How much more does A/C drain your gastank.? On the average car?

Question

I mean generally how fast does the gas go down, when you have the A/C on.

Answer 1

You will lose a couple mile to the gallon of gas with the A/C on!

Answer 2

I don't have a specific answer, but in older cars when air conditioning was first introduced (back in the 70s and earlier), the compressor had a significant drain on the engine, leading to disputes of whether it used less gas to have the windows down (reducing motor drag) or the AC up (reducing wind drag).

Most modern cars now, it's so efficient that it's a negligible effect on gas.

Answer 3

On the program "Myth busters" they ran an auto for x number of miles with the air conditioner running and again did the same thing with the A/C off and windows open to keep the auto cool. It was found that the car with the A/C off and windows open consumed more gas than running the identical amount of miles using the A/C.

Answer 4

I've found the difference in my car to be about 2 MPG, (6.7%), when I run the A/C as opposed to just driving around.

A lot of studies have shown that having the A/C on is about equivalent to having your windows down, (in terms of degraded gas mileage).

Answer 5

It really depends on a car. In my experience, it ranged from absolutely no difference to 3 to 4 miles per gallon difference.

Answer 6

you will lose about a mile or two to a gallon the same also applies when you are using your defroster because the ac compressor kicks in when you turn on defrost.

Answer 7

with the windows down u will lose more millage than with the air on i saw it on mythbusters

Answer 8

you should save gas with a/c than driving windows
down