To downshift or not...?

[bhazard]

Fuel cut only occurs if youre in gear. Engine braking. It doesnt happen when youre in neutral. That would cause your engine to die. You dont need fuel if your wheels are keeping your engine running. Im not sure if its at 1600 rpms, I know its 2000 in the 2.3 turbos.

[Evil D]

Except, like I said in my above post, over a certain rpm the ecu cuts fuel to the engine. If it was dumping in fuel while engine braking you would have black smoke and fouled plugs.

I'm carbed so does that still apply to me? When i go in neutral my car just idles as it does if i'm sitting at a stop.

[easywind]

Bhazard: I'll argue this with you until I'm blue in the face.

You do not have control of anything if you can not accelerate away from a situation.

The sencond part of what you say is rediculous, tell me how you have engine braking when you're in neutral????????

[wybnrml]

Coasting is ILLEGAL in most states. And the basis behind it being illegal is that you do not have control over your vehicle.

[bhazard]

Bhazard: I'll argue this with you until I'm blue in the face.

You do not have control of anything if you can not accelerate away from a situation.

The sencond part of what you say is rediculous, tell me how you have engine braking when you're in neutral????????

Quote me where I said you have engine braking in neutral?

Also how long does it take me to throw it in gear to accelerate? Less time than it takes to go from 5th to 3rd to get any real acceleration in the first place.

I have been driving like this since I started driving and have never had it bite me in the...

[jriederer]

@easywind. What in the world are you thinking? Ok, say you're in neutral and somebody cuts you off. WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO ACCELLERATE?
If a situation develops that you absolutely do not have the time to push the clutch and move the lever forward, then you're screwed. A festiva simply doesn't have the power to get you out of that situation, so it doesn't matter if you're in gear or not.
Now if it's your preference to stay in gear, fine. But there's no safety factor there, and to use that as your argument for convincing everyone that this is a dumb idea is ludicrous. As for the legality of coasting to a stop, I contacted the Ohio state patrol and they said "...there's no laws about that either way, and how would it be enforceable even if there were"

[bhazard]

Yup, there pretty much is no way to enforce that. "Oh I failed to accelerate into that wreck"

[Pu241]

Bhazard: I'll argue this with you until I'm blue in the face.

Then should we start calling you "Blue" because I coast when it makes sense?
Been doing it for decades.

What if you're coasting and someone cuts in front of you?????

Well, I hit the brakes.
I assume you drop into 3rd or 4th and accelerate past the person who cut you off, thus avoiding an accident situation.
Unless, during your acceleration past the offending vehicle you cut some else off and/or hit someone else from behind!

You do not have control of anything if you can not accelerate away from a situation.

Then I take it you don't use your brakes very much.
Sorry to say but as trusty and durable as my B3 is, acceleration is not one of it's outstanding points. I've never been in an accident situation where my ability to accelerate, within the capability of the B3, would have made any difference.
I have been in many positions where my braking ability, even in neutral, has made all the difference.
Just a note, unless you have a vacuum leak in your break booster, if you shut down your engine for coasting you still have enough brake pedal to stop the festiva from 60 mph, easily.

[bhazard]

Just a note, unless you have a vacuum leak in your break booster, if you shut down your engine for coasting you still have enough brake pedal to stop the festiva from 60 mph, easily.

Or, if you have a car like my tbird with nifty electrically boosted brakes.

[easywind]

Plutonium guy: Just because you've coasted for years doesn't make it right or safe.
There are three ways of accident avoidance, steering, braking and accelerating.
See if someone has taught motorcycle safety and ask them.
And can someone tell me how much gas can one save by coasting????

[jriederer]

See if someone has taught motorcycle safety and ask them.

Ok, now you're comparing watermelons to grapes.
Motorcycles have an absurdly high power to weight ratio, so any gear will return excellent acceleration. Try asking someone who has taught driver ed, or perhaps CAR safety. Acceleration, while important if you can see a situation developing early enough, isn't really one of your 'emergency options'. Steering is, because cars are much more stable. Run that by your motorcycle safety and see if he recommends steering abruptly to avoid a collision. When I ride, to avoid an accident I use the minimum steering necessary coupled with that wonderful acceleration to leave a situation behind.

[perucho]

Easywind, dude let it go or send some blue-faced photos already Honestly, coasting is not always a dangerous situation. Who cares anyway?

[Pu241]

Plutonium guy: Just because you've coasted for years doesn't make it right or safe.
There are three ways of accident avoidance, steering, braking and accelerating.
See if someone has taught motorcycle safety and ask them.
And can someone tell me how much gas can one save by coasting????

Blue, I never said it was "right or safe."
It is however, the way I drive and I likely have put more miles on a car in a year than most.
Though I suspect I'm a safer driver than you, who feels he can out accelerate a potential accident, in a B3!
And since I'm not driving a motorcycle how is this relevant?
I again will put my negative acceleration (braking) again my B3's ability to positively accelerate any day of the week.

Now to provide you with fodder for mathematical processing.
I can reliable say on a 400 mile journey I have driven 50 to 60 times I get low forties without coasting and have reached 56 MPG with judicious coasting.
So tell me now Oh Great Reject from the Blue Man Group the error of my ways!

[jriederer]

Oh Great Reject from the Blue Man Group

ROFLMAO
Plutonium FTW!

[bhazard]

Coasting is one of the best ways to improve MPG. People air up their tires for better MPG, why? Because it allows the car to coast further. Obviously the less you're using your engine the less gas you're gonna use..

I see you're from NYC, come out here where I live and you will probably have a different opinion on coasting. We don't have millions of idiots smashed into a big city out here. Just miles of straight road aligned neatly in a grid. I guess you would call it "rural".

The EPA rates our cars at low 30's I think. I averaged 48mpg or so while driving my b3 festy. Id say 25% of that was due to having the engine in good tune, the rest is driving habits, including coasting, using my engine as little as possible, and using my brakes as little as possible.