Awful MPG and performance with AC on (Mirage / Space-Star 2015)
Hey everyone,
I'm the owner of a 2015 Space-Star Bright 1.0 with manual transmission
Recently the weather has been getting warmer and I've sadly found the need to use my A/C , otherwise I feel like I'm just torturing myself for some higher MPG .
However I've found that although the A/C works perfectly and gets the cabin cool in less then a minute, the car loses nearly all of its power most of the time.
It feels like the A/C is using a good part of my fuel, for example I usually drive 52 to 64MPG (US) when its not summer, however on just hot or moderately warm days like today with the A/C on I get a piss poor MPG of between 29 to 44MPG (US).
It get so bad that sometimes I'm actually having issues properly driving away with this car without the need to ramp the RPM up to as much as 3000RPM while slowly releasing the clutch. Trying to drive away with sub-2000RPM numbers will directly cause the RPM's to drop and almost choke the engine. (Although it never actually ended up choking the engine, partially because I'm quick to press the clutch again to prevent this from happening).
Also while driving it causes unease, because the throttle will become much more sensitive and the rolling distance of the car is absolutely awful and more feels like you're breaking. Especially when driving in traffic in first or second gear its pretty bad, to the point where its much more comfortable to just give some gas and then roll further with the clutch pressed in. (To disconnect the engine from the wheels)
Is this normal? Am I a fool for thinking the A/C shouldn't almost use 50% of my fuel?
This behaviour directly stops when I disable the A/C, making me pretty certain its (somewhat) A/C related. It doesn't always show though, usually it start to happen after a few minutes and it feels more likely when I'm in slow traffic and/or using its Start/Stop system multiple times in a short period.
No idea if this is new behaviour, as I've only been the owner of this car for about 8 months (and loving it, most of the time )
Let me know what you think
Last edited by smiba; 07-05-2019 at 10:12 PM.
Reason: MPG UK converted to US, as its more used here
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View my fuel log 2015 Space-Star 1.0 manual: 47.7 mpg (US) ... 20.3 km/L ... 4.9 L/100 km ... 57.3 mpg (Imp)