Beat The Heat: Honda City vs Hyundai Verna vs Skoda Rapid vs VW Vento vs Toyota Yaris: AC Performance Compared

Which compact sedan offers the most effective cooling setup for you?

CarDekho’s AC tests series continues this week as we enter the world of compact sedans. This time, the Honda City, Hyundai Verna, VW Vento, Skoda Rapid and Toyota Yaris go head to head to see who has the hottest credentials in keeping cool.

Read: Beat The Heat: Toyota Fortuner vs Ford Endeavour vs Mahindra Alturas G4 vs VW Tiguan AllSpace : AC Performance Compared

Our previous test replicated stop-and-go traffic conditions and the ability of the SUVs to cool their cabin at a standstill. For this test, we go a step further and also find out how these compact sedans perform in free flowing driving conditions. Stick around till the end to get the complete picture!

Test #1: Which sedan soaked the most heat? 

Hottest: Honda City | Average Temperature: 57.6°C

Coolest: Skoda Rapid | Average Temperature: 52.9°C

Interesting Insights:

This test is particularly interesting since the cabin that soaks the most heat will also be the toughest to cool down. 

• The Honda City’s cabin heated up the most after baking in the afternoon heat for 15 minutes. While the City’s large glass area aids the sense of space and airiness greatly, it also allows more heat to enter the cabin, getting the in-car temperature up to an average of 57.6°C. It’s also one of only two cars in this test that has a sunroof.

• The Skoda Rapid stayed the coolest during the heat soak. While both the Vento and Rapid do have heat insulating glass components, the Rapid’s glass tinting and dark green windows with infrared cut, proved to be more effective. That said, the Vento was the second coolest cabin during the baking session, followed by the Yaris and Verna.

The Colour Factor: 

Skoda Rapid: Brilliant Silver

VW Vento: Reflex Silver

Honda City: Golden Brown Metallic

Toyota Yaris: Wildfire Red With Black Roof

Hyundai Verna: Fiery Red

While there are more factors to cabin heat absorption than just the exterior colour, the Honda City in dark brown and Hyundai Verna in dark red heated up slightly more than the others. The Yaris came close to the Verna, with the black roof option possibly affecting the heat soak to a small extent. The VW-Skoda twins came painted in a light shade of silver, which likely helped reflect heat more effectively than the others.

Test #2: Immediate Relief: Best AC Performance In The First Two Minutes

Coolest: Hyundai Verna | Average Temperature: 38.1°C

Hottest: Volkswagen Vento | Average Temperature: 42.05°C

Interesting Insights:

• The Skoda Rapid and Hyundai Verna came close in this test, with both cars managing a consistently strong temperature drop in both rows.

• While the Vento stayed relatively hotter at the 2 minute mark, the difference compared to the City and Yaris is marginal. 

• There are two observations that come across as the most interesting. First, while the 2-minute temperature reading is lower in the Rapid, the actual temperature reduction from the point of the AC being started (T0) is similar to the Vento’s.

The Results:

• The Verna fares the best here with an average temperature drop of 12.2°C.

• Next up is the Honda City followed by the Toyota Yaris with temperature reductions of 11.65°C and 10.66°C

• And at the end are the Skoda Rapid and VW Vento with recorded drops of around 10.45°C.

Test #3: The Race To 24°C

Fastest: 

First Row: VW Vento - 26 minutes

Second Row: Skoda Rapid - 31.5 minutes

Interesting Insights:

• Except for the Rapid, all the cars in this test struggled to reach 24°C in the rear row. The Rapid itself took over half an hour, which isn’t particularly quick either.

• Both the Japanese cars in this test couldn’t reach the target temperature in the front row either. While the readings were cut off at the 40 minute mark, judging the trajectory, these cars would likely need another 3-5 minutes more to reach the 24°C mark.

• While the Yaris’ roof-mounted rear AC vents didn’t deliver a competitive advantage in dropping the rear temperature, functionally, it works better than floor mounted vents which can easily be blocked by your legs in regular use.

• Larger cars, especially those with high displacement diesel engines have a noticeable advantage in cabin cooling performance. For example, in our 7 seater SUV test, except for the VW Tiguan AllSpace, all the competitors managed to reach 24°C in their 3rd row in 15-20 minutes. The compact sedans took more time to reach the same target in their front row.

Test #4: Lowest Cabin Temperature Achieved In 30 Minutes

Coolest: Skoda Rapid | Average Temperature: 24.5°C

First Row: VW Vento (23.4°C)

Second Row: Skoda Rapid (24.3°C)

Hottest: Honda City | Average Temperature: 27.1°C

First Row: Toyota Yaris (27°C) 

Second Row: Honda City  (27.6°C)

Interesting Insights:

• The Vento and Rapid have extremely close results at the half an hour mark. However, it’s the Vento that managed the stronger cooling performance, dropping nearly 28°C vs the Rapid’s near-25°C.

