GX3 Issues?

[BarrieB]

I've had my GX3 nearly a month now and love it but I have a few issues with it,

Whenever I turn the fans on, normally to get some air flowing through the car, the engine starts, no matter what temperature is outside or set inside!

Also the estimated fuel + battery remaing is terrible. Yesterday it was pouring down with rain so I had the fans on to stop the windows fogging up. At the start of the 10 min journey the combined distance was 410 miles, when I arrived home only approx 4 miles later it read 400 miles with half the battery remaining, which is ok but this morning after charging it up it read 360 combined miles remaining???

When the fans were on the temperature was only set to 19c so I cant figure out why it apparently used so much fuel in such a short period of time.

 

[maby]

Don't pay any attention to the estimated range - particularly if you have only recently received the car. Those figures are guesses based on the car's experience of your driving style - notoriously inaccurate and what accuracy there is is totally based on the amount of experience the car has of you as a driver.

As far as turning the engine on - yes, the car does do that quite a lot. The petrol engine is the only way of heating a GX3, so it will start any time that the AC is turned on and the target temperature is higher than the ambient temperature. I know that we are in May, but morning temperatures even in London are still ten degrees, more or less - if you have the temperature on the AC set to a comfortable 20 degrees, your engine is going to run for a while.

People round here have invented all sorts of strategies to avoid the engine ever starting, but you really do have to drive the car quite gently and accept a lack of climate control to achieve it! I went to the shops yesterday afternoon - temperature outside was approaching 20 degrees and the temperature inside was more than that. I had a full charge and the aircon turned on with the thermostat set to 20 degrees. I drove in a style that I would describe as "normal" - about five miles of suburban roads in moderate traffic, pulling away from the lights and road junctions actively, but not throwing it around. When I got back home, the instruments showed that I had managed 95% EV - hence 5% of my journey had been on petrol. The fuel consumption was shown as "--.--" - in other words I achieved 100mpg or better - works for me! (BTW, this is a GX4, so it's not exclusively a GX3 issue)

 

[jkh112]

When I do not need heating, but just want a flow of air across the screen I leave the heater set at 15 degrees. When this is first selected the air conditioning comes on but this can be tuned off and the fan turned down to the desired speed, mode set to screen. In this setting the engine does not come on unless it is very cold outside. It can be turned off with the off button and back on with the fan button. The trick is to keep the temp setting at 15 and not use auto.

 

[hdasmith]

When I do not need heating, but just want a flow of air across the screen I leave the heater set at 15 degrees. When this is first selected the air conditioning comes on but this can be tuned off and the fan turned down to the desired speed, mode set to screen. In this setting the engine does not come on unless it is very cold outside. It can be turned off with the off button and back on with the fan button. The trick is to keep the temp setting at 15 and not use auto.

How did you get yours to 15? Mine only seems to go to 16 unfortunately. I would appreciate a simply "Low" setting which I had on my previous VW and Audi cars. Would help in winter when I just want to demist rather than warm.

 

[jkh112]

I did nothing special to get down to 15 degrees. Just kept pressing the down temp button and it drops 0.5 degrees with each press.

 

[BarrieB]

That works better setting the temperature to 15 thanks.

Another thing though, how do you permanently set the mpg to a manual reset? At the moment every time I change it, it reverts back to automatic when the car is turned off?

Also how can you change the clock display to 12hr rather than 24hr on the radio?

 

[hdasmith]

I'm not sure you can with either, or at least I haven't found a way to. Furthermore, I have found the clock to not be very accurate - which seems incredible this day and age. Make sure there is a small "CT" near the clock as this automatically sets the time, and keeps it accurate. When mine is manually set, it seems to drift almost as badly as my mechanical watch.

 

[duplo]

Don't mean to hijack this but I have a specific Gx3h question. When charging can you manually turn on the air con from inside the car?

 

[BarrieB]

I don't know, never tried it.

I've also wondered if when using the rapid charging point you can turn on the radio, never tried pressing the start button while charging just in case it breaks something.

 

[hdasmith]

I haven't tried form a slow charger, but certainly when trying a rapid charger the charger stops as soon as you press the ACC button, even without the foot on the brake.

You could possibly try re-wiring the radio so it's permenantly on, but you couldn't do that with the air con.

The manual does state you shouldn't sit in the car while it's charging, so this shouldn't be a problem. I have been known to sit in the car though and never had any problems.

 

[gwatpe]

I did nothing special to get down to 15 degrees. Just kept pressing the down temp button and it drops 0.5 degrees with each press.

Good luck with an AUS shipped PHEV. They only go down to 18C. BTW what is the max the thermostat can be set to on EU shipped PHEV's.

 

[jkh112]

I did nothing special to get down to 15 degrees. Just kept pressing the down temp button and it drops 0.5 degrees with each press.

Good luck with an AUS shipped PHEV. They only go down to 18C. BTW what is the max the thermostat can be set to on EU shipped PHEV's.

29C max on mine.