bl1nk

sorry but... someone wanna explain wtf drive by wire is?

austijc

It's actually just throttle by wire. If you pop the hood, you'd see a servo at the throttle valve and no cable. The gas pedal feeds its position to the computer and then the computer moves the throttle. The idea is the computer can control both air and fuel flow and optimize the mileage and emissions. Expect to see steering by wire in the near future too.

bl1nk

Ooo I see... I noticed there was no way to manually rev the engine while under the hood. (I could do this on my old maxima) You could just push the little throttle thing with the cable attached to it.

viking396

Coasting out of gear hurts nothing if you're not using the brakes and you don't accelerate, obviously if it's a steep hill you'd gain too much speed. in that case keep it in gear, but if the hill isn't that bad and you don't have to use the brakes it hurts NOTHING. I don't do it because I'm in the flat as a pancake state and If I wanted to save gas that badly I would have bought a Prius.

austijc

I was taught the same way never to go downhill in neutral and especially don't use your brakes to maintain downhill speed. The reason is that you could be keeping the brakes hotter than designed by occasionally tapping them to control speed. I'm not sure about the braking power part, because most clutch when they brake anyway.

As far as mileage, the computer cuts off fuel flow when decelerating, and you're in a constant state deceleration going down hill, so you're probably not using much of any gas when in gear. On the other hand, if you're letting it idle, it has to pump enough fuel in to keep the engine turning.

stangman05

Elektra where do you live in St louis that you can coast to work? I work in St. Louis too. Just curious?

olym4gery

It's a poor practice.

If you have to make an evasive manuever, you should be ready to instantly accelerate.

Next, I'm still thinking the "neutral coasting" is messing with the computer. I don't believe the MT equipped vehicles have transmission sensors. Meaning "Spanish Oak" doesn't know what gear, if any, the transmission is in at any given time. So when the car is "coasting" "Spanish Oak is putting enough fuel into the engine to maintian the car's speed................... against a transmission that isn't in gear.

Braking bias may also be an issue. Although with ABS it's less of an issue. The brakes are "balanced" so that each gets a certain amount of braking force. Because of dynamic weight transfer, front brakes usually do appx 65% of the "stopping" Rears do appx 35%. The brake system should be balanced so that the fronts/rears are using the same percentage of the available traction. So one "axle" doesn't lock before the other. Part of that equation is engine power, supplied as if a AT transmission is in gear, or a MT transmission is in gear while the brakes are applied. Disrupting that balance will cause the brakes to be less effective at stopping the car.

2006RedGT

Double post

2006RedGT

If there is no one around then there is no reason for this.

olym4gery

Yes, and why wear a seatbelt until you think you might be in a crash.