On the automatic climate control:

It's a Situation Undertsandably Containing Killer Suction type of thing. I *used* to fight it all the time. Never ever was right. I hated not being able to get it just right.

Of course, I don't have to worry about it now, since the car was stolen last friday... I now am futzin' with the manual AC controls on the rental Camry, and I am LOVING it. Man, that's the only way to go. Too bad I can't keep the controls, 'cause I really like 'em. Car's gotta be returned by November, and I gotta get a car by then too... But I digress, I guess.

However, I will say DUAL controls are the bomb, and it would be nice to have. Camry doesn't either, but still.

 

And you're a car salesman?

The dual zone climate control on both my 2000 and 2003 Lincoln LSs work perfectly. A couple times a year (spring - fall) I'll bump the temperature down and up a couple degrees, but other than that, it's set it an forget it.

I sure wish that the climate control and heated / cooled seats like the LS has were an option on the 05 Mustang. [/b][/quote]
Don't sweat it, Kevin is a reputed "techno-troglodyte" - hates climate control, hates stability control, hates navigation systems, etc, etc, etc. "Just gimmie four freakin wheels and an engine and I'm happy," says he.

 

Actually, it says somewhere that even if you leave your lights on, the system automatically shuts em' off to save power -- cool idea and took too long to invent.
[/b][/quote]
:scratch:

It was invented more than 20 years ago when Ford was apparently sleeping. My '86 Celica GTS had it...and many other innovations.

Wakey, wakey!

 

:scratch:

It was invented more than 20 years ago when Ford was apparently sleeping. My '86 Celica GTS had it...and many other innovations.

Wakey, wakey! [/b][/quote]
Ford had it as early as '81. My parents had a Lincoln that turned them on and off for you, also dimmed your highbeams when a car was coming in the opposite direction.

 

Put me in Kevin's camp. I agree entirely with him on avoiding the extraneous gadgets that break or short out. Now, taking it to an extreme, we might be able to make something like this work, however I do believe it would need a nice engine cover and replacement rims ...

 

Dual Climate controls are a waste. It isn't like they actually work, but you have twice the things to set. It's a lot easier for me to sent the temp to freezing, and my wife to close her vents and turn on the heated seats. Or her to turn on the heat, me to close the vents, and pant out the window like a tongue lolling dog.

Seriously, it isn't like the temps ever work right. (Moods change depending if you're in direct sun or not, etc.). The end you either want heat/cool on (high or low) and where it goes. KISS!

 

I also agree with Kevin.

I purposly have ordered my last three Mustangs without ABS or Traction Control. If you buy decent All-Season Tires & maintain them, give your full attention to driving, know how to drive in slippery conditions, and have an outside thermometer so you know when you need to be extra carefull you can do with out this technology !! Dedicated rims with Snow Tires are also a must if you live in the rust-belt like I do !! The new owner of my 131k mile '98 Mustang was very glad I did NOT order ABS ... malfuctions at this age and miles can be expencive to repair.

This also part of the reason I preffer Manual Transmissions ... no added electronic controls here either !!

On minivans, I have always preffered to get them WITHOUT the Rear Heat/AC Unit and have never had anyone complain that they are hot or cold in the back seats. However today (thanks to people who THINK they need all this stuff) it is getting more difficult to do so unless you want a base model with limited options.

 

Well I'll tell ya, living in the hottest place next to hades will have have you thinking twice about that! The rear air in my Pilot is a very welcome addition.

But it's an SUV, I expect that kind of thing in an SUV, not a Mustang.

 

I was going to state that Rear Air/Heat may be a smart option in temperature extreme areas (like AZ, TX, etc. ... Canada, Alaska), but forcing it on midwest buyers when they want to step up from the base model is ubsurd !!

My post did not state that this feature should/or should not be on a Mustang. It was just another example of problem-prone features that should remain as "options" and not be put into a "package" with other features that a typical car, minivan, SUV, or truck buyer DOES want and can't get any other way !!

Doug

 

Hey slp...thanks for the info...that's what I was looking for.
Although you have to wonder why if ford is gonna use electronic controls for hvac wouldn't that make it that much easier for them to take it one step forward and add in auto climate?
For the people who haven't used auto climate it's basically nice because you don't think about it...just like a home thermostat. When I visited my grandparents 12 years ago in sacremento, ca and we rented a caddy to take them to san francisco. When we left the hot sacremento the ac was blasting to keep the car at the 72 degrees the auto climate was set at. We were so caught up in conversation on the 4 hour (I think) trip down that we barely noticed that when we enetered into the chilly san francisco bay area the ac was off and the heat came on...and not once was the converation interruped by someone complaining about the temerature in the car because it never changed...

Or another example is a friend always rolls down the windows to smoke a cigarette in the winter and freezes everyone in the car. But now that he has a trailblazer with auto climate the hvac system automatically senses that the car is getting colder and turns up the heat untill the windows are up and the temp is right again.

ps-I don't like dual zone climate. If you have a normal sence of temperature (say 72-74 if fine for you) but have a girlfriend/wife who is "always cold" then she'll tourture you with it. Dual zone or not, if she's got the heat jacked up to 89 degrees you are gonna feel it!

 

justme97 I could not agree with you more. Those that don't like auto climate don't understand its simple concept. I have a friend who had it and when he got in the car on a cold day he would turn it up to 90. Like that got the car to the comfortable 70 any sooner. It really is set it and forget it. I think I set it once in the spring and adjust it once in the fall. Those switches on my cars never wear out. You never need to use them.

