When I purchased my STi recently, the dealer said that I should not coast in neutral when approaching a red light or for any other reason because it is bad for AWD cars. He told me to always keep it in gear. Is this true?

complete crap. never trust a dealer. neutral is not bad for AWD cars.

Originally posted by I_wanna_STI_now
When I purchased my STi recently, the dealer said that I should not coast in neutral when approaching a red light or for any other reason because it is bad for AWD cars. He told me to always keep it in gear. Is this true?

Your dealer is a fu*ktard.

-st

Originally posted by I_wanna_STI_now
When I purchased my STi recently, the dealer said that I should not coast in neutral when approaching a red light or for any other reason because it is bad for AWD cars. He told me to always keep it in gear. Is this true?

If this is true. I'm screwed.

Originally posted by dmpi
If this is true. I'm screwed.

ditto

70% Sales rep i ve met don't know how to drive a manuel car properly...:lol: :lol:

last weekend this dude at MXXXX Chevy stalled a Z06 4 times just pulling it out the lot.

Originally posted by dmpi
If this is true. I'm screwed.

ditto

how do they come up with the conclusion that it is bad for you to coast in neutral anyways?

Originally posted by dmpi
If this is true. I'm screwed.

werd

Originally posted by RichQY
stalled a Z06 4 times just pulling it out the lot.

:confused: Is there not enough available torque for him?

It's only truly AWD when you're in gear. He's a few french fries short of a Happy Meal.

did he say why? that would be entertaining.

I almost consider it a sport - going into the dealership to talk circles around the sales people.

I had one sales lady tell me that she had a professional driver taking test drives earlier that day. I asked what series he competed in, but she didn't know. I asked how did she know he was a professional driver. Her answer - "When he was test driving, he would put his right foot on the brake and the gas pedal at the same time."

wow heel-toeing = pro driver?

can i get my paycheck now? :lol:

Originally posted by MikeWRX-NJ
wow heel-toeing = pro driver?

can i get my paycheck now? :lol:

sign me up too

I says not to tow a Subaru in the manual.

If you put it into neutral and coast for 5 miles down a hill maybe?

I spend half of my city driving in neutral gears man. Nothing so far though ...

Jin

It's true that you shouldn't coast up in neatral for saftey reasons as in emergency sitation you won't have enough time to react to get yourself out of the way.

That aside he's full of crap.

This should be you when he/she told you this:lol:

my dealership told me the new sti is going to be twin turbo. :o







:lol:

the dealership i bought my car from told me not to wait for an STi cuz it would be $45k. Thats not the reason I bought my car but clearly he wanted to move this sonic yellow that had been sitting on his lot.

Originally posted by I_wanna_STI_now
When I purchased my STi recently, the dealer said that I should not coast in neutral when approaching a red light or for any other reason because it is bad for AWD cars. He told me to always keep it in gear. Is this true?

BS

Originally posted by Wombat North
I says not to tow a Subaru in the manual.

If you put it into neutral and coast for 5 miles down a hill maybe?

Not BS. It says not to tow a manual with only 2 wheels on the ground (your gears won't have any teeth afterwards...), but only with all 4 wheels on the ground (the procedure's in the manual somewhere). Otherwise a flatbed is the prefered choice.

Coasting 5 miles down a hill is bad for any manual transmission... Not just AWD...

Why is coasting 5 miles down hill bad for any manual transmission?
All you would be doing is turning the input shaft with out a gear selected.. If thats bad then driving your car shortens it's life.. so you shouldn't drive.. Then again breathing uses up valueable air so we shouldn't breathe either.

Originally posted by firedust
the dealership i bought my car from told me not to wait for an STi cuz it would be $45k. Thats not the reason I bought my car but clearly he wanted to move this sonic yellow that had been sitting on his lot.


This wasn't SOG was it? Cause I think the dealer was trying to sell me that one as well when I got mine
:lol:

Originally posted by STiDayDreamin'
It's only truly AWD when you're in gear.

que?

Originally posted by rbehny
Why is coasting 5 miles down hill bad for any manual transmission?
All you would be doing is turning the input shaft with out a gear selected.. If thats bad then driving your car shortens it's life.. so you shouldn't drive.. Then again breathing uses up valueable air so we shouldn't breathe either.

:lol: that's funny! and i agree. but where's the suby love?

