I don't know. Maybe you live in a place with low teperature variations. When I get into my car on a hot summer day, I like to turn the temperature down bellow regular comfort temperature to cool down quicker. When I'm stumbling into the car after shoveling snow and scraping ice from the windshield, I like to turn it a bit higher. On long drives, I sometimes get warm after spending several hours in the leather seat, so I turn the temperature down. My girlfriend likes the temperature a bit higher, so when she uses the car, it's turned up.

It's a comfort thing, and it's definitely something I change a lot with my mechanical dials.

[–] Poop@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I agree it might be a temperature variance thing. I will frequently use the heat in the morning going to work because it's cold and then be using the AC on my way home because it's hot out.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I don't have a separate heat or AC settings (I did in my '98 car). Any car modern enough to have Touchscreen HVAC controls (and many before that) will just have a temperature setting and will turn the heating or the AC (or heat with the AC) automatically to reach the setting.

I think many people have a car like the one on the right and assume that you need to tweak the HVAC controls on the touchscreen every 20 minutes because you choose a power setting or something. Cars have had thermostats for ages. You set a temperature, leave the power on auto and it does its thing. My new car even has automatic seat warmers, they just turn on depending on how cold is it in the cabin.

[–] Omgpwnies@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Exactly. I have "manual" HVAC controls in my vehicles right now, but I did have a car with an automatic one. I had that set for 21C 365 days a year, and it handled everything, including switching to defrost in cold weather. I did not touch the HVAC controls in the 3 or 4 years I owned that car. The manual controls need to get adjusted several times per trip.

[–] Poop@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

I would agree that modern cars temperature controls work well. My issue is just the screen for controlling it in some of them. I don't mind messing around with the controls in my old car, but it's very convenient to just set a temperature and go.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

When the car has been sitting in the sun it's 60C inside. When I get inside, the AC blasts and max power without me touching anything until it's comfy inside. It does that in my 2021 car and it did it in my 2016 car before that. Previously I had a 98 polo with manual controls.

[–] dQw4w9WgXcQ@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

Yes, but I enjoy a lower temperature when I'm feeling warm. ~19 feels good for cooling down after activities in warm weather. And when I'm very cold coming into the car from a blizzard, I might crank it up to 25. My ideal extrenal temperature is dependant on several conditions, it's not statically 20.