Help with climate / air con query for a newbie

Hi all,

This is my first post after just purchasing a Dynamic Evoque so be gentle guys

Can someone tell me if the Aircon is actually in operation when the "Auto" button is on or do we physically have to push the "Aircon" button so the dial is illuminated in order for it to be working ?

I have read various answers on websites but would just like clarification as i'm a little confused, which to be honest doesnt take alot !

Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to offer.

Rich

Welcome to the forum
In auto mode the aircon will run as climate control/ thermostatically controlled temperature, but it depends on the setting on the rotary dial for the two front seats. If you leave it on auto and set the temperature up to say 22 then you will get HOT aircon and dehumidifying, set it to 18 or below and you will get cold aircon with dehumidifying (which isn't as useful for drying out the interior after your wet dog has jumped in or you get in with a wet coat on). If you are worried that having the aircon on all the time is adding to fuel consumption then don't worry, modern Climate control systems like Evoques are not like the old style systems and sap power, they are design to run all the time. In fact by switching to Eco or even off you will find that you get a lot of condensation behind the trim panels that can cause very expensive damage to Electronics hiding in there like Sat Nav's, Bluetooth, ECU's etc. It is a false economy in more modern cars to turn it off completely, even in the UK as if you then don't run it for months the system doesn't get lubricated and the gas doesn't stay compressed which results in more expense to repair for the 3 hot days a year we get when you need cold air inside the car. So leave it on all the time and just adjust the left and right temperature dials to suit your comfort. There is also an air purity device built into the car in Dynamics and Prestiges that in Auto mode can detect unpleasant outside smells and automatically set the system to recirculate, or you can do it manually.

Firstly thanks for the prompt, and fully comprehensive reply it really is appreciated. I get it now
To be honest i wasn't overly concerned about excessive fuel consumption as I generally like to leave the aircon on permanently anyway to avoid any of the problems you mentioned. So i'll just keep it in auto. Its funny because in our last car (MK5 Golf GTI) if you pushed the aircon button and the dial illuminated that actually turned the aircon off so I just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing.

First impressions of the motor so far is that its a pretty amazing bit of kit. I'll try and get some photos up once I work out how to do it. Cheers.

It's pretty good on the road but you should try one off it! Even though yours is a Dynamic with lower spoilers front and rear than the Pure and Dynamic it can still go places you never imagined - maybe a full day course at you local Land Rover Experience in one of their cars is in order. You might even be able to persuade your local friendly LR dealer to give you a half day course voucher that you can upgrade.............. Also a tip, leave the Dynamic mode switched off unless you are driving some nice fast bendy back roads or sweeping mountain passes otherwise all you will feel is the increased weight of the steering and the change in the reaction of the suspension, but when pressing on on a twisty road the you really feel the car like it's driving on rails and flat with next to no body roll. It can get confused on a motorway............. or at best won't make a lot of difference. To really feel a difference though you should try the system in an air sprung and Dynamic model Range Rover Sport.......... you don't need an SVR (although it helps to provide the aural background of its special exhaust and 5.0ltr V8 Supercharged engine!) the plain old HSE Dynamic handles fantastically in Dynamic mode on fast country back roads......

Off road ? in my nice new shiney white Evoque I should coco mate

Its funny you mention the Dynamic mode as my wife tried it last night and said "it just makes the steering feel heavy" !!

I'll give it a proper go on the mean back streets of Banstead tonight.

Cheers mate

Lordy I took my one day old freshly driven from West London to Central Scotland the day before, Dynamic Lux Plus off-roading the very next day - 550miles on the odo and it was a White coupe with black leather interior and nearly all the option boxes ticked, delivered on the launch day 11 September 2011............ it what it was designed to do, not cruise the city streets............. that's for sissies!

I am suitable impressed mate.

I don't think i'd be that brave just yet though. Although saying that I did negotiate some rather large speed humps in Bexleyheath earlier today does that count ?

Jakesangel, welcome.

Last year I moved to an Evoque from a Mk 5 GTI and haven't looked back. Both great cars in their own ways (ok I'll admit some days when I find a twist road, I do miss the GTI)

Funny thing, I never had that issue with the AC light in my GTI, if it was illuminated, it was on. Even in auto mode.

As Tim has said, definitely take it off road, you will be amazed. I got the Evoque to cock a rear leg a couple of times... not something I ever got the GTI to do!

Hi EarlofEltham, thanks for the kind welcome.

I must admit I do miss the GTi, we had it for 4 years and not once did it ever let us down. My wife and daughter were quite sad to see it go although in my opinion the Evoque is a fantastic replacement.

Regarding the "Aircon" button, from memory I think it depends on what year the GTi was made, I think earlier ones were light on, aircon on and newer ones were light off, aircon on strangely.

OK i'm starting to lean towards booking a Land Rover experience just to see what this bad boy can actually do !!

Google Top Gear Magazine's article about the Dynamic that they drove across the Blair Atholl Estates 3-4 years back. OK so they ripped the rear bumper off it doing a stupid thing but IIRC they were amazed that it completed the run that the back up Defenders were having problems on, they also fitted 19" ATR or MTR tyres to the car rather than run on purely on road tyres.
I also have a Defender that is my "off-road toy" 21 years old 87000 miles and has never broken down in all that time, only had a new chassis, a replacement rear door last year and 1 new battery outside of normal servicing and folks say Land Rovers are unreliable.......