Ive been reading this board for a few months now, and finally have soemthing to add/ask. First of all, this board rocks! Ive been all over the net looking at all car boards, and this board helped me decide (Finally) to get the TL. Its been with me for 6 weeks now, and I havent regretted the choice once!

1) Is there something special about the drink holders? I left a drink in the car for hours yesterday, and it stayed cool longer than I would have imagined. When the A/C is on, the compartment in the middle seems to stay cool as well. For someone who has not read the enire manual yet, am I imagining things or do we get a cooled center area because of the A/C outlet in the back?

2) What HP figure do you figure we drop with the A/C on? 5? 10? Any ideas would be helpful. What about MPG figures?

Thanks

 

The Ac thing has been discussed before http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showt...r+console+cool -- I think it is an engineering flaw by Acura, and without knowing it when cold air is supplied to the rear vents act as a center console cooler.

 

Welcome to the forum.


There is another CUP HOLDER thread having lots of good info there. Check Garage. http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76490

 

I'm not sure I'd call that a flaw...unless you only like hot drinks.

 

If you only like hot drinks, then you'll be happy in the winter, because the same "flaw" makes the center console heat up when the car's heater is on (and the rear vents are used).

If this was purely an accident (drink cooler in summer, drink warmer in winter), then that's the kind of accident that I'm sure every engineer/designer wishes they would make! Somewhere, there's a designer going

 

I would guess the A/C doesn't draw that much from the engine. I would be surprised if it was as much as 5 HP. I base this upon just one thing. When it's operating, I am not aware of the compressor cutting in and out. I was on my Altima SE when it was stock and that engine produce more torque and the final drive ratio was lower than that of the TL.

 

I can definitely feel a performance difference between AC-ON and AC-OFF, so I'm guessing it's much more than 5HP (I'm assuming that this is 5HP/270HP or about a 2% loss).

 

A/C burden isn't measured in HP. It's measured in MPG.

The compressor cuts out when you're asking for more power, and as a result full power is always available. However, at lower power with the compressor engaged, you have to give it a little more gas to cruise at a given speed. The difference is the load created by the compressor.

In this sense the TL is heavily biased toward performance, because it tends to cut out the compressor more readily than other, less powerful, cars I've owned.

 

I was surprised, when closing driver side window on AUTO and got my hand caught in it window automatically stopped and rolled down.

 

Well when you floor the car with the a/c on, it actually automatically shuts off without you knowing. am i right or wrong?

 

It's called a WOTS or wide open throttle switch. It cuts off the compressor to give max power on acceleration.

XP

 

HUH?? So you think there is no HP loss with the compressor on? Of course there is. It doesn't spin on it's own. Any components (ie, alternator, compressor, even a supercharger) driven off the engine produce a loss. This is why there is such a disparity between "gross" and "net" ratings". Gross HP is measured with the engine on a stand with no exhaust or driven components. Net HP is measured with all components installed. There can be a 15-20% difference. That's why the old muscle cars of the '60s and early '70s had such high ratings. They used gross ratings then. When they switched over to SAE net ratings, HP "dropped" ~20% immediately.

The difference with the supercharger is it's the only one that puts back in more than it takes to drive it.

 

I didn't say there's no power cost to run the A/C. I said the burden is measured in MPG rather than HP.

It's meaningless to talk about the burden as if it robs the car of driving performance, because the car is programmed to only divert that power to the compressor when there's a surplus.

Imagine driving around town with the A/C off. The car takes a hypothetical 50HP, and you're getting 25MPG doing it. From idle to the stops, you have a range of 0-270HP that you can send to the wheels.

Now turn on the A/C. Does the car slow down? No -- you simply push the pedal a little further to drive, and the car now produces 55HP. 50 still goes to the wheels (no slowdown) and another five go to the compressor. Only now you're driving around at 23MPG.

But here's the kicker -- from the idle to the stops, what's the range of power available to send to the wheels? And the answer is: 270HP.

And that's not just because the compressor cuts out if you mash it all the way to the floor. On the TL, the compressor cuts out long before you get to the floor -- around the half-throttle point, by my reckoning. Heck, it may even be on the same circuit as the VTEC.

The point is that the car performs exactly the same with A/C on -- you just have to push the pedal a little further down to make it happen. And the A/C is on a lower priority than any other power need, so in a pinch you will always do without A/C. But you will never go without all the power you want.

 

I gave it a little more thought, and it wouldn't really be useful to tie the compressor to the VTEC. One is based on RPM, while the other is based on throttle position.

I think that what you're looking to describe is the change in throttle response as a result of having the A/C on. But I believe that if you were able to adjust your driving habits -- your accelerator footwork -- to match the nominal added load of the compressor, you'd find the car performs exactly the same with it on as with it off.

The key thing is that the compressor runs off *surplus* power above and beyond drivetrain requirements. The car is well-programmed to ensure that this priority is preserved.

 

Hidden feature?

You don't have to turn the stereo on with the on/off switch...just press the FM/AM/CD/XM...button and it comes on.

 

Anti-Pinch feature.....

 

You would have been more surprised if it didn't stop. I tested it with a newspaper and it looked like it clamped down hard before it reversed. Were you hurt or bruised, or was it more gentle with you than with a newspaper?

 

Newspaper may be too thin, the dealer that I got my TL from, demo the Anti-Pinch feature with a full roll of paper towel. But I guess as long as it does the REVERSING, it is already ahead of the other cars without the this feature!

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that this was now a mandated safety requirement for cars with an "Auto" window-raising feature (the kind that allows you to roll up the window without keeping your finger on the button).

Maybe it's just a requirement for cars with the rocker-type switches, rather than the newer, safer, push/pull type switches (like the TL has). If so, then Acura STILL went above and beyond.

 

Sunroof does the same thing.