My wife's had her 2007 fit for about a year and a half, and the A/C has always seemed barely adequate here in central FL. It's feels like it gets only around five degrees cooler than the outside air at best unless we're on the highway up to a good pace. We took it to the dealership early on, but they said as long as it was working at all they couldn't do anything about it.

When we test drove one before the buy the thing was like a fridge inside. How's yours working?

 

Hmmm! I've noticed mine has a hard time keeping up with Houston, TX. But then again, every car I've owned has a hard time doing that. The A/C seems to work okay, but it has to "cool up" a bit... after running a while seems to do the job. I had a VW Golf who's air conditioner didn't work more often than not, so I feel spoiled right now.

I was thinking of tinting my windows to help with the heat.

 

Hi folks.

I've had my Fit 2 years now. When I first got it, I had the same complaint so I got my windows tinted.

It makes a big difference! Before tinting, the a/c could barely cool the car down on really hot days. (I guess all that black interior really absorbs heat quickly)

This past week has been unbearable in NC 95+ F every day. This past weekend I'm sure our local temp was at 100+! Driving around on secondary roads with a/c on MAX it gets nice and chilly within around 10 minutes. It does suck the power though, so sometimes I turn off the compressor when getting up to speed, going uphill or times that I just need more power.

 

Yeah tinting helped alot in my RSX. I'm saving up for that now cuz it's unbearable.

 

we've had a bit of a heat wave here in NC and i can attest: the dark interior and lack of tint does NOT help.

Tinting will help you, but a trick i use seems to help cool it down quicker.

just sent your ac vents to suck air from the outside, as that air is technically cooler than the air heating up inside your car. once things get going just set it to recirculate and semi cold air is all that the a/c has to worry about cooling.


hope this helps!

 

I cant really complain about the weather here in the bay area, CA where we get the cool ocean breaze and because of that there isnt much humidity and temperatures arent as hot as other states.

If you guys decide to tint there are two kinds, metalic and non-metalic. metalic reflects the sun light but the metalic kinda effects the antenna and phone signal which isnt a big deal since our antenna's are on the roof. while the non-metalic kinda absorbs it, doesnt effect the entenna but i guess is a bit hotter. both kinds protect against UV so either one works. there is also a new kind of tint that came out which uses nano technology or ceramic and is suppose to work better without having to be darker.

 

That's good to hear...about the tint being that effective, that is. We were planning on tinting the windows in the very near future. That windshield is so tall and sloped we've really wanted to black out the top of it.

 

No complaints about the AC in my Fit.
But I do live in Canada!

 

I'm found my AC to be barely adequate today. We are having a heat wave in MA; it hit 95 today. I tell you, this car has NO power when it's hot with the AC on max. I can't wait for it to cool off a bit. The AC seems colder in my friend's Scion XA, but except for the AC, I greatly prefer the Fit.

 

when it was like 89F the other week i had the A/C cranked at blower
speed 2 and at full cold and kept the engine rev kinda high.

worked fine for me. but the heat/humidity wasn't nearly as bad
as FL... i know cause i fly there to plantation for biz on occasion...
quite a bit hotter, quite a bit more humid.

 

It was 98 degrees here today in Hartford... you all must be spoiled or something, I drove around most of the time with just the windows down and it was fine. I did use the AC initially to cool the interior down, I kept the windows down first while I started driving to get the hot air out then put the windows up and blasted it on 4. I do have 20% tint all around though but the AC was more than adequate and after a few minutes I turned it off and put the windows down again. I could just have a high heat tolerance though. I really hate driving in cars with AC so powerful that I freeze. I much prefer the Fits little compressor that keeps it at a comfortable temperture and not subzero.

You can't expect much though, it's a little four banger that usese every bit of power to keep it going. With the little compressor it has it already kills the performance drastically when it's on. Anything bigger and I don't think the car would even move.

 

i hate having to use A/c... im losing precious power that the car desperately needs and also the power delivery isn't smooth, probably because of the cycling that the A/c does. Even with tint, i find the A/c not too great... and this is in sOUTHERN CALIFORNIA! i feel horrible for people who have to bear with 90+ every single day of summer

Plus i never use the 4th setting and hate to use the 3rd setting on the fan becasue it's REALLY LOUD! grrr

 

Mine's been fine. I've always found Honda AC systems to be on the meh~OK side of things. Best one was on my 00 AV6, but my two other Civics' AC were not all that great. In FL, you're dealing with drench-worthy humidity, too, which does a number on ya. It's already really hot in AZ, so I run it quite a bit. If it's been sitting out in the sun, it takes a fair amount of time to get going, but once it does, I generally have to crank it down to 2 or 1 or else I'll freeze myself out.

-Mike

 

I notice the a/c not working very good either. I took it to the dealership and they said the same thing, that it was working fine.

I went ahead and put 1/2 can of R134a into it and it blows ICE COLD now, even with 100 degree weather we've been having. The tint also helps ALOT!

Check my tint thread in my sig for some good information when deciding on tint.

 

The fan control is not linear. On my car the high fan pos blasts the air but next one down is a big step down and not that great. The Hi pos is loud.

 

Decided to collect some data on the issue above. Help my hand held mph meter about 2" from the center vent and adjusted the fan. Here's what that looks like.

 

Using the 4th speed doesnt really cool things any faster from what Ive noticed.
Ive never gone past speed 3, and its only for a few seconds. When its hot and Ive just entered the car, Ill put it on speed 2 or 3 and roll the windows down until the air gets nice and cold.

My A/C works fine for me. Its always on speed 2.
I always use a windshield visor and crack my windows when I can (Mugen visors)

 

Living in Louisiana its been pretty hot and humid lately. I crack the windows and let the hot air out for a bit then put it on 2 or 1 and it gets cold enough for me within a few minutes. Of course, I have less than week old fit :\

 

Hi, guys. Yes, I know I'm a noob to this site, but I've been around Honda's for quite a while. I've been a member of jdmcivic.com for about 7 years, so I know the drill. I've owned 8 civics, 1 accord, and 1 prelude over the last 10 years. All the civics I've owned either barely worked or didn't work at all. I currently own a '94 civic coupe ex (black w/ 20% tint all around) and dumped $1200 last summer on a new compressor, lines, & dryer including cleaning out the evaporator. It worked OK after all of that...meaning it worked good on the interstate traveling 75 mph, but not in slow, city driving. One month later, the evaporator developed a leak and hasn't held freon since. I'm burning up down here ....

so that is why I joined this site b/c i'm seriously considering a new Fit. I drove one last friday and was overall happy with it. A/C seemed to work fine, but everyone's comments are starting to worry me.

with all that being said, I think it boils down to the size of the condenser. On all of my civics, they are very small (just like the radiators) and on my accord, they were full length of front (just like those radiators) and that A/C was VERY cold.

Just my two cents. Hope the A/C works out in whichever Fit I buy.

 

Pro's outweigh the cons.. Go Fit