5spd. - Better to coast in gear or in neutral?

[htwo]

Originally Posted by worthywads

The guy that runs the stop doesn't suddenly have no fault, what are you talking about, just wild speculation on your part. How much investigation do you think get's done with an obvious stoplight runner, CSI heroics don't apply.

1/10 of a mpg gain?, 37 mpg from a tacoma rated EPA 22 (new rating) is 15 mpg or 68% better. I have many 600-750 mile tanks averaging 37+ mpg.

Again, there is no difference in braking with the engine off or on, why keep beating this falsehood.

I take it that you're a hard core hypermiler? That's fine, I'm not arguing that it's a bad thing to do, but if I was coasting in neutral and someone ran a stop sign for instance and knocked me out, the cops will note that I was in neutral, and being in Neutral and not in a forward or reverse gear, classifies as not being in control of your vehicle. Phone your local DOT office and they'll set you straight. It's not speculation, and I don't watch TV, so don't jump to conclusions.

As for braking, using the backup system (vac pressure) to rely on braking should you need to brake is the wrong way to drive. If I was following you downhill, with my engine shut off and coasting in neutral when, damn, my starter decided to give up the ghost and there's a red light at the bottom of the hill and only one lane - good luck.

Again, I'm to blame for trying this a few times with my newer Pontiac back in 2006 when hypermiling was all the rage in lieu of $6/gal gas (Canada), but the extra work and lower safety margin wasn't worth the gain. I wouldn't even do it with passengers or a trailer in tow. Even with over $4.40/gal gas now, which is down from $5.50 I might add, is a small price to pay to get from A to B. After some thinking it came to my mind that to hypermile, I could just use my bicycle, which doesn't consume any fuel and keeps me fit in the process.

I love it when I read the fuel economy forum, and some guy with the exact same vehicle is getting 5mpg better. It doesn't even sink in to the guy that's getting lower mileage, considering everything is the same right down to the tire pressure, is that he weighs 150lbs more than the guy getting 5mpg better. I love it.

[worthywads]

And the police officer will have to prove that you weren't in the middle of a shift when you were hit and knocked out. Highly unlikely that any police accident investigation is going to check the black box to find out. I'm not sure if the black box can even know if it is in gear or not, manual transmissions don't output info like automatics.

[htwo]

That's just it, most cases aren't severe enough to warrant a full investigation. As vehicles become more hi-tech it won't be long before everything in monitored. Take GM's Onstar for instance, if you take a corner too fast and the stability control kicks in, it can call Onstar just because of that, and you can bet that they log that type of thing in their system for most likely a short time period. You can go online to Onstars website and get vehicle updates from everything including top speed, average speed since the last GM service, etc. It's quite involved now, so just wait 5-10 years (if manual transmissions are still produced) and the belt will tighten, guaranteed.

It's a shame really, that manufacturers are putting all their money into the development of auto transmissions. I went to look at a GM 2500HD the other day (gas truck) to replace one of my fleet units, and they don't offer a manual transmission for ANY engine in the heavy duty line anymore. Neither does Ford.

[worthywads]

^

I may never buy another new vehicle. Automatics suck.

[htwo]

I had a manual 5 series BMW (hand me down car), but parts became scarce and expensive. My wife can't drive it, so selling it was the only option. Too bad, really, as I would've easily kept it running for another decade.

[IronNam]

throw it into 3rd and gun it. who needs coasting. lmfao

[SuperchargedMR2]

When going down a hill or coasting down in gear the car is running on a vacuum & not using any fuel. You will always get better mpg using this method vs idling when putting the car in neutral. I checked this in several cars when I was in Colorado 7 coasting down mountain hills. On many I would still be going over 60 mph downhill!