Are my driving instructions correct?

we're not talking exclusively about engine braking, rather coasting to a stop when you move down the box to avoid stalling plus keeping the engine in the torque band where you still have control if there is some incident (as HC requires) - coasting is using less fuel than excessive engine braking.
 
A lot of talk about 'coasting' in gear, I've always understood coasting to specifically mean rolling in neutral (or with the clutch depressed). If you're in gear, you're not coasting in the first place as far as I'm concerned :p

Edit - Highway Code agrees with me it seems

Rule 122​

Coasting. This term describes a vehicle travelling in neutral or with the clutch pressed down. It can reduce driver control because

  • engine braking is eliminated
  • vehicle speed downhill will increase quickly
  • increased use of the footbrake can reduce its effectiveness
  • steering response will be affected, particularly on bends and corners
  • it may be more difficult to select the appropriate gear when needed.
Click to expand...
 
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lunar said:
I have been giving my daughter driving lessons using my car. There are three points I indicated that she should do:
1. Avoid changing gear when making a manoeuvre.
2. Change down gears when approaching traffic and let the engine do the braking (to preserve my brakes.)
3. Put the gear in neutral when stationary (to avoid the clutch wearing out.)
However, her instructor told her she can change gear when manoeuvring; slow down and stop without changing gears; go into first gear and keep the clutch engaged when stationary at traffic lights.
Click to expand...

As everyone is pointing out, 'modern' driving instructions are quite simplified and that's how they do it.

But there is nothing wrong with sensible good habits, but compromise a bit so she isn't too at odds with the instructor.

The one aspect I really helped my daughter with is looking ahead/anticipating for a more stress free drive, which does involve the odd sensible down change when necessary etc.

For example, the way she was taught to stick in top gear when slowing for stationary traffic/lights just means that if the traffic starts moving again as they approach the queue they suddenly have to do this hurried/jerky last minute down shift to an appropriate gear.. I taught her to anticipate, slow down sensibly, down shift to 2nd or 3rd if appropriate, and if the traffic started moving, she was more likely to be in a sensible gear and smoothly/calmly accelerate.. Just that more relaxed/calm approach with anticipation and driving smoothly hugely improved her confidence and I laughed when she said her instructor was impressed with her 'advanced' driving techniques and he had no issues, as I wasn't being obtuse and deliberately making it awkward.. She had a 1.6 beetle that needed more sympathy when driving it being that bit older (a 2004).
 
Kenai said:
A lot of talk about 'coasting' in gear, I've always understood coasting to specifically mean rolling in neutral (or with the clutch depressed). If you're in gear, you're not coasting in the first place as far as I'm concerned :p

Edit - Highway Code agrees with me it seems
Click to expand...
coasting in gear (ie. what is legal) if you want to be pedantic - where you are not using the accelerator (and engine mgmt has probably cut off petrol injection) so you are just letting rolling friction retard you,
and you are timing it's use so that you arrive at the right speed at some point down the road

e: which is also what I was referring to in the ev environment where you can lift off the pedal such that neither regen nor energy input is occurring.
 
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coasting by its very definition is not in gear, sailing is being used to try separating from the highway code words from what i can see.

Managing throttle to match road load and hence steady speed IS NOT coasting.
 
You just using crazy words as usual and another link.

I have no ambition to even click let alone read. Your mission can’t surely be to educate the user base whilst ignoring what they have said.

I quickly did. It’s that engineering explained berk, not an SAE paper.
 
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ttaskmaster said:
Depends entirely on the car. General advice is to switch even to even and odd to odd, ie drop 5th to 3rd, or 4th to 2nd.

My car won't like it if you block-shift up. You'll drop the revs so far it'll practically stall. 5th doesn't really come into play until you go past 60mph. You have to ride the rev range.
Same for block-shifting down, as there's insufficient revs in higher gears for engine braking, and it will actually drop the revs even further if you apply the brakes.
Click to expand...

