I used to drive a lot of 4-bangers and remember having to do that with pretty much every one of them either to overtake another vehicle or even sometimes driving up a steep hill lol. The air conditioning just sucked so much power from those little engines.
Been driving a hybrid for 6 or 7 years now, which also has a little 4-cylinder engine, but the electric motor more than makes up for that. It’s got a dash display showing the electric motor/ICE power split, and when you punch the gas, you can see the electric motor doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Love it.
Every time my wife comes back from a work trip she complains that the rental ICE car felt like driving with the parking brake on compared to our little budget EV
The AC compressor shuts off when your engine exceeds ~4k rpm on most cars anyways. It can only spin so fast without causing problems. And if you’re trying to pass you’re probably exceeding 4k (on a gas engine) and the car is smart enough to figure it out.
A lot of newer cars don’t have the clutch anymore, they instead use a pressure valve to reduce pressure on the compressor. Should have the same effect though
+1 for hybrids lol
I used to drive a lot of 4-bangers and remember having to do that with pretty much every one of them either to overtake another vehicle or even sometimes driving up a steep hill lol. The air conditioning just sucked so much power from those little engines.
Been driving a hybrid for 6 or 7 years now, which also has a little 4-cylinder engine, but the electric motor more than makes up for that. It’s got a dash display showing the electric motor/ICE power split, and when you punch the gas, you can see the electric motor doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Love it.
Every time my wife comes back from a work trip she complains that the rental ICE car felt like driving with the parking brake on compared to our little budget EV
The AC compressor shuts off when your engine exceeds ~4k rpm on most cars anyways. It can only spin so fast without causing problems. And if you’re trying to pass you’re probably exceeding 4k (on a gas engine) and the car is smart enough to figure it out.
A lot of newer cars don’t have the clutch anymore, they instead use a pressure valve to reduce pressure on the compressor. Should have the same effect though
But it gives you a fraction of an edge on the beginning before you hit 4k in that scenario. So you have a faster start.