A/C in Gen III is not on par with Gen II

That's exactly what I was going to mention. The temp can be set to Auto, and 50º F, but if you don't have the A/C button pressed...it won't cool.

I have my temp set to 78 or 79 and I'm always comfortable.

 

right now it is 101º (normal high for this date...78) its gonna be hotter tomorrow. i am about to jump into the car (which has been sitting in full sun for the past 4 hours) to go swimming (currently VERY THANKFUL for relatives who have a pool, which is very rare in this area)

as some have mentioned, in ECO mode, the AC is throttled down a bit and yes, the SPM has always cooled off the car in most hot weather (last time it was even close to this hot was 3 months BEFORE i bought the SPM....but then again, my 2004 tidelands cooled the car very well too)

but have not had to inclination to do so as of yet, but will be trying the remote AC today.

 

Our 2008 was the dark gray ... with black dash and door panels ... and the A/C sometimes had a struggle cooling things off after parked in our hot Texas sun at 105 + temp.

Our new 2010 is the Blizzard Pearl with the Misty Gray interior. While at the dealer, sitting in 105 degree sun, the interior of the car was only warm to the touch. When I touched the roof outside, I almost burnt my hand. We didn't get the window tint applied for about a week ... but even in the heat of Dallas ... the A/C had no problem cooling the car because the interior color didn't radiate nearly as much heat like our 2008.

With the windows tinted now, we can drive in Dallas 100 plus heat with the A/C set anywhere we want and the fan at slow. The biggest problem with A/C here is the color of the car and the color of the interior.

 

A/C can be way too cool for me. My solution: leave system in Auto w/ A/C on and set inside temp for around 74 degrees; I sometimes run this down a degree or two. System will be in recirculate that can be set to outside air after the cabin gets cooled off. Also, I point the air flow towards or away from me depending on circumstances/temperature.

 

ok. today it will be "cold"...expected high "only" 98 which is a smidgen above the normal high of 78. anyway, it was 104.5 yesterday, beats the old high by 6º and the all time high for any day by 3º.

it is now that i must agree that it seems like the 2010 AC does not cool as fast. had a few real hot days in the 04 (not in this area, was way east at the time) and the car seemed to cool to comfortable in a much shorter time

 

We live in Arizona -- it was 115 degrees yesterday, and we nearly always drive in Eco mode. We had the A/C temp set at 81 and it got too cold for my wife. I'm not sure how much difference the car color makes (ours is silver) but I will say that the solar vent works great in our climate. Even on these very hot days with the car parked in the sun, the interior stays much cooler than any vehicle we've ever owned.