 

Lol....my friend in the blazer would always do that...put it to 90 then shut it off when it inevitably got too hot. We had a lot of debates when he first got the truck, he would drive me nuts!

 

Don't sweat it, Kevin is a reputed "techno-troglodyte" - hates climate control, hates stability control, hates navigation systems, etc, etc, etc. "Just gimmie four freakin wheels and an engine and I'm happy," says he. [/b][/quote]
On mustangs, I dont care for it, on an exped I want electronic seat belt retractors that 'hand' you the belt like SL600 MB's do. Bring on pushbuton E brakes, tri-zone climate controls, rear heated power seats, power memory tilt/tele wheels, 4 headreast dvd's with surround sound and integrated game console systems. I actually LOVE the newer loaded conversion vans with 25" plasma screens and massage chairs, but for my sporty car, eh who needs that stuff. I like simple ac where I can flip it off in one sec if I decide its 'go time' with the guy next to me all of a sudden, usually you can do it in one stroke and do the downshift at the same time. Some of my other cars, like the Miata, would disengage the compressor clutch at more then 75% throttle so you never had to turn it off, I would be happy if they do that on the stang.


ALTHOUGH, I have been playing around with the remote-mount portible navs from Garmin lately, they are the way to go for sure. Easy to program, small, very effective and you can remove them and program on your home computer with NO dvd's. not to mention you can put them in any other cars you have and do not mess up the factory radios. I may actually get one! :shock: For less then half the price of an in-dash too, they rock.

 

Thanks for mentioning something else Ford forgot to put on the '05 Mustang.


As far as the climate control goes, I really don't understand the people who are opposed to it. Are you guys against indoor plumbing too? Have you disconnected the thermostat in your house too so you have to flip a switch everytime you want the heat or A/C. Climate control is as simple as ustate said, its a thermostat.

If a car has climate control and you really don't like it, you can turn the "AUTO" mode off and run it manually. :bang:

 

Thanks for mentioning something else Ford forgot to put on the '05 Mustang. [/b][/quote]
I believe you can get inside and outside temp through the Message Center.

edit: I knew it wasn't control center, its message center.

 

When I saw a 2005 Stang I went through every message center display and I do not remember any temperature display other than "coolant temperature OK".

Possible it's there, but I doubt it.

I would much rather have an outside temp display, climate control, heated / cooled seats and about 10 other things than "My Color" Talk about a completely useless gaget on your 2005 Mustang. Especially since the green message center display and the green radio display do not change colors.

 

All that complicated electronic equipment is great for newer car buyers who don't keep their cars very long or get extended bumper-to-bumper warranty coverage.

I speak for the poor people who owns these cars 10-15 years from now and the "Auto Climate" control or some other complicated feature they can't live without stops working. If parts are even still available, the cost to fix it could be more than the car is worth !!

If the car manufactuers could make their Auto-Climate control as simple as a house thermostat, I'd be all for it. However a car heater is not turned on & off like a furnace ... it is on all the time. Typically a cold-air blend-door is opened more or less to modulate temperature.

A friend of mine used to be an auto mechanic at a GM dealership and one of his least favorite things to troubleshoot and repair was Auto Climate systems. Problem was, he was one of a couple of guys there who were actually good and thourough enough to be able to fix these systems without just throwing parts at it until it started working again !! So needless to say, he got a good majority of these repair jobs.

Doug

 

We used to have a '92 Lincoln Town Car and the climate control in it went out (just outside warranty) and cost us $700 to replace.

This spring, I traded a '94 Acura Legend for our '04 Honda Pilot, and the climate control in it still worked great... I think reliability/longevity has more to do with a good engineering design and the initial build quality that goes into the parts.

I do believe Ford has improved quality significantly in the past few years, and leads the domestics for reliability, but still lags the best imports. Not trying to bag on Ford, but they pushed me away with tons of reliability issues, which I just haven't had with the Acura and Toyota vehicles I've owned since.

The '05 Mustang is Ford's first chance to get back a once true blue Ford owner... I do what them to succeed!

 

[quote]Originally posted by kevinb120@October 9, 2004, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevinb120,October 8, 2004, 10:17 AM

ALTHOUGH, I have been playing around with the remote-mount portible navs from Garmin lately, they are the way to go for sure. Easy to program, small, very effective and you can remove them and program on your home computer with NO dvd's. not to mention you can put them in any other cars you have and do not mess up the factory radios. I may actually get one! :shock: For less then half the price of an in-dash too, they rock.

Hey, Kevin.

Yeah, they ARE kinda cool, aren't they? I haven't looked at the Garmin Street Pilot in person yet, but it looks pretty good overall.

My only gripe is that they have fixed memory capacity (I believe) and very small screens. And voice-activated would be better than using a remote, but that's too much to ask from a portable, I suppose.

Might do the trick, though. Tell me, did you get a chance to hear the voice guidance on the Garmin? Was it a clear, loud female voice, or did it sound like Stephen Hawking?

 

Automatic climate control would just be a waste for me. Over the past ten years I think I have touched the temperature control in my current car maybe two times; it just stays in the full cold position year-round. Of course, we do not have much of a winter down here (last year it was on a Thursday if I recall).