I should not coast in neutral when approaching a red light or for any other reason because it is bad for AWD cars No, I believe you mis-heard him, if that is a word. What he said was, "you should not drive down the coast while neutered when approaching a red head or for any other reason because it is bad for all who have SARS"

I should not coast in neutral when approaching a red light or for any other reason because it is bad for AWD cars No, I believe you mis-heard him, if that is a word. What he said was, "you should not drive down the coast while neutered when approaching a red head or for any other reason because it is bad for all who have SARS"

Yes you should never tow an AWD on two wheels. But when your rolling in nuetral both wheels are turning at the same rate. Same reason you shouldn't have different OD tires in the front and rear.

D

:lol: You can tow an MT AWD Subie in neutral with all 4 tires on the ground as far as you want with no damage, so why would it hurt it to coast in neutral? What a load of BS.

Originally posted by I_wanna_STI_now
When I purchased my STi recently, the dealer said that I should not coast in neutral when approaching a red light or for any other reason because it is bad for AWD cars. He told me to always keep it in gear. Is this true?


He's right! Listen to him! When you coast in neutral, what is happening is that the planetary gears and clutches are not in contact with the tranny. This in turn creates lot and lots of heat because it's rotating inside this housing and the fluid in there has no place to go. Only when in gear is this fluid allowed to flow throughout the trainy. It's ok to do this for a VERY brief time but beyond that, you could fry your tranny. You'd basically have a bunch of hot tranny fluid at boiling temperature and it'll no longer be keeping the tranny cool. We had a car here last week for that very same reason.

Did I pass the salesperson test?
:rolleyes: :p

I was coasting in neutral this morning at about 100 MPH............














while shifting from 4th to 5th :devil:

Originally posted by Kevin Thomas
Did I pass the salesperson test?
:rolleyes: :p

Not bad grasshopper, you sell good.

ive read a few things about coasting in neutral, that it is bad and you should always keep it in gear, that was from a subaru tech <cant remember his exact reason>, also what about that tranny pump, whats it powered off of?

Originally posted by White 2.5rs
ive read a few things about coasting in neutral, that it is bad and you should always keep it in gear, that was from a subaru tech <cant remember his exact reason>, also what about that tranny pump, whats it powered off of?

i don't get this?:confused: so does this pretain only to automatic cars? Im sure a 5-speed would not have a pump in the tranny.
I've never heard that coasting in neutral is bad....does anyone have any valid info on this?

Coasting in neutral in any transmission car put the car out of "power".
What if you need to get out of the way quickly?

ive driven 6 manual cars in my life, only had to replace one transmission (in a 7th gen celica [ct26 6spd], previous owner couldn't shift, and was in bad shape when purchased), and I always downshift all the way to 2nd, but usually not into first unless i immediately need a lot of power.. (in my 5spd wrx, you have to be within about 20 rpms (double clutching/rev matching) and under 25 mph to go into first anyways..

what was the rest of the conversation w/ the sales person? (context)

the sti 6 speed has a pump which lubes up parts of it, the 5 speed doesnt

Originally posted by Coati
que?

think about it...unless you have power on all four wheels your car is not AWD. If you're on neutral your car is NWD....no wheel drive

:lol:

Originally posted by I_wanna_STI_now
When I purchased my STi recently, the dealer said that I should not coast in neutral when approaching a red light or for any other reason because it is bad for AWD cars. He told me to always keep it in gear. Is this true?

Here's a reason not to coast in neutral and leave it in gear. It saves gas-------->

"When you let off the gas while in gear, the injectors shut off. Actually placing the car in neutral will cause you to waste gas.:crap: The reason is that if the engine was in neutral the engine would have to pick up the idle or else the engine will stall. Picking up the idle uses up gas.

You can easily see this if you had an exhaust gas temperature gauge. Travelling at freeway speeds net around 710C temps, and if you let off the throttle, the temps drop rapidly down below 500. If instead you just put it in neutral all of a sudden, the temps do not drop as fast because the engine is burning fuel to maintain an idle.

My advise, leave the car in the present gear while slowing down until the RPM drop to the idling area. That way you do not add stress to the transmisson by downshifting and you also extend the life of your brakes because the car slows down faster."

From here:
http://forums.evolutionm.net/showthread/t-5719.html

You know how gas hungry AWD cars can be. So here's how u can fight these higher gas prices.

