I have owned a number of cars with and without heated windscreens. Last car without it was my FL1 and it was sorely missed. I opted for it on the FL2 and it is useful but the PTC heater or whatever it's called seems quite good when the 'prog' button is pressed. So I was wondering how effective it is at defrosting without using the heated windscreen.

Now, next time it's frosty I could of course see for myself by switching the heated windscreen off but for those owners with S or GS without heated windscreen, how do you find it for defrosting? I suspect it is much improved over the FL1. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Last edited by dunroof on 14th Feb 2013 8:25 pm. Edited 1 time in total

dunroof wrote:

The heated windscreen is okay, but not that great in honesty. It's certainly not instant.

I find the small heater element in the ducting quite good, when pressing 'program' and everything is directed towards the windscreen, the defrosting starts to occur within the minute. I would imagine it being slower than a dedicated screen heater but it certainly speeds up the process.
The last few days have seen a frost of -6 in the mornings and within 3-4 minutes it has cleared sufficiently for me to drive away.

Mine is quite fast, we haven't had any sufficent frost/ice yet for me to test it out though, but in general frost it seems to have performed quite well, much better than the Freelander 1 we have .

Pressing the prog button has no effect on the PTC heater, that's automatic based on outside temp

, though it does direct everything up to the windscreen and switch on the heated element in the screen if you have one, along with the rear one

Last edited by dunroof on 14th Feb 2013 8:36 pm. Edited 1 time in total

The heated screen is an excellent concept...guess the appreciation depends if you are over 6 foot tall and can reach the centre of the screen...

There are two considerations in decision process for fitting heated screens...

1) Cost of screen vs saving in the downspeccing of the HEVAC system....heated screen = smaller capacity plenum chgambers and easier packaging at design stage...HEVAC unit is in the most sought after 'space' on the vehicle...that's why a lot of ford cars are fitted with heat screens....try defrosting a fiesta on HEVAC only...takes an age...

2) customer delight in having a heated screen to save the frosty morning scrape..and the ability to reach the centre screen area...

My SD4 clears the screen in far less time than I can clear the side glass...

The program button for defrosting the car is by far the best I have had on any vehicle.

I have had cars before with heated screens that had their own on/of switch they did not seem as good as the FL2

The conveniance of 1 button press to get you warmed up and going on these cold mornings is fantastic. What if there were no hypothetical situations?

Gunfa wrote:

The program button for defrosting the car is by far the best I have had on any vehicle.

I have had cars before with heated screens that had their own on/of switch they did not seem as good as the FL2

The conveniance of 1 button press to get you warmed up and going on these cold mornings is fantastic.

 John
07 HSE Narvick Black
Land Rover Series One
Triumph Rocket 111 (sadly gone!)

Have to agree, it's by far the most effective button first thing in the winter's mornings. My previous cars had nothing like it.

Last edited by dunroof on 14th Feb 2013 8:36 pm. Edited 1 time in total

Using an ice scraper is like public transports it's for the lower class and chavs it's not cool! Heated screen FTW

Last edited by dunroof on 14th Feb 2013 8:36 pm. Edited 1 time in total

dunroof wrote:

Maybe I am just impatient. It does work, just not as quick as I would want. It should be a 30 second maximum sort of thing to clear the front windscreen. I mean, I could scrape it in at time, so what's the point?