well, it will accelerate in neutral, so you will have to play with the brake...but once you drop it back in gear, there will be a clunk, and it will more than likely gear down...you will just have to try it...but, a clunk isn't good .....

 

I do that coast thing myself...put my car in neutral at about 50 and coast to a stoplight, for example...

 

I tried it today. There was no clunk when shifting back to D. All is good.

 

I've been warned a few times that regularly shifting into neutral and back to drive puts more wear and tear on an automatic transmission than it's worth... though it does seem like it would save a little gas to be in neutral more often.

These days, I'm in the habit of putting my car in neutral if I know I'm going to be waiting for a long time in one spot (like a railroad crossing when there's a train), but otherwise I don't mess with it.

 

I'd like to get some verification on that...wouldn't think it would be that bad...

 

I personally wouldn't shift from neutral into drive while moving, but I think the general consensus is that it's fine to do. I read a thread over at mbworld where some bozo revved his engine while in neutral and then dropped it into drive... ... yeah, don't do that.

 

LOL...yeah, shouldn't do that...tranny doesn't engage above about 1,000 rpm...not good for the motor to over-rev, either...

 

I think what's being described by the OP is the action of the lock-up torque converter. This is pretty common in euro auto trannys and will yield similar results to those of a manual tranny that's still in gear with your foot off of the accelerator. Ie. The car will generally decelerate. This differs from most domestic and asian cars as they generally allow the transmission to "freewheel"when (or coast)when you are off of the throttle.

 

Thanks for that tidbit.. Kinda wondered what it was doing when I drive her aggressively and it "stays in the gear" like it's waiting to get throttled again.. kinda like "come on lets play some more".. LOL.

 

This is probably a gas saving feature.

 

How can that be?

 

Simple, you roll farther, freewheeling instead of slowing down under engine braking. Every drop counts when you have government edicts to adhere to.

 

You were talking about the domestic cars...sorry!

 

My vw gti also does this, it makes driving on the highway easy and my brakes certainly last longer with less braking
Letting off the gas my speed drops but It's fun because the moment I drop a gear , go wot and see the revs rise