On my drive home from work, I drive down a hill that is one mile long. Will I save gas if I put the car in neutral? When I do this, I’m going about 35-45 mph. Is there a reason this would be a bad idea? I’m driving a minivan with an auto transmision.
I suggest you type in …coasting in neutral…in the search option and you will get all the advice you need on why not to do it.
Price brake pads and rotors, then price a transmission for your vehicle. Which ever is cheaper is better to use, unless you ride your brakes, then you’ll be screwed no matter what
No, your vehicle does this for you essentially. It is illegal in most places too.
It actually uses more gas because a modern fuel injected car will shut off the fuel while you’re going down hill and let the momentum of the car turn the engine, but if you take it out of gear it has to use a little bit of fuel to keep the engine idling.
Now, yes, if you’re not in gear maybe you can coast further and be going faster by the time you get to the bottom of the hill and no doubt with enough data you could make some sort of equation for what slope and distance are necessary to break even, but the difference is undoubtedly minuscule and besides it’s dangerous and illegal!
You will NOT save gas. Do not do it. It is unsafe. It is more expensive to roll the vehicle and total it from going down a hill at an uncontrolled speed than to burn a little gas.
As an experiment, since everybody is asking about this, I tried it and the RPM’s did not drop at all therefore no gas was saved. This is something I do not believe in, it was a test. Do not do it.
Some will use a little more fuel and some will use a little less. Neither will make much difference. You also may create a dangerous situation. In short don’t do it.