Summer is rapidly approaching and some parts of the world are already seeing temperatures rising. With that comes the age-old question: how do I cool my car quicker? BMW put together a short clip showing you how to do that on their latest models. It’s pretty straightforward but, to be frank, and there’s nothing new in this short clip so I thought I could add some of the things I do during summer months to cool down my car.

The video says you need to make sure your fresh air vents are centrally oriented and always open and that surely helps. New BMW models also have a MAX AC button which basically turns the temperature to the lowest setting automatically and turns the ventilation speed all the way up. That may help but only after the system gets going and cold air can be generated by the AC unit. What I find useful is to open all windows and start the ventilation at a higher speed so that all the hot air inside the cabin is pushed out.

It’s always helpful to make sure you keep your car in the shade (as much as possible) or cover the windscreen to help keep the sun rays out. Once inside the car, turn out your ventilation and keep the windows open to let the hot air out. Get moving to speed up the process. Then lift the rear windows and keep driving for a couple of minutes after which you can raise the front windows. Once that’s done turn on the AC and set it to a low temperature until you can feel cold air coming in.

After another 5 minutes you can set the car’s HVAC controls to automatic as BMW suggests in the video and the car will adjust its airflow and temperature according to your set parameters. This should get your cool as soon as possible. Ventilated seats help out a lot, as do heated seats during the cold season. Furthermore, if you have a BMW fitted with a pre-conditioning option, you can do that so that once you get to the car everything’s nice and cool. Not everyone has that option though so the tips above should come in handy.