AC is the Culprit in i10

 

I have purchased i10 1.2 Magna on April 2010 and I have a valid point to add about the A/C. The A/C is consuming more petrol. I was getting a mileage of 10kmpl in city and 14kmpl in highway with A/C ON (blower speed in 1st point), I tried lot of driving styles on highway - 80kmph constantly again I got the same 14kmpl, then I tried to drive at higher speeds 100 to 130Kmph and again I got the same 14kmpl.

    This weekend I went for a long journey to Madurai almost 460km from Bangalore, surprisingly on the way I got 18.3kmpl @ a speed of 100 to 130 Kmph, then I observed that I was using little (20%) of A/C only because the outside whether was cold. Again to verify I switched ON the A/C for next 200 kms (one more full tank) I end up in getting 13kmpl with the same driving style 100 to 130 Kmph. Then I concluded that A/C is the culprit and now on the return journey I switched off the A/C or I used the A/C only 20% with all the windows closed and at a speed of 100 to 120 kmph, surprise!! now I got 18.64 kmpl for a drive of continues 300 km on the highway towards Bangalore, please note that there was no compromise of speed but the usage of A/C was minimal.

I covered 470 km in 5 hours from Madurai to Bangalore @ a speed of 100 to 130kmph with a fuel efficiency of 18.64kmpl), I was happily competiting with other vehicles on the road, but A/C... I do not want to complain about the A/C sucking more fuel, because there is a chance that the A/C compressor is new and may have more friction on A/C compressor’s piston and will have to undergo more wear and tear so that it will not consume more fuel.

Please note that i10 is having 80bhp so it will not show any sign of struggle to take the additional A/C load at any point of time, but it will consume more fuel - 4 to 6 Kmpl and it is too much for long journey. To use the A/C in economical way I am following the below steps:
Switch off the A/C while climbing up the hill.
Switch on the A/C only when you reach a speed of 100kmph or what ever is your stable speed.
Switch off the A/C when ever accelerating the engine, Switch off the A/C when I am overtaking other cars.

In City I am still getting 10kmpl only because my office is only 3 km away from my house and that too the traffic is very heavy and could not avoid A/C as well as signals :(

So far I have covered 4000 Kms on my i10 and I am fully happy with this i10 1.2 Magna!

Mileage, Power, Pickup, good top speed, StyleA/C Sucks more fuel