Air con for a car

I agree about the usefulness of Volvo estates, especially the 240 series and the later V70s. I had two Saabs which were most comfortable to drive but their repair costs were astronomical compared with the Volvo's. I'm still driving a late V70 MK2 petrol despite the outrageous road tax.

Katie59 One reason cars, including the mini are bigger are because of the increase in safety requirements in cars compared with when they were first made.

I am no expert onthis subject but roll bars are now mandatory and aother structural changes to how they are built. which nherently makes any new car larger than manay were 30 -40 years ago.

But the real growth in car size has been in the introduction and huge growth in the sales of 4 x 4s, their imitations and SUVS, which are designed to be as big and as heavy as possible for vanity reasons. Wehave run good old fashioned estate cars for 40+ years because we need their carrying capacity. They were big cars when we first owned them, but now they look tiny beside these vanity vehicles, which are not even good load carriers. Our hobby used to be antique dealing and for that there is nothing to beat a good old fashioned Volve or Saab. Dealers with 4 x 4s always need trailers unless they deal in jewellry or something small.

M0nica

^Why does everyone want a car that weighs at least twice as much and costs 4 times a Mini would cost today.?^

Not everyone does. There are lots of small cars, old and new, buzzing around our roads.

Even compared to my Yaris it’s tiny

Katie59

We did manage, yesterday I passed an old Mini (1960s), mum dad and 3 kids no problem, no frills and would get from A to B just as fast as todays cars.

Why does everyone want a car that weighs at least twice as much and costs 4 times a Mini would cost today.?

Because we can - our lifestyles allow us enough money to do that (most of us).

Because to make an old mini safe - for anyone, let alone babies and children - you need to fit a roll cage and probably can only fit one (or at most two) car seats in.

We had an old mini (with children). I would not want one now.

Oooops

hot not hit

Im not in the know regarding AC and up to last year I never ever gave AC a 2nd thought but the reason for my sudden interest in AC is all down to the M word (( menopause)) where hot sweats occur which seems to go hand in hand with anxiety at being too hit !!!!

Can you believe the word A/C being linked with menopause!!!

😕

My Kia Picanto is the first car I've had with air-con which was very welcome just a few weeks ago. Until I got this car, an open window was my only option. When did it become standard for new cars to have air-con? I don't remember even quite expensive cars having it.

Why does everyone want a car that weighs at least twice as much and costs 4 times a Mini would cost today.?

Not everyone does. There are lots of small cars, old and new, buzzing around our roads.

Thank you for all your replies... yes open the wiñdow takes place a lot but when its hot as in HOT ( like last summer ) opening the window only allows warm air to circulate... ohhhh well I can't see us having days n days of unbareable heat in the next few weeks...

Thank you ....

😃

We did manage, yesterday I passed an old Mini (1960s), mum dad and 3 kids no problem, no frills and would get from A to B just as fast as todays cars.

Why does everyone want a car that weighs at least twice as much and costs 4 times a Mini would cost today.?

Because we can - our lifestyles allow us enough money to do that (most of us).

Last year I acquired a car with air conditioning. Yes, the cars I run are that old. I must say it was very useful during the hot weather, but I managed over 40 years of driving without it.

In the “olden days” it was called opening the windows!

All cars have it here. You just have to in Summer.

Classic cars often do plenty from the 70s 80s and 90s were, expensive, no more than other restoration costs.

I've never heard of air con being retrofitted. Must be a costly and difficult mechanical task. I changed to cars with AC several years ago after a very hot trip down the Autoroute du Soleil one summer with all the windows and vents open and I've never looked back.

Thank you very much for the info.

My car doesnt have A/C so i thought maybe a portable 1 would suffice.... taking into account its not needed as yet ( 🌧 🌧 🌧 )

All my cars have had factory fitted aircon as standard. I’m not sure if it can be retrofitted.

No I’ve never seen a portable one although I have see fans mounted on the dashboard.
It is possible to fit fixed aircon to some cars but that’s very expensive.