mrGutWrench said:
__. Totally correct. I can't see a time when you'd ever need to coast in neutral. I drove from Knoxville to eastern NC this weekend (I-40) with a side trip up to the top of Mt. Mitchell. Gee, these are great cars for driving in hilly country!
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I agree on a hill where you can maintain speed with the engine in over run, but, I do coast on the flat in neutral from time to time. If I see a traffic light up ahead that is red, I slip the tranny into neutral and just coast up, rather than have the engine 'brake' the car too early and then I have to apply throttle again. Seems more sensible to me to have it idle all the way there as I gradually slow. This is also on empty roads too! if the light turns red while I'm approaching, I let the engine brake me and downshift as well. VERY little brake use. And yes, I can drive a manual properly so I don't wear out clutches. I've had over 250,000 km on cars with the original clutch. One even went over 400,000 km's. Granted, two thirds of thier lives were also spent on country two lane blacktop!
I have one traffic light at the intersection of two major county roads that I can't see until I round a gentle curve. It's then about a kilometer away. Over the years, (commuted this route to work for 13 years) I have learned that if it's red when I round the bend, and stays that way for 5 seconds at 80km/h, it will turn green and stay green when I get there. No brakes, no loss in inertia. If it's already green, I lift off, slip into neutral and coast. Since I'm on the "A" road, (the light stays green longer for mine than the crossroad), by the time I get there, and having coasted down to 60 km/h, it turns green and I'm through with minimal loss of inertia.
I used to drive 130 km one way to work in the early morning and could get almost all the way there with VERY little use of the brakes. Got 100,000km out of a set of front brake pads on a regular basis! Just takes planning and familiarity with the route.