|
Post by Dave Miller on Jul 27, 2021 8:11:43 GMT
My car has that feature, Twod. It just takes faith - or a steely resolve - to let the car “do its thing”. After a while, you learn the pattern, so become almost unaware of the stopping and starting and automatically apply the teensiest of pressure on the accelerator, just before you want to set off again. That restarts the engine - unfailingly, in my case, over the last three-and-a-bit years.
My problem is that, when I’ve finally got to my destination, and have become distracted with keys, parcels, discussion and so on, I sometimes begin to get out of the the now silent car, only to be curtly reminded by it, that the ignition is still on and it’s merely pausing.
|
|
|
Post by Twoddle on Jul 28, 2021 9:56:19 GMT
My car berates me for all sorts of heinous crimes, Dave: trying to turn off the engine without having first selected Park, trying to turn on the engine without having first selected Park, trying to turn on the engine without having my foot on the brake, not having fully released the foot-operated handbrake, not having fully depressed the foot-operated handbrake ... . It's a self-charging hybrid and when I turn it on and select Drive or Reverse it always moves the first few feet in (silent) electric mode before starting the petrol engine, so I'm never quite sure whether it's going to move or not. It all adds excitement to life.
|
|
|
Post by jjg1 on Jul 28, 2021 11:41:08 GMT
I took my car to the garage for a service today, and I was lent a courtesy car for the day. It was what they call a "mild hybrid", i.e. a petrol-driven car that saves fuel by shutting off the engine whenever the car stops at traffic lights, queues etc., and restarts immediately the driver touches the accelerator. Perhaps younger drivers would appreciate such an energy-saving device but I found it hugely unnerving and stressful, probably because the engines of some of the old bangers I drove in my earlier years used to die in a similar way but then had to be coaxed uncertainly back to life using the ignition key and judicious pumping of the accelerator while the traffic built up behind me, and my subconscious mind wasn't convinced that today's loan car would behave any differently.
|
|
|
Post by jjg1 on Jul 28, 2021 11:49:05 GMT
Hi Twoddle, I drive a “mild hybrid” car, although I hadn’t realised I did until I read your post. At first it was a bit unnerving, worrying that the car might not restart, and I would often disable that feature; but now I don’t think twice about it. It supposedly helps the environment, but I’m not convinced that stopping and then starting the engine within 20 seconds will do much to help; I suspect it might have the opposite effect. I took my car to the garage for a service today, and I was lent a courtesy car for the day. It was what they call a "mild hybrid", i.e. a petrol-driven car that saves fuel by shutting off the engine whenever the car stops at traffic lights, queues etc., and restarts immediately the driver touches the accelerator. Perhaps younger drivers would appreciate such an energy-saving device but I found it hugely unnerving and stressful, probably because the engines of some of the old bangers I drove in my earlier years used to die in a similar way but then had to be coaxed uncertainly back to life using the ignition key and judicious pumping of the accelerator while the traffic built up behind me, and my subconscious mind wasn't convinced that today's loan car would behave any differently.
|
|
|
Post by Twoddle on Jul 29, 2021 7:32:03 GMT
I think you're right, jjg1; unless the engine stops for at least 20 to 30 seconds, it takes more fuel to restart it than it saves.
No doubt they use beefed-up starter motors in mild hybrids!
|
|
|
Post by Verbivore on Jul 30, 2021 11:14:20 GMT
From some recent reading, word arrangements that amused me.
In the cabin Eva bustled about. There wasn't much space for bustling but what there was she put to good use.
[…]
Eva was lost in a maze of words she didn't understand but which sounded important […]
Source: Wilt, Tom Sharpe
|
|