You make good points, MassiveAttack.

From my point of view, I just don't see the point of coasting in Neutral. I just can't comprehend why someone would want to take their car out of gear. You get no benefit whatsoever to doing so. Oh, except that the engine noise goes away. I guess that's something.

 

I put my car in neutral sometimes to keep me out of the throttle, especially when there's nobody in front of me and I have a turn coming up. Otherwise I have the tendancy to accelerate toward my turn. Or, if I am on a straight flat stretch of road (making telephone poles look like a picket fence) and I feel like decelerating, but not with the extra drag of turning the engine. Just tryin' to be a well-behaved driver (sometimes)...

Now, for all those people who do "stomp on middle pedal and twist wheel", sell your 8. Quick. You're a menace to society :D

--Massive

 

The laws were probably enacted when just about very passenger car on the road had four wheel drum brakes, ran on bias-ply tires, had recirculating ball steering, and weighed over 4500 pounds.

 

Oh, and no power assist on anything.

 

And, just how is someone to be cited under this law? A law that is unenforceable is ridiculous. Not to mention that every time you change gears, you are COASTING! A law in which violation is unavoidable is also ridiculous.

And the existence of a law is not proof that a practice is dangerous.

 

Well, Ellar even in your quote of me one can see that I have heard these things before..... They were ridiculous the first time I heard them, and they are still ridiculous. Try not to go through life assuming that people haven't thought things through.

 

I never claimed that the law wasn't ridiculous. Only correcting your statement that claiming Neutral Coasting was a "ridiculous statement". It may be a ridiculous and unenforceable law but the statement is 100% true.

Neither is just saying that you don't think it's any more dangerous. It's a simple unarguable fact that you have more control over your vehicle while it is in gear. And, yes, by virtue of that you lose momentary optimum control of your vehicle every time you shift gears. Why you would want to defend the practice of losing optimum control over your vehicle in a practice that provides no benefits to you I don't understand. If it gave better gas mileage I could at least understand doing it, perhaps the added mileage would be worth the tiny increase in risk, but doing it for no benefit at all just makes no sense.

 

Then why were you surprised by some of the "claims" you listed? If you keep backpeddling this fast, you'll kill yourself faster than if you had just coasted by the thread in neutral. What I said stands.

 

...don't fight.. :'(

 

I'm surprised because when someone mentions coasting in neutral there's always someone ready to jump up and down about what a crazy idea it is. As someone who has coasted now and then, when warranted, over the course of 30 years, imagine my surprise to learn that I'm in imminent danger not only from the vehicle laws but from the laws of nature. Lol, I'm shaking just thinking about it!

 

I knew of the CA law from the last "coasting" thread. I didn't mean to state that the laws do not exist, but rather that basing one's driving habits on them was ridiculous.

There are any number of factors that we could go into as detracting from 'optimal control' of the vehicle. The goal is adequate and safe control. There are no bonus points. There simply are times when coasting is perfectly safe.

Re: gas mileage - keep in mind that coasting in gear, while it may cut off fuel to the engine, also brakes the vehicle. So you will have to get on the gas sooner. We could continue to debate mileage savings but there's no point; nobody is going to save a significant amount either way unless they are on dead empty and trying to stretch to the next gas station. To me the benefit is that coasting is at times (admittedly rare) simply the easiest way to maintain the desired speed, and it also is aesthetically pleasing. In much the same way as piloting a glider. And while gliders do lack a seemingly vital element of control their pilots do manage to land under control. Consider that one can (or used to be able to) solo a glider at 14 years old, a powered plane at 16. The pilot's (or driver's) discretion is the key to safety.

 

To give a non-US view on coasting in neutral, I'd just mention that doing it during your driving license examination would make you fail in most European countries. But then again, so would also driving at an illegal speed.... which is a common driving behaviour around here.

I don't coast in neutral. Having tried it once or twice, I don't feel it's an habit that should be promoted. But I'm sure one used to it can do it perfectly safely.

 

if a cop can tell that you're in neutral, that's kind of scary on the drivers part.

 

So if you're at a light, is it more fuel efficient to be in neutral, or in gear holding the clutch in? (serious question, not tongue in cheek!)

 

it would be the same

 

Theoretically, I'dsay it's more fuel efficient with the clutch in (in or out of gear). Expect in improvement of less than 0.005% in your fuel economy figures...
And a quicker replacement of your clutch bearing.