• While the lowest average temperature was recorded in the Vento, the Honda City which came last isn’t far off, losing by a margin of less than 3°C. 

The Results:

• Skoda Rapid achieved the lowest average temperature overall. 

  • Average temperature reduction: 24.65°C

  • First row temperature reduction: 25.4°C 

  • Second row temperature reduction: 23.9°C

• Volkswagen Vento achieved the second lowest average temperature overall. 

  • Average temperature reduction: 27.65°C

  • First row temperature reduction: 29.2°C 

  • Second row temperature reduction: 27.8°C

• Hyundai Verna achieved the third lowest average temperature overall. 

  • Average temperature reduction: 24.95°C

  • First row temperature reduction: 24.1°C 

  • Second row temperature reduction: 26.8°C

• Toyota Yaris achieved the fourth lowest average temperature overall. 

  • Average temperature reduction: 25.5°C

  • First row temperature reduction: 25.5°C 

  • Second row temperature reduction: 26.3°C

• Honda City achieved the fifth lowest average temperature overall. 

  • Average temperature reduction: 24.95°C

  • First row temperature reduction: 25.3°C 

  • Second row temperature reduction: 26.8°C

Static/Crawl Traffic Leaderboard

• First Place: Skoda Rapid

The Skoda Rapid strikes the best balance between heat insulation and AC performance, managing to cool both seat rows the most consistently.

• Second Place: VW Vento

Volkswagen’s Vento is similar to the Rapid on most counts and comes in a close second. Where the Rapid tends to do better is heat insulation.

• Third Place: Hyundai Verna

The Hyundai Verna managed to stay in the middle of the pack when it comes to heat absorption and performed well in the 2 min cooling test as well as the lowest-temperature-achieved test.

• Fourth Place: Toyota Yaris

In the static AC performance test, the Yaris could have performed better. It absorbed almost as much heat as the Verna but couldn’t outperform the Korean when it came to cooling the cabin down afterwards.

• Fifth Place: Honda City

The City had the disadvantage of being painted with the darkest colour in this test and it also offers a wide glass area which lets more heat in. Like the Yaris, it could not reach the 24°C mark, did marginally better in the initial cool test and couldn’t cool the cabin as much as the other cars at the end of the full test.

Test #5 The Drive Test

Highest Temperature Drop: Toyota Yaris

Lowest Temperature Drop: Skoda Rapid

Interesting Insights:

• The heat soak prior to the drive test delivered results consistent with the first heat soak i.e. the Rapid heated up the least while the City soaked the most heat.

• While the Yaris came at the back of the pack during the static/crawl traffic test, it proved to be the blast chiller of the lot in the free flowing traffic test. Not only did it fight back from being the second hottest cabin at the start, it also managed the strongest temperature reduction in the first round.

• The results for the Verna maintain its position in the middle of the pack but while the Yaris & City move atop the table, the Rapid and Vento drop to the bottom, showing how much better the Japs performed when assisted with more engine revs.

Test #6 Lowest Drive Temperature Achieved

Lowest Temperature At End Of Test: Toyota Yaris | Average Temperature: 17.85°C

Highest Temperature At End Of Test: Volkswagen Vento: Average Temperature: 20.3°C

Interesting Insights:

• The Toyota Yaris continued to end the test with the strongest result of 17.85°C. A commendable temperature to reach for a car AC.

• The pattern from the first round remains consistent till the last round. The Yaris achieved the highest temperature reduction, followed by the City and Verna, with the Rapid and Vento at the back of the pack.

• All the cars managed a temperature reduction of about 20°C or more. They also managed to go from an unbearable 45-50°C to the comfortable mid 20s in the same timeframe, with the only marginal differences in the average temperatures reached.

Before we conclude, here’s a quick look at the testing method:

The Method

• To measure temperature accurately, we’re using temperature sensors mounted between the front and rear seat headrests and seat backs. The integrated display gives us a readout of the prevailing temperature. 

• In interest of fairness, all vehicles are first ‘aired out’ with all doors open. This ensured all cabins attain an even starting temperature. 

• With all doors closed and windows rolled up, the vehicles are allowed to ‘soak’ heat for a full 15 minutes. 

• The vehicle’s air-conditioning is run for a total of 30 minutes. Temperature is set to ‘low’ with fan speed set to maximum. Temperature drops are recorded every minute for the first 20 minutes, and then at the end of the 25th and 30th minute.

• For the drive test, each car is driven with a speed limit of 50kmph. The cars begin the test with 30 seconds between their individual departures and are driven through the same road at the same time of day to standardize the test conditions as much as possible. The measurements are taken at the end of each circuit with time intervals of 7-8 minutes between measurements.

We’ve also tested the infotainment systems of these cars as well as their headlamps. Do stay tuned for those features, coming soon!

Read More on : City Automatic