can't have recirculate air without the AC?

^Me too... My M35 has it but not the QX AC is not always needed when on recirculate...

If you hit the climate button, you can go into a screen where you can turn the AC on and off. I am not sure if it will stay in recirculate mode if you turn the AC off, but you can give it a shot.

mattreading22 said:

If you hit the climate button, you can go into a screen where you can turn the AC on and off. I am not sure if it will stay in recirculate mode if you turn the AC off, but you can give it a shot.

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already tried it... once the AC gets turned off, the recirculate goes off too....

I think a lot of cars are like this, aren't they?

Is there a reason you don't want the AC on or why you are recirculating the air?

I know some people don't want the A/C to be on in a case like this as the A/C system does impact your gas mileage.

Agreed, especially on the hybrid model. Using a/c causes the engine to basically never turn off during city driving, really reducing mileage.

Ya the Hybrids will take a hit in gas mileage if you have the AC on, but the gas models shouldn't make much of a difference. I guess my question is why wouldn't you want fresh air coming through the cabin instead of recirculated air?

If you are behind a vehicle with a lot of exhaust or driving through an area with a lot of ambient odors, the recirculate air option will reduce the entry of those things into your car.

I don't know if all models have it, but mine from what I read has a sensor in it that automatically shuts the vent and 'scrubs' the air using plasmacluster ions and some filter if it senses exhaust and I guess other odors.

As for non hybrid models/gas mileage, using a/c in 'traditional' cars above aprox. 45mph makes no difference, but below it will impact mpg.

Yes, I understand, I was just wondering if it was something that was always on or not. Just curious.

This is an irritating Infiniti-wide issue.

I guess their idea is that recirculate leads to moisture accumulation and hence the A/C is required to dehumidify the recirculated air.

I prefer to drive with recirculate on to keep a lot of external odors (mainly industrial and exhaust from other vehicles) out. I do not think it makes a big different in the non-hybrid version anyway.

I consider this to be a minor nuisance though. My two bigger quibbles with the Infiniti HVAC system are the 150 second delay before the heater kicks in and the ultra aggressive attempts to blow cold air in response to direct sunlight.

mattreading22 said:

Is there a reason you don't want the AC on or why you are recirculating the air?

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Yes, the windows will fog up if you have recirculate running w/out AC.

Sinecure said:

Yes, the windows will fog up if you have recirculate running w/out AC.

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Does not happen always though. Mostly an issue in winters. I wish Infiniti let drivers decide for themselves when to use the feature like all other car makers do.

Agreed. I had a Volt before this and it didn't even have an a/c button; The car decided when it wanted to turn the compressor on and off. Quite frustrating to say the least. The engineers often over engineer things. Let auto be auto and decide things, but also leave controls for people to control climate settings individually.