inside the cabin as well - You can get 12v ionisers and filters and all manner of things that you could potentially wire in to offer additional in-cabin air cleaning.

[Howard-]

Consider the colour too. Lighter colours absorb heat and transmit it to the cabin noticeably less so than very dark colours, black being the worst.

I'll never own another black car.

[ChasW]

Logic might suggest anything manuactured in the far east as local weather conditions require decent aircon performance.

[lj04]

My mini F56 has great air con seems to blow cold within seconds. The wife’s golf just seems adequate, suspect VW don’t fill the system to save money.

[GranpaB]

lj04 said:

My mini F56 has great air con seems to blow cold within seconds. The wife’s golf just seems adequate, suspect VW don’t fill the system to save money.

A few years ago we had a new Golf and the AC was crap, so I took it back to the dealer and they topped it up after finding it had less than it should have from the factory.

I reckon VW must be the most penny pinching brand out there.

[Bernt Tuakrisp]

The consensus when I lived in HK was that Japanese and Korean cars have the best aircon.

[maxdb]

I once had a Citroen C1 with great air-con.

[SidewaysSi]

Wife has a 2009 Nissan Note stter for bombing around the village. Great aicon and surprisingly comfortable.

[Roboticarm]

My parents just got hold of a new Hyundai i10, air con is both powerful and cold

[Pica-Pica]

Howard- said:

Consider the colour too. Lighter colours absorb heat and transmit it to the cabin noticeably less so than very dark colours, black being the worst.

I'll never own another black car.

Do you mean lighter colours REFLECT heat better than dark colours?

[clarki]

Try a Yaris.

My daily is a 2013 1.3 Yaris and the aircon is still mega, goodness knows what a newer one would be like...snow??

My misses has a 2019 Polo, it's ok, but nothing like the Toyota.