Does anyone know how USPS/UPS/Fedex trucks can start and stop their engines over and over and over without running down the batteries? Do they have 400 amp/hour monsters installed and recharge them at the depot, or what?
In addition, when the starter goes out it sells for about $1000. Part only.
All of this amounts to dramatically reducing the service life of the engine. Replacing an engine costs a lot of CO2. Some will opt to just junk the beast because a new engine is $10k. I could go on and on. Avoid stop+start tech. It's meant to make ICE so unreliable that you run to an EV to get rid of all that shit mess.
The stop-idle can factor into your mpg so it's an easy way to boost it (which there are requirements about).
(It's annoying because it interjects a slight delay when I make a left-hand turn.)
Here you go: https://www.idlestopper.com/
Sad that this is what it's come to, but here we are.
I was considering purchasing a Honda recently, and this was one of the things I investigated. Like you, I consider the hesitation imposed by this mechanism to be annoying, and in addition, dangerous.
Too bad. It seems a great vehicle otherwise. Like it a lot more than my previous 4Runner.
Bingo. This is exactly where it scares me, particularly when I'm already in an intersection.
> I've pretty much just made it a reflex to hit the turn-off button when I turn on the car. At least it's easy once a reflex.
My daily driver is old enough not to have auto stop/start. My problem is my wife's vehicle has it. She instinctively turns it off as soon as she's in the vehicle. Because I only drive her vehicle sporadically, I don't have the muscle memory to do that, so it inevitably catches me by surprise.
I also appreciate that it reduces cancer in city residents. Diesel consumption in city driving seems to be some 30% lower and I expect emissions to be around the same factor.
If we are talking about the US, AFAICT, it is legal to do this in all 50 states. However, neutral coasting on a downgrade is illegal in several states. I was taught to put the car in neutral whenever a longer wait is anticipated to reduce stress on the clutch (I don't know if it actually reduces stress or not).
> You’ll fail your driving test if you do that
This is possibly true; at least where I am there are about a dozen perfectly legal things that can potentially cause you to fail your driving test.
I had points deducted on my test for not pressing the button on the automatic gearshift selector when changing from Reverse to Drive.
My 2018 RS3 doesn’t have it, where as even the 2018 S3 does, 2024 still doesn’t have it: https://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/991842-RS3-Sto...