Auto climate control

[Downsizer]

My car is parked in the sun and in the last few days the cabin temperature when parked reaches around 25 C. I have the climate control set to 21C and auto and in these conditions it starts up in recirculating mode with air-conditioning and high fan speed although the external air temperature is only about 17C. It seems to me to be more economical to turn the recirculation off and use the external air to cool the cabin, or am I missing something?

[Marco1979]

The sensor measuring outdoor temperature may also show 25-ish values when parked. At some point it will balance out and turn airconditioning off.
I find the best option to leave the whole system off for the first minute and just open some windows. Works like a charm . Also prevents the engine from starting up.

[Downsizer]

Thanks. Opening windows - what a good idea!

[coldstart]

Thanks. Opening windows - what a good idea!

hmm, it's even in the manual (section "Using automatic climate control"):

If the interior is very warm, you can cool it down more rapidly by partially opening the windows, turning the system on auto, and setting the temperature to low. Change the fresh air mode to recirculation mode until the temperature cools down.

[Downsizer]

Thanks for pointing that out. If I’ld used my feeble wits I would have opened the window as well as turning off recirculation. And Marco above has explained why the system did not recognise that the outside temperature was a lot lower.

[Kremmen]

The outside temp sensor is somewhere behind the front bumper so if you've parked nose into the sun then .....

[Downsizer]

Yes, I usually park facing south. I could park the other way but it would then be close to a south facing high wall which also gets quite warm. Opening the window for a few minutes is the best solution!