AC effectiveness in extreme heat?
 

Hello All,

I'm looking into a Boxster for my daily driver. My question is: I live in Las Vegas, and as you know, it gets REALLY hot here in the summer.

How strong is the air conditioner in a 2003-2005 Boxster? I like it cold -- is the Boxster AC strong enough to really chill down the interior, even when its 110 degrees outside? Any other issues with late model Boxsters and extreme desert heat?

Thanks in advance!
Kent

Kent,

I live in Cincinnati and it can get pretty hot here in the summers, including very humid. My 2000 Boxster has never had a problem keeping the car cool. In fact, I'd go as far as saying my a/c works great. I usually start out at the "LO" or lowest setting and after a couple miles have to bump it up to around 68 or 69 or it gets too cold. That's a pretty small cabin area that you're cooling down. Take one for a test drive thats been sitting in the dealers lot in the sun and see what you think.

My AC kicks ass! But it hasn't been hotter than about 95 degrees or so.

Given the cabin is pretty small, it does cool off very quickly. I'm impressed with it so far.

My AC is ice cold. We get 97 degree days here and the AC cools the cabin quickly and works great!

I often Ride top down with the A/C max burst at the feet..
it's working perfect! :)

So I can imagine what it does with the top up :P

I was just in Vegas for a few days with my 01 Boxster. I had the climate control set at 68 degrees and it had no problem keeping the car cool.

My 2005 has no problem here in Phoenix, and it said the temp was 118 on the thermometer today. I have to wait another few months to drive it top-down during the day.

The AC works fine in Louisiana, I have tinted windows and the small cabin helps alot.

when its realllly hot out, i use the key, hold to the left, and let the windows down, wait a few seconds, get in, turn it on, turn the AC on, and surprisingly it gets chili in there fast

It is extremely hot in AZ 117 or so this week and my car is an icebox inside no problem at all, i will go out on a limb and say that it is one of the better ac units i have owned on a car.

I have a 2000 base model and my air conditioning unit cools the cockpit ina hurry. I use the manual settings at low when I start her up and medium after a few miles and back to low. Sometimes it gets so cold that I have to turn the air conditioning off.

We have high 90 degree high humidity heat in South Florida and the heat will occasionally go above 100 degrees.

Hope this helps.

Here's the best method for cooling your car off on a hot day;

When you get in the car, roll the windows down and turn the AC on, with the source set to fresh air (outside). Once the AC starts getting cooler, roll up your windows, but leave the air on fresh air. Once the interior starts to cool down, then turn on recirculate.

This method gradually reduces the load on the AC compressor, but flushing very hot air out of the car, then once the car cools and the system is switched to recirculate, it's not having to cool down hot air from outside the car.

I've used this method in every car I've owned. The Boxster rocks because the cabin is so small, it cools down so fast.

I'm not impressed with the AC in the 987. Living in UT, we are a few degrees "cooler" than LV, but nevertheless you will have days were you'll be driving with the AC maxed and still sweat through the back of your shirt. Maybe it is the leather seats. :confused:

I agree with most of the posts here. Dallas, TX

I know you're looking for later models, but my 2000 -like the color, is arctic!

Another thing to note: the loss of power with the AC on isn't as prevalent as you might expect (in my car anyway).

i took my 2997 to palm Springs last week where the outside guage showed it to be 111. I had it parked in the sunshine idling with ac on. To cool the inside i had to pout it on max ac adn it got cold inside. Also the engine tempature guage never moved off dead center. So for 2997 I would say the air is fine.

My box is like and ICE BOX. I live with my a/c on. I live out on long island in NY, it is humid as all hell and I have to turn down the a/c because it starts to freeze my feet. :cheers:

Happy with the AC but another alternative add tints to your windows.