Car Buyers cool of with air con

By Elaine Larkin
Remember the last time you bought a new car and brought it on a long drive on a hot day? You were sweltering, because you’d forgotten to see if it had air con.

A/C which is the shorthand for air conditioning in the world of car sales and hotel rooms the world over, was not a listed feature. And because it was just another cool and rainy Irish day, you never even thought of air con.
If you’re thinking of buying a car and like taking long drives on sunny days or have a considerable commute to work and aren’t fond of sweat patches, write A/C on your list of important features for your dream car.
Although air con is a feature mostly found in cars in hot countries (and Ireland doesn’t generally fit this description), the availability of air con as a feature is increasing in new and second-hand cars.
Buyers of new cars often see the value in spending on extra features such as air con to help the car’s resale value when they decide to sell it privately or trade it in through a car dealer.
More air con in new cars means more used cars are appearing on the market with these features. Anybody who has experienced car tailbacks on a bank holiday weekend or traffic jams on their commute to work will attest to the value of having air con, even if they get to use it only a few days in the year.
Air conditioning in a car does a lot more than a fan blowing out cold air. It stabilises air temperature and humidity and makes the air within the car bearable, especially on humid or sunny days.
There’s other advantages too, this year German scientists released findings from a study they carried out on the quality of the air in air conditioned cars. The quality of the air improved by 80% when the air con was turned on – cutting out 80% of germs, fungal spores and particles from the air flowing into the car, which is particularly good news for people with allergies or respiratory problems.
Air conditioning was first installed in cars some 70 years ago, in 1939, so if air con isn’t on your must have list, it is fair enough to say you’re behind the times: air con has been around since World War II and became increasingly popular in the 70s (in the States at least).
There are perceived disadvantages to air con – that it results in more fuel being consumed. There are varying attitudes to this – one is that yes it does, perhaps using up to 11% extra fuel – after all the fuel in your car has to power the air conditioning. The counter argument is that if you were to drive with the windows rolled down (a popular alternative to air con), the wind drag will cause increased fuel consumption anyway.
The choice is yours. But if you do decide to buy a new or second-hand car with air conditioning, remember, don’t have the windows rolled down and the air con on, it defeats the purpose.