Climate Control and Hot Weather

[Keeper]

I am struggling to keep cool in the car in this hot weather. I'm assuming my car is working properly but haven't really achieved being comfortable yet in the heat (I like it cool). I'm wondering if it is me or the car.

How is everyone else coping and what settings have you chosen the Climate Controls to be at at to achieve comfortable driving conditions within the car?

 

[Radders]

I am struggling to keep cool in the car in this hot weather. I'm assuming my car is working properly but haven't really achieved being comfortable yet in the heat (I like it cool). I'm wondering if it is me or the car.

How is everyone else coping and what settings have you chosen the Climate Controls to be at at to achieve comfortable driving conditions within the car?

not been out in it to find out!!

 

[jmaddr]

what settings have you chosen the Climate Controls to be at at to achieve comfortable driving conditions within the car?

I just set mine to a specific temperature and let the car do the rest. It's perfectly fine in Florida in 100 degree, humid heat. The one important part is to direct the airflow to hit you in the face (or wherever you choose) so you feel the cool immediately.

 

[Tonybvi]

Needed to cool the car down yesterday so set the temp low and switched a/c on. Not really effective until I noticed the little message that said control was limited by fan speed. Opened up the heating controls again and realised fan was on 1 so I set to 5 which made a huge difference. The annoying thing is that without a/c I can set my MX heating to auto which automatically sets the fan speed but as soon as I turn a/c on the auto button greys out. Perhaps I should read the manual!

 

[NorfolkMustard]

You may have range mode enabled?


What is Range Mode?

In Model S and Model X, Range Mode conserves energy by limiting the power of the climate control system. When this mode is on, less energy is used when heating or cooling the cabin. When turned on in an All-Wheel Drive car, torque distribution between the motors is optimized to maximize range. You can turn on this setting through Controls > Driving > Range Mode.

 

[Keeper]

Needed to cool the car down yesterday so set the temp low and switched a/c on. Not really effective until I noticed the little message that said control was limited by fan speed. Opened up the heating controls again and realised fan was on 1 so I set to 5 which made a huge difference. The annoying thing is that without a/c I can set my MX heating to auto which automatically sets the fan speed but as soon as I turn a/c on the auto button greys out. Perhaps I should read the manual!

Agree - setting it to auto doesn’t seem to have much of an affect. I would have assumed, like in previous cars, that the Climate control would adjust the temperature inside immediately if you adjust the temperature in auto mode. I turned down the temperature setting to 17c on auto and was not greeted with any significant adjustment of fan speed or temperature drop. In my previous cars I would have been freezing within minutes from a cold icy draft. I’ll keep trying.

 

[jmaddr]

I have had the opposite experience. When I lower my temperature setting on auto (and of course the interior temperature is higher than the setting) the fans immediately crank up and the temperature immediately drops. I would have yours checked if it’s not working as designed.

 

[animorph]

We set our temp to 69F, mostly just leaving it in Auto. No need to to select A/C, that's automatic as well. When first getting into the car when it is hot (110F here during the summer) the fan seems to go to max until the car cools down, then slows down to something unobtrusive. It all works very nicely for us, though we have no humidity to speak of.

 

[pdk42]

My A/C seems very effective. Set to Auto it cools the car quickly.

 

[Mr Speirs]

I found this to a certain extent also. I always kept the fan speed below 5 to limit the effect on range. I was out one day and it was too hot, I thought the AC wasn't very good on the car also. It was very quickly resolved by whacking the fan speed up to 8 and temp down to LO. Within a minute the cabin was icy cold, then switched back to auto to maintain 18°.

 

[MaDProFF]

I do not find it a problem with AC in car.

 

[M3P8906]

I am struggling to keep cool in the car in this hot weather. I'm assuming my car is working properly but haven't really achieved being comfortable yet in the heat (I like it cool). I'm wondering if it is me or the car.

How is everyone else coping and what settings have you chosen the Climate Controls to be at at to achieve comfortable driving conditions within the car?

I will say the climate is not as good as in other rival ICE vehicles. I came from a 3 series with a multi zone climate thing and it’s not a patch on that. However, it does do the job to a more than adequate standard; I think you just have a to work a bit harder at finding the right settings.

For fear of stating the obvious have a quick re-read of the manual and see if there is anything you’ve missed. Failing that it sounds like there must be an issue because I’m too in agreement with all above - the car does get cold, very cold if you want it to!

I use the function from my app a lot of the time to prepare the car, as I find half the time you’re battling the radiant heat for the first part of the journey and then you’re freezing for the rest!! I also use the ‘vent’ function a lot on mild days just to get a bit of air moving.

 

[Adopado]

I'm really old school ... when driving around local country roads the background air from a cracked open window at this time of the year is more refreshing than a/c ... obviously not suitable for motorway driving but I do like an open window sometimes! Loses some aero I suppose but saves on energy use on a/c so maybe balances out?

 

[drewpost]

During the really hot 30+ days last August, my Model 3 had no problem keeping up. I have the car set to "Auto" and it just handles it for me. Like the OP, I'm in Surrey too.

 

[Keeper]

Having diligently printed out pages 104 to 106 of the Model 3 Owners Manual - Climate Control and after having a nice cup of coffee indoors I decided to investigate my climate problem in the car. Having checked that I had "started" the car I proceeded to check the settings. I have to confess that Climate Control was switched OFF! I have no idea how long it has been like that but now its able to blast away! Hooray!

 

[Joelly]

Yes, this! I have found that it is quite difficult to get climate control to work effectively in this weather (uk, 20-25 degrees). I am a little disappointed in the climate control in general. I opted for A/C on with fan at 6+ for my most recent drive and that seemed to do the trick.
I test drive a Kia e niro and it had an option for driver only rather than whole car, what a fantastic feature. If only the M3 had that.

 

[Adopado]

I test drive a Kia e niro and it had an option for driver only rather than whole car, what a fantastic feature. If only the M3 had that.

It does. You can set separate temperatures or you can have them combined ... you seem to have the car set to the latter.

 

[Joelly]

It does. You can set separate temperatures or you can have them combined ... you seem to have the car set to the latter.

Are you serious?! Pahahahaha. Omg. So if I take it off combined, set passenger to 17 maybe, and driver to 21-23 Id be using less energy? I feel so dumb right now. The absence of a button to turn this feature on has thrown all logical thinking out the window.

 

[Adopado]

Are you serious?! Pahahahaha. Omg. So if I take it off combined, set passenger to 17 maybe, and driver to 21-23 Id be using less energy? I feel so dumb right now. The absence of a button to turn this feature on has thrown all logical thinking out the window.

If you could detect a difference in energy use that was enough to affect range I would be surprised ... but every little helps! It's worth going through the all the screen settings and even, dare I say it, the manual! (I'm a guilty as everyone else.) If you're an essential worker you may have other demands on time but the rest of us have no excuse!!

 

[Joelly]

If you could detect a difference in energy use that was enough to affect range I would be surprised ... but every little helps! It's worth going through the all the screen settings and even, dare I say it, the manual! (I'm a guilty as everyone else.) If you're an essential worker you may have other demands on time but the rest of us have no excuse!!

thank you for opening my eyes to this haha. I have just changed it, will see if it improves anything, even if its just feeling like im not wasting energy heating the whole care