

Yeah, my experience has been the same which is why I wanted to clarify.
Most of those electronics are new though, and we don’t have a way to compare apples to apples. It’d be nice if manufacturers still offered a truly base model like they did decades ago.

I don’t have a side in this but both my ‘93 Ford Escort and my ‘01 Ford Crown Victoria would turn on the A/C compressor if you hit the Defrost button for the windshield.
Edit: Just searched it and I think you two are in a semantic misunderstanding.