Steaming up windows on my GTI

[barton3112]

When the engine stops when you are in traffic etc the windscreen steams up, this also happens when you start the car after it's been parked for a few minutes or all night.
I have never had a car that's this bad for steaming up.
Any advice would be appreciated.

[SRGTD]

Probably worth having a read of the ‘Ridiculous Condensation’ discussion thread - link below;

viewtopic.php?f=71&t=71978

[Muldoon]

When the engine stops when you are in traffic etc the windscreen steams up, this also happens when you start the car after it's been parked for a few minutes or all night.
I have never had a car that's this bad for steaming up.
Any advice would be appreciated.

I have noticed this too - even after being parked up for a few hours when started up the dash vents will spread out a cover of mist onto the windscreen. Also there are patches of uncleared mist when driving in the top corners of the screen in cold weather. Makes you wonder if the ventilation system is average at best. I am not letting the auto air con come on when the windscreen is selected just to help clear it and keep under control. If I use the half windscreen / half floor setting the screen gradually starts to mist up.

[RUM4MO]

From my personal experience of Polos and Ibizas, this trend of annoying ventilation behaviour started with the change from 9N/9N3 to 6R/6C I had hoped that this latest version of Polo and Ibiza etc would have escaped back to a better or improved system and so fewer complaints as far as HVAC is concerned, not so it seems!

I've only experienced the extremely rapid missing up of a previously heated up car parked for maybe only an hour or two once or twice, and it certainly does delay you moving off quickly.

One thing to consider with any car that has AC is, the cabin air plenum chamber or air box that houses the heater matrix and the chiller matrix(evaporator), if you are continuously running the AC and worse if the outside air is very moist, will end up at engine stop be a zone that is literally full of moisture, either condensed and hopefully draining out or just covered in moisture, ie sweating due to the close proximity of the warm/hot/dry heater matrix and the cold/wet evaporator matrix, so when you get back into the car and switch on the demisters, for some time, the delivered air will be very moisture laden and so cause issues when it lands on the now cooled down inner surface of the windscreen. This is also the reason why it is recommended that you get the AC air paths sanitised annually as the air box being moist is the correct conditions for mould growth. Now why the world's car makers do not include a "auto shut down" procedure for these systems that heats up the chiller section and dries it off will be down to cost, and no one wants to spend extra money - and what exists works okay most of the time. When I do use the AC, I try do try to remember to switch it off and demand max cooling for the last few miles before the end of my journeys in a bid to leave the evaporator matrix at ambient temperature and the air box in a dry state, but I can't say that I always end up doing it!

Edit:- some changes that VW Group made back in late 2008/2009 has turned the HVAC systems in these small cars from being acceptable to being either so-so or not quite as they should/could be.

[Andy Beats]

Also have a look at the 'poor warm up and demisting' thread.

[jylydesign]

Use one of these they have vastly improved the situation for me

Pingi Dehumidifer -For Car and Home - Single Pack - 299g - Multicolor https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I3VKBJS/ ... cCb5M9HR71



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[Muldoon]

Use one of these they have vastly improved the situation for me

Pingi Dehumidifer -For Car and Home - Single Pack - 299g - Multicolor https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I3VKBJS/ ... cCb5M9HR71



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Thanks - not bad for £7 worth a try - although a bit annoying with a new car that is a 'premium' product (and you pay for it at the VW dealers) I could forgive it more if I had bought a Dacia Sandero. I think it might be due to the Polo being a well sealed box and at the mercy of the ventilation system. A draughty older car might have fewer issues.

[Andy Beats]

I still get misting, even with the Pingi pad.
But, of course, there's no telling how bad it would be without it.

[monkeyhanger]

Those steamy windows in a static car might attract dogging spectators!

[RUM4MO]

Ah, so problem solved, I wondered why I don't seem to get misted up windows, it is all becoming clearer now - not the windows though!

[jylydesign]

[emoji6][emoji16]

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[Fredster]

Thanks - not bad for £7 worth a try - although a bit annoying with a new car that is a 'premium' product (and you pay for it at the VW dealers) I could forgive it more if I had bought a Dacia Sandero. I think it might be due to the Polo being a well sealed box and at the mercy of the ventilation system. A draughty older car might have fewer issues.

Just had to comment, that it sounds funny to say that a Polo is a "premium" product. I don't think a Polo has anything to do with premium, or maybe that's what you meant with the quotation marks. Polo is still a cheapo, even if it's a nice car.

[SRGTD]

Thanks - not bad for £7 worth a try - although a bit annoying with a new car that is a 'premium' product (and you pay for it at the VW dealers) I could forgive it more if I had bought a Dacia Sandero. I think it might be due to the Polo being a well sealed box and at the mercy of the ventilation system. A draughty older car might have fewer issues.

Just had to comment, that it sounds funny to say that a Polo is a "premium" product. I don't think a Polo has anything to do with premium, or maybe that's what you meant with the quotation marks. Polo is still a cheapo, even if it's a nice car.

Agree Fredster. I thought the same when I read Muldoon’s post. In my opinion VW isn’t a premium brand. I rode in a relative’s new Vauxhall the other day, and that felt just as ‘premium’ as my VW - probably more so. The doors shut with a very solid sounding ‘clunk’, and the fit and finish of the materials looked and felt just as good as any VW.

VW used to sit near - or at the top - in terms of build quality of the mass produced mainstream manufacturers; back in the early noughties, my mk4 Golf was much better built than the equivalent Ford Focus or Vauxhall Astra, and the interior felt a very special place to be. In my opinion, sadly this is no longer the case.

Just my opinion though........

[Andy Beats]

Agree Fredster. I thought the same when I read Muldoon’s post. In my opinion VW isn’t a premium brand. I rode in a relative’s new Vauxhall the other day, and that felt just as ‘premium’ as my VW - probably more so. The doors shut with a very solid sounding ‘clunk’, and the fit and finish of the materials looked and felt just as good as any VW.

VW used to sit near - or at the top - in terms of build quality of the mass produced mainstream manufacturers; back in the early noughties, my mk4 Golf was much better built than the equivalent Ford Focus or Vauxhall Astra, and the interior felt a very special place to be. In my opinion, sadly this is no longer the case.

Just my opinion though........

I agree that the others have caught up, VW gave them something to aim for and they've done it - to a degree.
But I'd ssay VW is still perceived as more of a premium product.
Certainly more premium than Vauxhall - they can barely give their cars away and I wouldn't have another one of those for free.

[RUM4MO]

From what I’ve seen or read, here in UK we seem to be alone in respect of where we place differing brands of goods we buy, in Germany, certainly going back as far as 2000 and probably more, Ford=Opel=VW in market placing, but we, including me, seem to have thought otherwise, that is all, and it works in VW’s favour.

In this context, within VW Group you have 4 layers or levels of perceived quality Audi>VW>SEAT>Skoda - but they are all the same basic car, all based initially on Skoda Fabia back in late 1999 I think, yes all modified at different times and sharing/not sharing same platforms, but all the same running gear where quality is really important as a base to build on, but still using too many Skoda suppliers for still common across the marques parts which fit in with SKoda’s quality in terms of how close to premium you consider that to need to be, then each other marque applies its own “suit of clothes” and the illusion/deception is complete - mugged again, oh bother!