Summer in the City

It first struck me when I saw a Bentley Flying Spur sedan tooling down the 400 highway yesterday - with all his windows open.

Hmm-mm - that car obviously has air conditioning; why isn't he using it?

Maybe he had baked beans for lunch?

Then I began to notice others cars with windows open. Maybe one in ten overall, but in one convoy,  I swear there were five or six cars in a row - windows down.

What's up?

After all, yesterday turned out to be the hottest May 25th in the annals of GTA weather history - 30.7 degrees C. at Pearson Airport, according to Environment Canada.

Why are so many people driving around with their windows open?

A sultry day like yesterday also tends to make air quality worse - why are these folks so taken with inhaling smoggy air?

Do they not have air conditioning? Most cars do these days.

Do they have it and it doesn't work? Possibly - A/C often fails, and it can be expensive to repair.

Do they think they're saving fuel?

Not sure it ever has been definitively proven one way or another, but a case can at least be argued that the extra aerodynamic drag caused by open windows burns more fuel than it takes to drive the air conditioning compressor, particularly on the highway.

Do they just like the feel of the warm wind in their hair?

I had a friend many years ago who always drove windows-down, for that very reason.

I dunno.

Anybody got any ideas?

Comments

[Bob]

Yeah, it's summer at last! Windows up in a couple of weeks.

[Steve in Oshawa]

Maybe all those drivers are closet motorcyclists and want to get one step closer to feeling the wind on their face. Why do you think dogs stick their heads out the car window?

There's a reason motorcyclists call cars, vans and SUVs "cages."

[Tom]

Actually yes, the famed Mythbusters did an experiment which showed that running the A/C compressor vs. windows down had the same effect on fuel consumption. Personally though, I much prefer windows down as opposed to the sluggish feeling the A/C compressor provides.

[Stuart]

If you work in a stale dry over A/C office environment, sometimes you need that wind in the face feeling to just feel human again.

[Richard]

Weird you should mention this, as I noticed the same thing yesterday (May 28 - hot, humid) while driving.

Oddly, I found myself with the window down while stuck in traffic on the Gardiner, and then the QEW from 427 to Hurontario. Now normally, I'm an avid A/C user, but for some reason, it just didn't feel that hot to me with the window down.

I'm thinking it's because it's only the first really hot day we've had. After weeks of it later this summer, maybe the novelty wears off?