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It's not just the A/C
I just did some testing with the SG today, and boy should have I done that before...
I found out that as soon as I switch the ventilation to any setting but off, the GPH usage jumps by at least 0.08. If I switch the fan speed to 4 and use the "max A/C" setting it's 0.1 GPH more.
And I spent all winter with strictly ventilation ON at fan speed 1 or 2 cause I thought 3 or 4 with A/C defrost would significantly use more fuel....
I'm a bit surprised how much fuel is used by the ventilation system. I was strolling along on a flat highway doing 45 (I can normally never drive that speed, but it was 2:30 PM, and the impact of accessories shows more at low loads) and was using roughly 0.85 GPH (53 mpg), I would set the ventilation to 1 which is barely noticeable and boom I'm at more or less 0.93 GPH (48 mpg). That's a good 10% drop in FE just by turning the ventilation on.
BTW, I could feel the car "hit" something when I turned on the ventilation doing 45 in 5th.
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