In New York's recent heat spells (100 degrees) my<br>99.5 Avant didn't hold the temp anywhere near low<br>enough inside the car. After warmup it shifted to<br>"tempered air" even though the inside air was still<br>hot. Does everybody have this problem?<p>If I switch to recirculate and set the temp all<br>the way down to the bottom, it will keep blowing cold<br>and gradually cool down the car after about 20 min.<br>but auto mode doesn't do it. My old VW had a much<br>stronger A/C.<br>

BobL,<br>What I do with mine is to set it at 80 when I first get in and roll all four windows down to let the heat out of the car when it has been sitting. As the interior cools down I gradually lower the setting, the heat is real bad down here in Texas, sometimes I try to remind myself that my A4 would be happier in cooler temps, but it runs great with no complaints. If you have some type of thermometer, I think that the air coming out of the vents should be at 60 or so but I'm not positive. Have your dealer check it out.<br>Hope this helps.

my 91 Passat used to cool the car far better than my 98 Volvo. <p>I recall talking to a technician about it while he was refilling my freon on the Passat in it's sixth year of life. He said that I was lucky to still have the freon system because the newer, enviromentally friendly, systems did not provide as much cooling power.<p>I can see that he was absolutely right. The Volvo with it's begger and newer compressor does not do nearly as good a job.

Well, any new car isn't going to compare to a pre 96 (I think), because it doesn't use freon (which kills ozone). My 93 Forerunner cools much better than my 99 Taurus or 98 Avant.<p>Rob

There is a TSB for weak air conditioning for certain serial nos.