i have a 2019 lx 6mt , yea , i'd say it's adequate , i'm looking into tinting the windows , maybe that'll help a little . i could actually live with that
since i'm not really into ac .i'd rather just have all the windows down , problem is , the air buffeting that goes on when everything is open , even at
moderate speeds . forget about highway driving , it's really annoying . been wondering if a cargo cover ( behind the back seats ) would help . i miss the sunroof
on my '02 SI , was heaven

 

good lord...the buffeting with the sunroof is not ideal either.....you'd think in these times of wind tunnels it wouldn't even be an issue...but it still is.....my daughters 1997prelude blows ice cold and no buffeting....eesh...getting old and cynical


even my wife off her 1999 mazda protege commented on the "lukewarm" air

 

my SI had no wind buffeting either , i had everything open all summer . do you have the cargo cover in your fit ?

 

Houston is hot and humid. Since I am the only one in my Fit I aim all the ducts toward me to overcome the weak AC. I avoid setting the fan to high speed because the noise bothers me.

 

Speed 4 is just noisier than speed 3 as far as I can tell.

 

It's the design. Heck my 1994 Civic VX got better gas mileage and had cold AC (all the VX owners on the boards did). My 1984 Furd Tumpo did as well - back when R12 ruled the land and consumer requirements trumped environmentalist goals.

 

I was a little careless for not saying anything greater than the 2nd speed is unacceptable.

 

Agreed.....when using heat or AC, I only run it on 1 or 2, maybe 3 on just fan only. Anything higher than 2 seems to force more air through than the system can keep up with, reducing what effectiveness it does have....been that way in several cars I've owned in these later years, although the HVAC on my wife's '10 Kia kicks ass...that car will burn you up or freeze you out, if desired

 

The big windshield lets in a lot of heat.The darker the car color (mine is dark gray or metallic) the hotter the car gets. If I could do it over, I would have bought a white Fit. Live in Phoenix, so we get 110 plus for 6 months. I always look for shade to park in, even if it means a walk to the store. Always use windshield screen & side window screens to help keep it cool. The A/C is "OK" & in summer, keep it on 4th setting. Also remember the engine is tiny, only makes so much power, and the A/C will be weaker just cuz of that.

 

I am like you. I'm not sure if a darker car makes the interior that much hotter. Anyway, I was on a long out of town trip and I paid to park at an Austin, TX hotel. You can see that I parked under the shade most of the day and with a car cover. The unusual thing was google street view entered that part of the lot and got my car, May, 2018. I found it as I was checking out the lot for future parking there.

It's famous now.

 

Haha that's like me parking at work except I don't bother with the cover. I park about 100 yards away in the shade. I used to be the only one who did it, then after a while people started parking out there with me lol. Good thing I get in early enough that I still get the choice spot that's pretty much in the shade the whole day.

 

I work 7p to 7a, and the cars are garaged at home, so, unless I'm out and about during the daytime, my car's always comfortable when I get in. It does heat up driving in the TN sun, though. Window tint can only help a small black car so much...

 

It’s weak in hot California summer. If you have CVT, turning the ECO mode off will help.

 

yea , i started parking in the shade last summer at work , did make a big difference , i have to see about tinting the windows this year ,my color
choice was down to the dark gray or silver , i wish i went with the silver , my only regret so far

 

i always try to park under sun to protect the paint and interior. Mine is silver and I regret not getting white or black. Sport model doesn’t look right in silver

 

I live in Nor Cal, Central Valley, and it gets HOT here. I've already seen it get up to 105. I don't have window tinting but have been looking into it. I don't crack the windows because it's very dusty around here. If I'm making a trip across town its several miles before the cabin gets cool even with Eco turned off. if I get on the Freeway and stay on for a while it gets plenty cold. I have noticed a tipping point, my AC struggles with anything Mid 90's and higher, but, if its less it works well.

 

I owned my first car in North Carolina and it was very common to see screen shades there. I think I am the only person in Minnesota to have one. It can get very warm in summer here with about 2 weeks worth of days in the summer when you need house AC and maybe two months for the car. The problem with the Fit is the window is huge and unless you want to spend a lot for a custom shade your standard shade won't do much. I bought the largest one I could find and it is a struggle to get it to stay up. I also bought a large roll of Reflectix insulation and I'll make a screen from that but that mean a large roll of screen in the back of the car. By the way, I use a shade almost anytime during the year because I use one on my 1981 Corolla and the vinyl dash is still in pretty much new condition.

