Auto Start/Stop - Pros and Cons

Richard53

Wife has an auto and I drive it quite a bit, plus I have had auto Disco II and Range Rover. Personally, I wouldn't sit for any length of time in D with the handbrake holding the car. I don't like the idea of two systems fighting each other for any length of time, and there is also the remote possibility of the handbrake failing and leaving you driving forward when you weren't expecting to.

As someone who finds the dazzle of bright lights quite painful, I wouldn't ever sit in traffic with the footbrake on for more than a few seconds, out of consideration for the poor guy behind me. So it's always neutral (or N) and handbrake if there is time to justify it.

Until reading this thread, I have always put the auto into N when stopping even briefly, just like with a manual. The explanations up there ^^^ make sense, and I will endeavour to leave it in D while stopped briefly, but no longer than 10 seconds or so. It just goes against the grain, somehow.

The RR was brilliant in slow-moving traffic where you need to do a steady 2-3 mph. Into D at idle, and then into N and let it roll for a while, then back into D for a bit more drive. It didn't seem to harm it, but long term, maybe not a good idea.

almillar

Personally, I wouldn't sit for any length of time in D with the handbrake holding the car. I don't like the idea of two systems fighting each other for any length of time,

And yet so many people want the fight the gearbox with the footbrake...

B00st

almillar wrote: »

Ah, I half understand the DSG system now. It works like most manual start/stops, except that the manual ones activate when you go into neutral and take your foot off the clutch. In the absence of a clutch pedal, the DSG ones rely on the footbrake. I would suggest to the VAG people that using the handbrake to activate it might be a better idea, but what do I know?!
5 minutes seems like an awfully long time to be sitting in 'D' with your foot on the brake, don't you auto drivers get cramp in your legs?! If manufacturers really do insist on staying in 'D' when stationary, they should be fitting their cars with strong enough handbrakes to hold the car.
'Honda slushbox' could be any number of gearboxes from the past few decades BTW, but the same principle applies I guess. As long as people are following the manufacturer's instructions, and not just being lazy and saying 'the internet told me so'!

The handbrake on my 9-5 and the 9000 before that is more than capable of holding the car stationary against the torque converter. I don't have stop start though.

The autos with stop start switch the engine off only with the footbrake but at least with the engine off there is no attempt to drive forward and the annoying diesel vibe through the floor is removed.

A friend of mine who works for Ford says that the Germans have the same attitude to the hand brake as Americans and only use it for parking, hence not using it to control the stop start.

almillar

The Americans even call it a parking brake!
Your Saab works the way autos should - the handbrake can hold it. I also think these stop-start systems on cars without clutches (how it's usually activated) should use the handbrake to activate instead of the footbrake, because you shouldn't have your brake lights blaring whilst stopped in traffic.