Some cars disengage the clutch at full throttle. I know my turbo Shadow did and so does my wife's 94 LHS. If this is true for all cars. Power should not be affected when racing.

As for settings. Max ac only when fast cool down is required, like when you first turn it on. This way it's recirculating the air. After that you want to use fresh air. Not too healthy to keep breathing the same air (although you do on airplanes).

Another minor tip is to switch to vent a few minutes before you reach your destination. This will turn the AC off and give the evaporator time to dry. Parking the car with a dry evaporator is just a small effort in preventing mold build up on the evap core.

 

+1 I do that any time I use the A/C. You can see the people who don't, there's a water puddle under their parked car

It's also good habitbecausethe A/C won't be already turned on as soon as you restart your car. IMO turning on the A/C a few moments AFTER your car is started is better than it engauging right away

 

I hear you guys on the black car. I too have an aluminum shift ****. I hate trying to shift when the **** is 120 degrees. lol I usually have a napkin to wrap around the shift **** until it cools down enough for me to grab it. lol

It is actually more fuel economic to run the AC on the newer vehicles than it is tonot run it. Driving with the windows down at 70mph can make you use up to 10% more gas compared to running at 70mph with the windows up and the AC on.

 

When you first get in your car and it's boiling hot I'd use the regular a/c, as pulling the extremely hot air from inside the car is going to be less cool than the less hot air from the outside. Once the inside of the car begins cooling down then you can switch it over to Max AC, which is also more efficient than the regular AC. And that comment bout breathing the same air isn't good for u lol. Nothing is wrong with using max a/c, car's aren't air tight anyway.