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On the Superb iV even if its in Hybrid mode the petrol engine stops long before the car comes to a halt at lights or junctions every time so far (except at the top of the road on a very cold morning). The car moves away using the electric motor unless you ask for extra power and the battery is low when the petrol kicks in just after moving off. As far as I am aware there is no power being delivered by the electric motor until you actually touch the throttle thus there is no stress being placed on the transmission.
So unless we are totally stationary for ages (such as we were when they closed the M1 a couple of weeks ago) we leave it in D.
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Does the engine re-start if you put it into neutral?
That seemed to be a particularly silly feature of DSG Leon hire car I had a couple of years ago. As the car came to a stop, the engine turned off, but then turned back on as soon as I put it into Neutral and put the (manual) handbrake on. This seemed to be the exact opposite of how it should have been set up!!
As far as the OPs question goes, yes I'd drop it into neutral if stopped for a long enough amount of time to want to put the handbrake on.
One thing I wouldn't do is put it into Park every time I stop at the lights. A good friend is adamant this is how automatic gearboxes should be used, despite him accidentally selecting reverse afterwards on more than one occasion!! He is absolutely insistent that Neutral is for towing only and will damage the gearbox if used with the engine on. I've given up trying to point out the obvious that N is right next to D on the selector because they expect you to shift between these two more regularly than to P which is right at one end past reverse....
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torq coverters. don't want to be over heated over 30 c in the city or towing
I have never heard of that as a problem here in Australia and it regularly gets into the 40s in summer. I did fit a transmission oil cooler not for overheating but to stop the "milkshake" problem where the transmission cooler is plumbed through a section of the radiator. This often leads to radiator leaks which contaminate the transmission fluid with coolant. This kills the transmission. The cheap answer to this is to fit an external transmission cooler which is separate from the radiator. This is also a good idea if you are towing a caravan.
80% of cars here in Australia are automatic transmission and everyone leaves it in D when stopped at the lights. No one gets dazzled. I can only assume that peoples eyes are more sensitive in the UK.
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80% of cars here in Australia are automatic transmission and everyone leaves it in D when stopped at the lights. No one gets dazzled. I can only assume that peoples eyes are more sensitive in the UK.
No just generally more sensitive in general and not happy unless moaning about something
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80% of cars here in Australia are automatic transmission and everyone leaves it in D when stopped at the lights. No one gets dazzled. I can only assume that peoples eyes are more sensitive in the UK.
TBH, it is not really a problem in daylight, particularly bright or sunny days. But, it is very much a problem in dark/dull/wet conditions, which presumably are conditions more common to the UK than Australia. However it is also going to be a big problem for older folk who's eyes are not in the condition they once were and are much more sensitive to light glare. This is going to be the same wherever in the world you are, so maybe what is actually going on is that OZ drivers are too inconsiderate to care about whoever is behind them?.
Though I also don't believe for a minute that you know for a fact that all OZ drivers leave it in park with their foot on the brake, and know for a fact that no one gets dazzled sitting behind another car.
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Does the engine re-start if you put it into neutral?
No.
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Though I also don't believe for a minute that you know for a fact that all OZ drivers leave it in park with their foot on the brake, and know for a fact that no one gets dazzled sitting behind another car.
Expat never said what I have quoted. What he actually said was:
"80% of cars here in Australia are automatic transmission and everyone leaves it in D when stopped at the lights"
Never mentioned park or foot brake.
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torq coverters. don't want to be over heated over 30 c in the city or towing
I have never heard of that as a problem here in Australia and it regularly gets into the 40s in summer. I did fit a transmission oil cooler not for overheating but to stop the "milkshake" problem where the transmission cooler is plumbed through a section of the radiator. This often leads to radiator leaks which contaminate the transmission fluid with coolant. This kills the transmission. The cheap answer to this is to fit an external transmission cooler which is separate from the radiator. This is also a good idea if you are towing a caravan.
80% of cars here in Australia are automatic transmission and everyone leaves it in D when stopped at the lights. No one gets dazzled. I can only assume that peoples eyes are more sensitive in the UK.
Many car makers fit different cooling equipment to suit the varying climates around the world - I would expect ANY car sold in Australia to be adequately fitted, a situation not replicated in the UK.
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Expat never said what I have quoted. What he actually said was:
"80% of cars here in Australia are automatic transmission and everyone leaves it in D when stopped at the lights"
Never mentioned park or foot brake.
Maybe, but why on earth would anyone leave it in drive if they are putting the handbrake on?. And he does go on to say, "No one gets dazzled", which would be a pointless thing to say (along with UK drivers having more sensitive eyes), if the car isn't being held on the footbrake.
And even claiming to know what 80% of the Australian driving population are doing while waiting at traffic lights is an absurd thing to say. I don't know where in Australia he resides, but if it were Sydney, not only is it inconceivable for him to know that all of Sydney's (auto) drivers leave it in drive while stationary, but how would he know what Perth's drivers are doing 4000km away?.
Edited by badbusdriver on 05/02/2021 at 09:26
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BBD, he said 80% of cars in Australia are automatic, not that 80% have a habit of leaving it in D.
Not sure why his useful contribution is being so critically assessed, it is useful feedback from a hot climate. Australia is a large country with a small population, it is not beyond the bounds of reason that he would have travelled to other Australian cities..,
The adding of an external oil cooler is an excellent tip, mayonnaise is a huge problem where the oem routes the gearbox cooler pipes through the radiatior (cheap skates!). A lot of American cars will come with optional tow packages which usually include different gear ratios but importantly additional transmission cooling
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BBD, he said 80% of cars in Australia are automatic, not that 80% have a habit of leaving it in D. Not sure why his useful contribution is being so critically assessed, it is useful feedback from a hot climate. Australia is a large country with a small population, it is not beyond the bounds of reason that he would have travelled to other Australian cities..,
Yes, he says 80% of cars in Australia are auto, which is fair enough, it is easy enough to find out info like that. What I have a problem with is that he says all of those drivers leave the transmission in D while stationary, and no one behind gets dazzled. If you are quite happy to accept these claims as fact, that is up to you. But personally, I can't see how he could possibly make anything other than a rough guess for the former, and can't see how he could even make a guess to the latter.
And yes, Australia may have a small population in relation to its size, but that is still 25 million, give or take.
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80% of cars here in Australia are automatic transmission and everyone leaves it in D when stopped at the lights. No one gets dazzled. I can only assume that peoples eyes are more sensitive in the UK.
I strongly suspect that a very large percentage of drivers in the UK leave their autos in D. There are a very large percentage of the perhaps the younger population who haven't a clue about the mechanics of a car and probably just as many who don't care.
As to the aspect of dazzle, a lot of manual drivers will also leave their foot on the brake. Yes it may not be very nice in the rain at night but if it were a real problem there might be more fisticuffs on the road as to the driver creating the dazzle
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Maybe, but why on earth would anyone leave it in drive if they are putting the handbrake on?
Lets move forward into the 21st century, many cars have auto handbrakes. My manual Superb had one, the auto Superb has one. No need to do anything, come to a halt using the brakes and its applied by magic.
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Maybe, but why on earth would anyone leave it in drive if they are putting the handbrake on?
Lets move forward into the 21st century,
No thanks
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I'm thinking of perhaps getting a new Ford Focus with TQ box and have to confess that their Rotary gear selection knob was/is the Bee's knees but on reflection is this so? Something that works for and aft would be more intuitive wrt to what position is currently selected though I realise there's always an indication on the instrument panel.
Surely one would perhaps have to look at the rotary knob more often than a 'usual' gear lever selector?
Am I over analysing this?
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Yes, you are over analysing it!.
It wouldn't take long at all to become used to it, but as you are not changing gear with it, it isn't going to be an issue. Just turn the knob to D when you set off, then forget about it till you need to stop, or reverse.
I haven't used such a control myself, but when I started driving buses, there were a variety of different gear selectors on the auto, or semi-auto buses. From a 'traditional' auto gear stick like you'd find in a car, to the button selector on the coaches, to the weird miniature metal gate on the ancient Leyland 'deckers we used on school runs.
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Lets move forward into the 21st century, many cars have auto handbrakes.....the auto Superb has one. No need to do anything, come to a halt using the brakes and its applied by magic.
Apologies for thread drift, but this is the first time I have heard of an EPB being programmed to work every time the car comes to a halt. Can this function be disabled? If not, I wonder how long the EPB will last before wear and tear needs expensive repair?
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Lets move forward into the 21st century, many cars have auto handbrakes.....the auto Superb has one. No need to do anything, come to a halt using the brakes and its applied by magic.
Apologies for thread drift, but this is the first time I have heard of an EPB being programmed to work every time the car comes to a halt. Can this function be disabled? If not, I wonder how long the EPB will last before wear and tear needs expensive repair?
Yes, thankfully. There's also auto-hold which is a sort of halfway house, applying the handbrake more softly at lights, junctions etc.
Both stay selected as Off in our XC40 and I tend to release the the EPB manually to avoid the slight lurch when setting off.
I suspect that others with mechanical sympathy like myself have mastered the tickling of the accelerator to release the brakes without applying power.
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EPBs come on and off automatically on VAG cars when the car stops (provided the A button for auto-hold is switched on, which it is by default). Very useful - although I agree they could be another thing to go wrong as the car gets older.
Having been against them (what's wrong with the good old mechanical handbrake?) and dislkied the EPN on my Volvo V60, I'm quite used to them on the Audis. The Volvo EPB didn't come on automatically, it came off, as with 72 dudes' XC40, with a jerk, and some tortured Swedish genius had elected to design the V60 with the EPB switch down by the driver's right knee.
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Apologies for thread drift, but this is the first time I have heard of an EPB being programmed to work every time the car comes to a halt. Can this function be disabled? If not, I wonder how long the EPB will last before wear and tear needs expensive repair?
The auto function does not need disabling since its up to the user to decide if they wish to use it or not. When you have it enabled it works seamlessly, we love it on the current Superb iV just as we did on the previous Superb. When you come to a halt at lights, junction etc the system simply hold hydraulic pressure without the need to keep your foot on the brake pedal. Once you start to move it releases. When you turn off the engine or open the drivers door the handbrake is applied mechanically, it releases automatically once you start to move.
My one caveat is when you are parking or manoeuvring in tight spaces in the iV. I then prefer to have it turned off allowing you to use the auto creep, in the manual Superb I never found it to be an issue.
The Volvo EPB didn't come on automatically, it came off, as with 72 dudes' XC40, with a jerk, and some tortured Swedish genius had elected to design the V60 with the EPB switch down by the driver's right knee.
Totally agree could not understand the logic and until we drove the Superb we did not want such a system, VAG managed to convert us with their much better implementation.
But lets not single out Volvo, the Avensis we tried back in 2010 had an equally daft syste, with the only difference being the location of the button, in the Avensis its down w=by the drivers left knee.
But both Toyota and Volvo seemed to have coppied VAG in their newer cars. The current V60 has the buttons on the console and the latest RAV4 also has the buttons on the console. Problem I found with the RAV4 was the need to tell the car every time I started it I wanted the auto handbrake to actually work and getting it to do that need a firm and long press on the button, it nearly caught me out a couple of time but that was probably because I am familiar with the VAG set up rather than a fault.
Edited by skidpan on 06/02/2021 at 16:57
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It's a fantastic system of my Manual Golf MK7. I only ever fiddle with the handbrake lever if I want to run back a few yards on my sloping drive (won't go into details as to why). I just touch the foot brake pedal and press the lever down and the car will then run away until I apply the footbrake again.
I cannot imagine now owning a car without Auto hold and EPB.
I hope that my next car, a Ford Focus operates in a similar manner even though it will be an automatic.
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