:disco:

Originally posted by MFactor
think about it...unless you have power on all four wheels your car is not AWD. If you're on neutral your car is NWD....no wheel drive

:lol:

Too bad that's not really true or you could do e-brake turns all the time without frying your center diff.*



*The above does not apply to the STi ... lucky bastards.

I recall, years ago, being told that coasting a manual was bad because the gears wouldn't be lubed properly unless they were being driven (engaged).
I don't know if this was accurate or not, but I try to avoid coasting for the "reaction time" reason listed above. Also, I'm thinking that a little "engine-braking" is a good thing.
While some coasting is inevitable (especially in city driving), too much probably isn't a good idea.

well since WRX (not sti) doesnt have a oil pump in the tranny that means it gets it oil via gears dipping into it...correct?....so I wouldnt think it wouldnt be a problem to drift a wrx...

Originally posted by CynicX
well since WRX (not sti) doesnt have a oil pump in the tranny that means it gets it oil via gears dipping into it...correct?....so I wouldnt think it wouldnt be a problem to drift a wrx...

:confused: :lol: :huh: :confused:

isn't coasting in neutral illegal anyway?

Originally posted by ajosselyn
isn't coasting in neutral illegal anyway?

Yes, but only in an automatic.:alien: :huh:;)

yeah, i'm lazy and i don't want to read all the posts, but if this wasn't stated then... the reason why dealers say not to coast in neutral is because if you need power instantly to avoid something, you need to shift into a gear to do so which slows down the ability to do so.

You know how you end up with those old laws on the books. I know here in RI it is still technically illegal to coast down a hill with the transmission out of gear. Brilliant!! I wonder how the law ended up on the books to begin with. Probably a throw back to the days of drum brakes and horrendous brakefade and needing the engine breaking to avoid fading trhe brakes too much. But thats just a guess.

Originally posted by White 2.5rs
the sti 6 speed has a pump which lubes up parts of it, the 5 speed doesnt

:confused:

Ya, no sorry. But costing in any tranny is just that coasting... wont hurt anything. It has an internal oil pump for pressure lubrication. The change to pressure lubrication assures that local temperatures in the gear box are kept under control, a valid criticism of the 5-speed design under racing conditions. The 3.9 final drive unit has a separate oil galley, isolating possible gear chips and further managing internal thermal loads. It is also very expensive and in relative short supply.

It has an oil pump but that has nothing to do with it blowing up, getting damaged, drying out... or anything else.

Originally posted by Kevin Thomas

You can easily see this if you had an exhaust gas temperature gauge. Travelling at freeway speeds net around 710C temps, and if you let off the throttle, the temps drop rapidly down below 500. If instead you just put it in neutral all of a sudden, the temps do not drop as fast because the engine is burning fuel to maintain an idle.

i see this all the time. down a long hill, i can get the egt to drop to 400F. that's lower than idle! ;)

fwiw
ken

Originally posted by lstepnio
It's true that you shouldn't coast up in neatral for saftey reasons as in emergency sitation you won't have enough time to react to get yourself out of the way.

That aside he's full of crap.

The owners manual states this. I'm thinking thats where the sales guy's getting it from, just interperating it poorly.

Originally posted by RayO
I recall, years ago, being told that coasting a manual was bad because the gears wouldn't be lubed properly unless they were being driven (engaged).
I don't know if this was accurate or not, but I try to avoid coasting for the "reaction time" reason listed above. Also, I'm thinking that a little "engine-braking" is a good thing.
While some coasting is inevitable (especially in city driving), too much probably isn't a good idea.

In a manual, the gears are always engaged. When shifting, you're not causing 1st through 5th gears to change positions. The only gear that changes is the dog gear selector. From this fact, the above statement is already false.

Originally posted by Impreza01
In a manual, the gears are always engaged. When shifting, you're not causing 1st through 5th gears to change positions. The only gear that changes is the dog gear selector. From this fact, the above statement is already false.

Yep, the gear that puts you in reverse is the only gear that's not always engaged. Since the reverse gear has to engage and disengage other gears, it's not a helical gear, but a straight cut gear. The teeth of straight cut gears tend to "clack" off of each other while turning. This is why all MT cars make a loud "WHRRRR" sound in reverse.

It's better to not coast in neutral though for the safety and fuel economy reasons mentioned before. But from the above discussion we can conclude that coasting in neutral is better than trying to jam the car in reverse at 60 mph :lol: