When it gets hot - will you use your vehicles A/C ?

When it gets hot in Canada the temperature gets around +29 C and above. We are temperature pussies in North America - anything over 25 with humidity tends to make use feel rather uncomfortable and sweaty. In my years of driving vehicles that had no air conditioning, no hell can be worse than gridlock traffic and no air conditioning. Now that gasoline is approaching $1.50 per liter, will that mean you will stop using the vehicles air conditioning as much? Hell no. To me, the savings is negligible. I paid for my fucking A/C, I'm going to use it, dammit. How many Hyundai Accents do I see driving around with no air conditioning? Many. People are bloody cheap around here. They'd rather get a car without A/C than splurge for it.

According to a document produced at Edmunds Automotive in 2005, the savings in fuel economy having the windows down vs. A/C up is almost zero. Your engine is still moving the AC compressor, even though it may be switched "off". The refreigerant isn't moving around, but the pump is still working. The best tips they had for saving fuel pertains to driving moderately, using the cruise control, and sticking to the speed limit. Common sense, right?

But people continue to drive like idiots anyway. I'm sure you have your own lucid stories about ricers and assholes in Ford Mustang's blasting around the neighborhood. But lets not forget those idiotic SUV drivers who insist on thinking that their vehicle is a sports car. And with that, I leave you with the idiot in the Suburban Youtube video clip: