Hi - New owner

[bamamarc-77]

Hey There,
welcome to the site! Just got my 2000 5speed with 56,000 miles 3 months ago. What's better in life than this car, not many things.

[gpsman1]

Originally Posted by bagwell

I think autostop mostly occurs at or below 19mph in neutral doesn't it? [along with several other factors....with a/c in ECON mode, engine warmed up, etc]

Mine is finicky about autostop and the speed varies, sometimes 19 sometimes 15 sometimes 10...you get the idea...its not an exact thing - I don't want a new owner to think his car is messed up.

Maybe different cars have different "personalities"? Mine shuts the engine off at 22 MPH every time, now that I've had a little practice at it and can time it just right.

During deceleration with foot on the brake, I am in fuel cut. ( 9999 MPG on the SG )
When I see 23 MPH I push in the clutch, and shift to neutral at 22 MPH. Bam. AutoStop every time if things are warm, and no A/C use, etc. I go from 9999 MPG engine on, fuel cut, right to AutoStop. Nice....... "feature"....

If I miss the clutch press by 1 MPH early, gas comes back on, and AS is delayed a few seconds / MPH.
Foot on the brake is key. You must be doing this too.

[nickatnite]

Yah this car is a hoot! I drive 20 iles one way to work and on my second day I got 77.5 on the way in. Still trying to get the lean burn thing figured out- somtimes I get sometimes not. My best for the round trip (40 miles) so far is 70.3.
Today I got 65.8, but had a headwind going to work. How do you slow without going into regen braking? Just barely take your foot off the gas? I saw something about whether you have touched the gas after you shift. This car is really a lot of fun, and accelerates way faster than I thought it would. I had never even driven one when I bought mine. Oh yah, my engine shut down hits at 19mph everytime.

Nick

[red1dr]

Glad you are having fun with it.

The simplest way to avoid regen braking while you slow is to shift into neutral. Works for situations when you want to coast for a ways rather than slow down quickly.

Yes, if you shift and do not touch the gas you will not get regen braking but the drag of the engine will slow the car down more quickly than coasting would. Conversely if you shift and WANT regen, tap the gas briefly once the clutch pedal is up.

When you do need to slow down (stop sign, light, offramp) you probably want to capture part of your kinetic energy into the battery, so regen braking is good in that case because it adds to the SOC of the battery. Keeping the battery charged will avoid background charging while you are driving along in gear. Background charging adds drag to the engine and lowers your mpg.