GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

Coasting in Neutral vs. Leaving it in Gear When Decelerating

bigshoulders

Ready to race!
I was reading the mileage tips over at Fuelly and came across this one that made me go Hmm...:

To Coast in Neutral or Not...
Coasting to a stop in neutral with a modern manual (and in some instances automatic) transmission might not actually save you as much gas as keeping it in gear. Many modern engine management systems sense deceleration and negative load while the car is in gear and cut off fuel from the injectors, allowing the turning drive shaft to keep the engine going. Shifting into neutral while decelerating means the system has to keep the engine running with gas.​

Which now begs the question, does the GTI have this sort of technology that would cut off fuel from the injectors when decelerating?

Cheers,
Kevin
 

Randum

Go Kart Champion
In the manual it says never to let the car move while in neutral...(DSG...) I really dont understand why this is a problem..maybe someone can enlighten us..
 

hugoender1

Ready to race!
In the manual it says never to let the car move while in neutral...(DSG...) I really dont understand why this is a problem..maybe someone can enlighten us..

I would think it's more of a safety issue. If you put it in neutral and someone rear ends you, your car will go flying forward, maybe into a busy intersection.

I could be wrong though.
 

PandaGTI

Go Kart Champion
not just that, but the stability control works in conjunction with the engine as well...

Additionally, leaving it in drive while coasting doesn't really use any fuel... so why go to neutral?
 

BoomBoy

Ready to race!
I have DSG. The screen that calculates the MPG indicates that when decelerating in a gear, I get 200+ MPG versus when decelearing in neutral, I get ~16 MPG. The MPG calculation is not exactly accurate but it does indicate a big difference in gas saving. It is better to leave in a gear when decelearing, even better when you are down shifting because you are braking the engine and you have a shorter stopping distance that way.
 

MkVi_Ian

Ready to race!
I have DSG. The screen that calculates the MPG indicates that when decelerating in a gear, I get 200+ MPG versus when decelearing in neutral, I get ~16 MPG. The MPG calculation is not exactly accurate but it does indicate a big difference in gas saving. It is better to leave in a gear when decelearing, even better when you are down shifting because you are braking the engine and you have a shorter stopping distance that way.

i noticed this too but i have stick. and i read in the manual that it says not to go long distances in neutral, but it didnt say why
 

ZIPN VW

Ready to race!
For manual transmissions (maybe DSG too) if you leave the car in gear while decelerating, the car will use little to no fuel. Because the forward movement of the car is keeping the engine spinning, there is not need for fuel to do the same. Once you drop into neutral, the engine will need fuel to keep it from stalling.
 
Top