My heater never stops putting out heat. If I turn the heat off (blue-red adjustment knob all the way down, just before the air would come on) while driving, fresh air entering from the outside vent is heated to 10-15 degree warmer than the outside ambient temp. I've had it in to my dealer twice and they tell me that's just the way it'd designed and I have to live with it.

In the winter, this isn't a problem. However, when it's 60-70 outside, I don't want the cabin heated up an extra 15 degrees. If it's 70+ out and I open my sunroof, I end up with 80-90 degree air blowing in through the vents; it can be too hot to drive without the air on!

I also discovered on days where outside temps are 80+ that the air only cools the cabin effectively if I run it on max and shut down the fresh air intake. I'm really not a fan of constantly recirculated air on a long drive.

Am I being unreasonable? All my other cars give me fresh air at, or very near, the ambient temp of the outside air. That's what I expected with the Eclipse. Anyone else notice this?

Just to see if I was way off, I also drove a 2008 Eclipse at the dealer and found it did the exact same thing. Using a digital thermometer, I found the fresh air coming into the cabin while driving with the heater off was 14 degrees warmer than the 37 degrees we were experiencing this morning. So it goes.................

i am not sure i have had that problem but i dont notice it since i drive with the windows down in the nice weather. if i need cool air i turn it all the way to blue and let it come out and its always a little warmer but i think thats how the car cools itself off as well but not sure.

let us know if you find anything else out.

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It is probably pulling the engine heat. You would have to rig some tubing to pull cold air. Much like the cold air intakes.

I found that with the 07 eclipse we have if you put the air on recirculate and all the way over on the blue with AC turned on "ac light on" it gets really cold. If I turn it to vent or vent with AC then the air is a little warmer as the eclipse has a harder time cooling the outside air being sucked in fast enough as well as catching the engine heat being pulled in with it.

all AC systems are FAR more efficient on "recirc", and are really meant to be used on "recirc" for full efficiency.
thats why its there.

an AC system evaporator runs at about 32 degrees. it cant run any cooler, and it usually wont be that cool (40 is more like it).
so, trying to cool down air that is 100 degrees and incredibly humid takes a LOT more energy than cooling the air thats already basically dried and cooled already.

HVAC designers have know that for a century, hence the reason for the recirc setting.
using the outside air for true cooling is just silly.
keep in mind that a small percentage of outside air is ALWAYS being fed into the car no matter what the setting is.

also, you havent mentioned whether you have the manual or fully auto ac. It makes a huge difference in the way the system works.

that isn't the heater....thats the heat coming off the engine. mine does it. you're only about 3 feet from the engine LOL