Quick question. My new Micra ( see various posts below) has a stop/start option which is currently disabled. Should I enable it in order to save petrol? Or is the idea of this feature to prevent excessive emissions with little saving of fuel?
Will stop/start save petrol?
- Thread starter Vicario
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Only personally speaking but this is the first piece of nonsense that I turn off every time.....traffic lights, railway crossings etc fair enough but not the sort of situation where the engine is killed for a second.
The batteries seem to cope with this pretty well, but starters and ring gear - that's another story! I'll back that up by listening to our local Post Office vans.....well and truly knackered they are - the starter noise makes me cringe.
John
The batteries seem to cope with this pretty well, but starters and ring gear - that's another story! I'll back that up by listening to our local Post Office vans.....well and truly knackered they are - the starter noise makes me cringe.
John
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Its not there to save fuel but to reduce health harming pollutants esp in urban areas. You should use it for town and city driving.
I agree its a bloody irritating function, however I have got used to mine and can control it quiet well with brake pedal pressure, so when needed I can keep the engine running whist stopped at a busy junction, and likewise if I think i'm going to be stopped for (say 15+ seconds) I let it stop. Overall probably a necessary evil!
I agree its a bloody irritating function, however I have got used to mine and can control it quiet well with brake pedal pressure, so when needed I can keep the engine running whist stopped at a busy junction, and likewise if I think i'm going to be stopped for (say 15+ seconds) I let it stop. Overall probably a necessary evil!
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sports mode even in a built up area ?
Sounds like you don't care about other peoples health or well being
My golf was put in sport mode the day I got it, I've never changed it, stop-start still works the same, sure it's a little daft on occasion but it's never really bothered me, I've got more important things to get annoyed about.
Mine has a manual stop /start, called an ignition key. If it's obvious I am going to be stood a while unmoving, I switch off.
3 cars ago I had an automatic with sport mode, which I used to use for my drive to and from work through town. The reason was, one of the roads I had to drive along had 10 speed bumps and the bl00dy thing was constantly changing up and down between 2nd and 4th. The only way to lock it in a gear to smooth out the road was to put it in sport mode.
Despite the claim of the salesman that it was an intelligent car and it learned your driving style, it never learned how to navigate speed bumps.
For me, it was a stupid car, it was so busy trying to be clever that it was stupid. I couldn’t live with it and only kept it for 3 months.
It was a Jaguar.
Only personally speaking but this is the first piece of nonsense that I turn off every time.....traffic lights, railway crossings etc fair enough but not the sort of situation where the engine is killed for a second.
The batteries seem to cope with this pretty well, but starters and ring gear - that's another story! I'll back that up by listening to our local Post Office vans.....well and truly knackered they are - the starter noise makes me cringe.
John
I'm amazed they elected to use a conventional starter motor with stop/start cars, make cringe as well just thinking about it.
I work on a few Stop/Start Motorcycles and they all do it by using a modified Permanent Magnet Rotor and Stator assembly (basically running the charging system in reverse). Nothing to wear out and silent in operation.
That's similar (it would appear) to the old Magdyno system of yore.....I didn't realise that bikes had a stop/start system but I guess it's inevitable.
Our Post Office vans are Peugeots and Fiats just now - all on 67 plates - which have a conventional starter.
John
Our Post Office vans are Peugeots and Fiats just now - all on 67 plates - which have a conventional starter.
John
There must be a fuel saving if the engine is off long enough.
Calculating the minimum engine-off time which gives a benefit is not simple. You need to balance the fuel saved whilst the engine is off against the fuel used to start it up again and the extra fuel used to put the charge back into the battery which has been used up to start the car.
The biggest problem is that you often won't know how long the stop will be. It's ok if you see the lights go red, you can expect a reasonably long stop, but if you are in a queue it could start to move as soon as your engine stops.
Calculating the minimum engine-off time which gives a benefit is not simple. You need to balance the fuel saved whilst the engine is off against the fuel used to start it up again and the extra fuel used to put the charge back into the battery which has been used up to start the car.
The biggest problem is that you often won't know how long the stop will be. It's ok if you see the lights go red, you can expect a reasonably long stop, but if you are in a queue it could start to move as soon as your engine stops.
Can't speak for the OP of course, but if I was asked the same question the reply would be 'about as much as other people care about mine'
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typical car engine ticking over will use about half a litre per hour, so a 30 second stop will save about 0.6pence of fuel -
cost of new starter motor and fitting £450 ? so payback time wold be stop start engaged for 661 hours (thats about 28 days)
cost of new starter motor and fitting £450 ? so payback time wold be stop start engaged for 661 hours (thats about 28 days)
The numbers can be improved even more, by the driver using his/her eyes to decide whether it is worth while to stop the engine.
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