Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General coast or stay in gear when stopping??

so, i've made some driving experiments concerning the topic. when coming to a full stop i used to stay in gear until rpms dropped to 1000, then i'd take it out of gear and complete the full stop. then i decided for a while to take it out of gear as soon as i started slowing down to come to a full stop. i did that thinking gas mileage would improve at least a little, but what i observed was the opposite. coasting actually made my gas mileage worse. i also coasted on down hills.

my present conclusion is that coasting burns more gas than leaving it in gear when coming to a full stop. i think the throttle hang has a lot to do with it but i also think the SVT, which is what i drive, burns a lot of gas when idling. it seems to me that it burns more than it should when idling.

what are y'all's thoughts on this?

My thought is, that you can't base your gas mileage on your decel habits. You could have done a lot more highway driving with your "staying in gear" tests, and more city driving with your "coasting" tests.

I personally let the engine help with the braking, and don't move to neutral until about 1500rpms.

Mark

When I'm preparing to stop I always go into neutral. It's illegal and unsafe, but I do it anyway.

I don't like engine braking as well considering the fragility of the tranny. I'd rather change the brake than overhaul transmission.

I do both, depending on traffic and other conditions. I often knock it out of gear when slowing to a stop, but not usually until I'm traveling under about 40 mph. I would guess that I kick it out of gear about half the time or a little more. My brakes still last a long time. I don't think it makes any significant difference in fuel consumption.

i do whatever the atx makes me do

When I started driving, I never knew people actually did this until I was with someone who did it off the highway. I personally come from the downshifting school of thought.

Several reasons:
1) You're in control of 100% of your car 100% off the time.
2) You're in the appropriate gear if you need to start moving again (rather then having to figure out which gear you need to be in)
3) If you need to make an evasive maneuver in the process, you can (refer to point #1).

Everyone has their own habits. I usually shift into neutral right around 10mph or when the car comes to a complete stop.

I'm with Big Jim when I'm driving a stick. However, my dad is of the sail114 variety (in a different sense). He coasts to a stop, but while doing so runs through all the gears without taking the clutch off. Drives me nuts, but it's probably a better method than just coasting with gear in 5th ... to each his own

Driving must be one of those mimicry exercises: We end up doing things the way we saw them being done or were taught. Dad always rowed through the gears on the way to a stop, Mom downshifts and lets the car do the stopping. I have a mix of the two.