Been driving manual for over 10 years now and I'm curious about something that I tend to do and that's coast in neutral.

Now this is not like coasting for miles down a hillside (I know what that can do) - I'm essentially talking about rolling up to intersections and off freeways. The Quattro tranny is what concerns me - will this harm it any or am I worrying for no reason?

Seriously thinking about getting driving lessons... lol

 

ok if i understand your post i think your saying that when coming up to a stop light or intersection , stop sign etc you push in the clutch and either put it into neutral or just push in the clutch to let the car coast? if thats right than i do the samething( sometimes) i tend to downshift to save the brakes and let the clutch do all the work( mind you i let the rpms climb a little to match the downshift.(rev matching)

 

i agree with MEANAUDI when he's talkin about downshifting. it's okie that you coast in neutral but to save your brakes you should really consider engine breaking.

 

If it's in neutral, it's in neutral. You're not harming anything. What would be harmful would be to drive in too high a gear with RPMs too low...

 

My belief as well, Racer! But it's mostly a lubrication issue, honesty. I manage a towing/recovery company for local law enforcement agencies and this has been brought to me about it from one of my drivers.

The farthest I coast will be a mile or less - this is when I'm flying up to an highway offramp in preparation to stopping.

What was brought to my attention was that Subaru AWD trannys and differentials don't fair well under this type of driving - and with the vast number of drivers with Quattros on here - perhaps they can substantiate that or not

Don't want to put out the big buckeroos for repairs, eh? lol

Thanks!

 

Itd actually cheaper to use your breaks to stop compaired to downshifting. Clutch is more expensive than brake pads. I dont think this will hurt your car at all.

 

LOL yeah I would agree there too Nex - especially after reading MeanAudi's clutch replacement blog. I'll do a brake job anyday!

 

I do the same thing. There are some hill on the highways where I live and rather than going downhill @ 75mph @ 3200rpm, I just toss it in neutral and let my legs rest. 75 mph @ 900 rpm vs. 3200 rpm saves me tons of gas, and I cant imagine it hurting the car...But RacerX, what do you mean about driving with RPMs too low, in a higher gear. How does that hurt, and at what point are you driving at too low RPMs. I try to keep them low to preserve the car and to preserve gas, but I defintley dont want to hurt anything in the process. Thanks

 

Driving in too high a gear with low rpms will cause the car to jolt violently and die over time this can cause damage to your motor mounts, tranny mounts, and can cause gear issues.

 

I always toss the car into N when coming up to a stop light.
Brake pads are cheaper then a clutch.