I have had Climate Control for years in our bimmers and now our HCH's and I still go to manual mode 99% of the time.

I find it completely annoying.

Currently, when I get in the car I turn the CC "Off" until I get four bars on the engine temp indicator.

Then I have to:

1. Turn the fan up
2. Turn the AC off (1-3 presses)
3. Turn the temp up
4. Press Mode 3-5 times to get the vents I want

I REALLY hate the Mode button. I know that thing won't last forever, since I have to press it 10+ times a day scrolling through my vent settings (opening and closing all the vents, I'm sure, during the scroll).

AND I recently found out that my wife just keeps the whole system OFF most of the time, b/c she doesn't want to be bothered by it!

Anyway, I miss the old manual controls.

Rant over...

 

I don't like that there's no real way to tell if the AC compressor is on. During winter, when set to Auto, once the inside temperature has reached the set temperature, a mixture of warm and cool air is pumped out to maintain that temperature.

I would hope that in that circumstance the cold air from outside would be used with the compressor, but it's hard to tell! So I just always set auto, then manually turn off the A/C.

 

I think it is a very comfortable climate control. Would not go without it. I also feel that it keeps my power pack happy, such as it is! Could stand for 40hp power pack.H

 

I agree. My routine is to keep the temp on high and the fan on low until the car heats up and suffer the cold air blowing rather than turning the system off to avoid the AC-turn-off-buttonfest. BTW, we have an engine temp indicator?!?! I've never seen it.

I had climate control in my Subaru which I kept on manual 100% of the time, and I imagine we will do the same with the new MMH. At least the Sub and MMH have dual zone...

 

i keep it at 75 and worry about other things

 

I also have mine almost always off. The only time it's on is when I need the windshield defogger. Turn it on, let it run quick, then it's right back to off (making sure to first manually disable the AC compressor). Wear a coat when it's cold (including driving gloves as necessary), and open a window when it's hot. Granted, I don't live in Phoenix, but I generally just don't need it. And it's still possible to maintain full control over the system by disabling 'AUTO' and doing it yourself.

 

I can understand why certain people hate or dislike the auto climate control. Donald Trump speaks of this in speeches given across the country and in his books.

Usually the same reason why some resturants go out of business a few months after opening and why overly generous customer support people quit....

Honda made a mistake making auto climate control standard in a Civic.

The thing is, the days of having things do manual are over. Honda is currently testing in Japan a car that takes control of the car from the driver to avoid accidents. As we move away from human error and have computers adjust for our short comings we will start to see less and less of what we can do in a car.

Hopefully in the next few years we may even have a car that monitors the air quality inside the car and compensate by running the climate control without human input or desire. We may have a car that understands our time schedule and start and warm the car for us automatically.

I know they (Honda) and (GM) both have tested digital steering system that do not rely on phyiscal connection between the steering wheel and the front wheels.... MB and BMW both have ETC (Eletronic Transmisson Control) which you touch the level or button to set it in gear.

But back to the complaint, hopefully Honda will rethink what they provide in a Honda and refrain from installing these options. They need to keep these options in Acuras. People who buy Acura expect them to have superior or unique options installed.

-- rant over --

 

toyota just had a segment on cnn about it's system that brakes for red lights and looks for people to avoid hitting, even if they are behind a panel van. pretty cool. i'm thinking there will be a way to hack it to aim for hidden targets.....

 

Scuddy,
I saw that segment also

It is much of a moot point to want to go backwards... The reason the auto climate control is in the Hybrid had to do with the IMA. The external or comsumer appeal was it looked like an upgrade. It is one of the reason Auto Climate control is not on the other Civics and is not an option. (Except of Canada's Acura version )

 

I could understand some others not liking the auto fuction. I had auto function on my cars since the CL. It took time to get use to it, but in the end, I got use to it and I leave it on Auto. In the cold weather we have now, I set it to Hi for 10 mins and then drop it down to 75. When I got my Hybrid in the Fall it was still hot here on the East Coast and I left it on 69 or rolled the windows down.

Today I didn't have the heat on at all my coat was enough...

All in all, the system does take time to understand and use but eventually you get use to the controls and how it works and you don't want to go back to the old way