Shifting into neutral

[voodoo22]

Originally Posted by YenOfIrrelevent

Thank you Bailout. Yeah that's what I usually do, I switch it to neutral when I come close to a light and I always thought it's good because when you brake, it's not fighting against the engine when you are on D.

From what I've read and my own experience, it's best to coast in neutral when you aren't planning on slowing down and coasting in D will decelerate you too quickly. Like going down a hill or decline on the hwy.

You should stay in D and coast when coming to a stop so your engine is slowing you down and you can benefit from DFCO, where as long as the rpms are above 1200 or so, fuel to the engine is cut off and you're using no gas.

DFCO is best in all circumstances unless it greatly shortens the length of your coast. There's one spot I can coast in N for 3 kms some days, but in D I could only coast for 1/2 a km. In those cases I think it's best to coast in N for a long distance and use less fuel, than coast in D for a short distance and use no fuel.

[YenOfIrrelevent]

Originally Posted by voodoo22

From what I've read and my own experience, it's best to coast in neutral when you aren't planning on slowing down and coasting in D will decelerate you too quickly. Like going down a hill or decline on the hwy.

You should stay in D and coast when coming to a stop so your engine is slowing you down and you can benefit from DFCO, where as long as the rpms are above 1200 or so, fuel to the engine is cut off and you're using no gas.

DFCO is best in all circumstances unless it greatly shortens the length of your coast. There's one spot I can coast in N for 3 kms some days, but in D I could only coast for 1/2 a km. In those cases I think it's best to coast in N for a long distance and use less fuel, than coast in D for a short distance and use no fuel.

I read the DFCO thread, I don't quite understand how to do it. So I leave it in D and just release the gas pedal and let the engine automatically slow down on its own? I have an Automatic so I dunno. Sorry I'm new to cars.