As for AC, several others have made valid observations. I'll usually get into the hot car and drive it for a minute or two with the windows down to flush the hot air. I then turn on the AC but the air coming out for first few minutes is warmer than the air inside the car (this is a 2016 Fit). Even after that it never really gets cold.

One thing I don't like about the Fit is there isn't really much passive airflow through the vents. With my Corolla if I drive 60 and have the fresh air intake set open but no fan on I get a modest and usually adequate amount of fresh air coming though the vents. If I want nothing then I just set the air control to recirculate and keep the fan off. With the Fit you get almost nothing which means you have to run the fan for any air flow even if you're doing 70 down the freeway. The more you run it the sooner it will fail. Not that that has happened yet but as somebody who keeps cars for 20 years I figure the less I need to use a component the longer it will last.

 

My 2020 is still new 1400 miles but it blows very cold. It is Silver with tinted windows. But today it was 97 here and I had the fan on 2 and thought it was great. That said I sweat in 75 degree weather I am very hot natured and prefer a temperature in the mid 60s. Farenheit. Edit.. that was at 92 % humidity and heat index of 107.

 

Hi Limmie. Am amazed that your 1981 Corolla is still running. How many miles on it? Still original engine? Altho I know Corollas last forever. Saw a beautiful 1988 Corolla on bringatrailer.com in Oregon, looked brand new. I had a 1977 Corolla Leftback, bought new, got stupid & traded it on a 1978 Ford Fiesta. Well, live & learn.

 

I just checked my 2015 Fit with a thermometer at the dash vent. With the outside temperature at about 93 deg F after driving for about 3 miles I was measuring about 58 deg F at the dashboard air vent with the engine at idle; about 52 deg F with the engine at 1500 rpm – approximately that's what I recall. After driving for 10 - 12 miles I saw the temperature vary between 52 and 46, usually between 49 and 46, as something turned ON and OFF, I guess that was the compressor clutch. I would have thought the cabin would cool off if this is the temperature coming out of the vents, but it doesn't. This is with the fan at position 3. In position 4, the next faster position, the temperature actually is a bit higher! Maybe 2 or 3 degrees higher. Perhaps the vent temp should be closer to 40, like between 39 and 43? After 10 miles the cabin gets as cool as if will ever get but it never gets below about 82 deg F when measured at the passenger seat (away from direct sunlight). And even with the vents blowing directly at my face, the sun coming through the driver's side door window right next to me, has more of an affect on me, making me uncomfortable, than the cool air from the vent. The large expanse of black plastic under the windshield remains painfully hot, and I'm not comfortable even with the vents blowing directly on my face. It never gets to the point where I want to switch from recirculate to outside air. At over 93 deg F the car will get almost comfortable *if it is cloudy outside* but not if it is sunny. Sun through the windows warms up the car. It's a gddm greenhouse. If I stop the car and open the door momentarily, the car gets uncomfortably warm right away, then it takes another few miles of driving to cool down again. I never put the eco button in eco mode. In stop and go traffic, with the eco button not on, when the engine is at idle, the air temp at the vent goes up to about 58 deg F, varies between maybe 52 and 58. The cabin is uncomfortable. I don't want to use the car in stop and go traffic or even wait at a stoplight. Car warms up as soon as I stop at a traffic light. I have a refrigerant sniffer. It is the kind that beeps when it smeller refrigerant. I hear a tiny bit of beeping if I unscrew the dust cap from a schrader valve, otherwise it doesn't detect any leaks. At idle I hear something turning on and off. ON: the temp goes to 52, OFF, rises to 58. For some reason I was expecting to see temperatures in the 40's, not the 50's, even at idle.

At outdoor temps between 80 and 85 deg F the vent temp will be between 43 and 46 and the cabin temp will be reasonable comfortable, especially if it is cloudy. Above 90 deg F – no good.

Having a windshield reflector in place when the car is parked does not help much. Maybe the car reaches its coolest after 8 miles, instead of 12 miles, but it still never gets comfortable, never goes below 82 degrees in the shaded part of the cabin. At 93 degrees outside, there is a big difference between when it is cloudy and when it is sunny. However I don't want to tint the windows. I like to be able to _see._ I'm wondering if a cargo cover might help, and a dash mat.

I have older Robinair pressure gauge set with faces labeled for older types of refrigerant. Anyone know if there some conversion constant or chart I can use to make them useful for reporting on 134a refrigerant? They were expensive! I think I can use them as they read in psi as well as having markings for R22, R12, and R502. I know the Fit has 134a. Perhaps I may need hoses with different size shrader valves or adapters?