Mine will happily go from 4th to 6th at 40mph
 
Jonnycoupe said:
You just using crazy words as usual and another link.
Click to expand...
we use the english language at work too - sorry do you want stuff dumbed down - other people have used the word delineated on the forum it wasn't a first
I post a link I found in a few seconds on coasting in gear - what's the point in explaining concept if someone else does that adequately

(As I was on my bike this evening coming home - realised I was coasting in gear - no other option)
 
Resident said:
Mine will happily go from 4th to 6th at 40mph
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Guessing yours is newer than mine.
Doing that in mine just sees the revs drop and the engine wallow. It then has to work harder to match your speed, which strains the engine and uses a lot more fuel, same as trying to move off in 3rd.

jpaul said:
what's the point in explaining concept if someone else does that adequately
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This is the Internet - If you cannot fully explain something to the Nth degree, ideally in a single sentence, then you don't understand it at all and your point is invalid. No-one has time to read any links you post, so any substantiation is also invalid.
They're right, you're wrong. This is The Way.
Paraphrased from the words of a wise man.
 
Einstein. If you can only explain things in technical terms, then you don’t understand them.

Or you are a bot.

Just for absolute clarity, no ifs, no maybes, only absolutes : you can not coast in gear.
 
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It’s in the VW Press release as a term and when the car does it it literally says it on the dashboard infront of you in a Hyundai i30…

That’s enough good enough for me, unless we want to define how the torque converter vanes are open to limit torque transfer in the donut hydraulic coupling or k0 clutch is open :p
 
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Jonnycoupe said:
It’s in the VW Press release as a term and when the car does it it literally says it on the dashboard infront of you in a Hyundai i30…
Click to expand...
So you are berating folk for not reading VW press release or having driven an i30? :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:
 
To any new driver, as an experienced one, I really try to hammer home the importance of all the things "outside" the car for safety i.e. Look as far in-front as you can, look at road markings (they help a lot), pay attention as things happen fast, always try to look into the eyes of someone's who is ready to join the road you're on and if you can't get eye contact anticipate that they might just pull out on you etc etc etc.

So many lessons learned which can be a little overwhelming at first for new drivers so I'd pick a few of the biggest ones to start with.
 
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Classic Blue Theme said:
So you are berating folk for not reading VW press release or having driven an i30? :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:
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You’re gonna have try harder dude. This is the OCukGPT I’m trying to manage here.

Sailing is literally the term invented for people to understand the car isn’t in gear without the contradicting the Highway Code and you are trying to call me out on it, “trying” being the operative word
 
"As we've previously seen with the i20, these powertrains feature a 'sailing' mode where lifting off the throttle means the engine turns off to save fuel - something made possible in our test car by a clever 'intelligent' manual gearbox that can decouple the clutch automatically".

In other words, clutch not engaged and thus coasting.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
Sailing is literally the term invented for people to understand the car isn’t in gear without the contradicting the Highway Code
Click to expand...

I doubt it has anything to do with the UK Highway Code wording - these cars are sold around the world and I'd imagine the same text appears in the user guide for all market versions. It's just the word they've picked to describe the functionality in an easy to understand way, that it doesn't contradict the UK highway code is a co-incidence.

Other manufacturers use the word Coasting for the same functionality - my user manual and also the cars menu system where I can enable or disable the feature, uses the word 'Coasting' and not 'Sailing' to describe the same functionality in my car.
 
ttaskmaster said:
Nope. Hold it in 1st, clutch in, handbrake on.
If someone slams into the back of you, your foot comes off the clutch, 1st gear engages and combines with the handbrake. This is more likely to stop you being cannoned forward into traffic.
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What a load of rubbish. 100% if you're stationery you should put it in neutral, handbrake on, let Stop/Start do it's thing.
It's specifically against the law technically, Rule 124, "you MUST not leave a vehicle engine running unnecessarily while the vehicle is stationary on a public road"
 
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