Having a quick read through the owners manual the other night as a way of accustomising myself with my fresh car (Mk1 Fabia vRS)

An environmental and economical 'tip' was "try coasting to a set of traffic lights that are on red to save fuel" (paraphrased).

What are people's opinions on 'coasting'? 
I am told it is looked down upon as in theory you do not have entire control of the car.
I used to do it a lot when I was trying my best to save as much fuel as possible, down hills, and for as long as I could as long as I wasn't going to be holding anybody up, there is the obvious extra strain on the brakes if you're not engine braking when coming to a stop/slowing down, but are there any other problems or possible long term problems that could be caused by excessive 'coasting' ?


JRJG

Coasting is fine and in gear, does mean you use ZERO fuel.

 

Coasting in neutral is not recommended as you are less in control of the car.

 

Coasting in gear is an advanced motoring skill I put in to practise, With enough awareness, is most situations you can coast in gear and thereby save brakes, save fuel, and keep traffic flowing well.  "Ease and squeeze" is another way of putting it, but sometimes when you do ease & squeeze some other bugger jumps in the gap you are deliberately making to coast in to.... [sigh]

Yeah I've been using it to save fuel/try and beat my pb mpg on the trip to work. I've got a couple of roundabouts now where I can go over them without braking

Having a quick read through the owners manual the other night as a way of accustomising myself with my fresh car (Mk1 Fabia vRS)

An environmental and economical 'tip' was "try coasting to a set of traffic lights that are on red to save fuel" (paraphrased).

What are people's opinions on 'coasting'? 

I am told it is looked down upon as in theory you do not have entire control of the car.

I used to do it a lot when I was trying my best to save as much fuel as possible, down hills, and for as long as I could as long as I wasn't going to be holding anybody up, there is the obvious extra strain on the brakes if you're not engine braking when coming to a stop/slowing down, but are there any other problems or possible long term problems that could be caused by excessive 'coasting' ?

JRJG

 

Do it all the time particularly down long hills.  Uses a minuscule amount of fuel when coasting but your speed is higher at the bottom of the hill than if you stayed in gear so net result is better fuel consumption than it you stayed in even the highest gear.

 

Latest VAG boxes, not available in Skodas yet but in Q series cars, use this ie disconnect engine to gearbox when in economy mode and re-engage in tenths/hundreds of a second when you press the throttle again.

 

 Alway to be done only when quite and not when there is a danger of a wildebeest crossing the road unexpectedly.  Some good places to do this in Cumbria, M40, A38.    

Brakes are fighting engine and weight of car bringing car to a stand still before dipping clutch with a manual operated car.

Although at higher speeds maybe, the engine is slowing the car on braking by lowering the rev's, and assisting slowing the vehicle, or is it?? LOL

Yeah I've been using it to save fuel/try and beat my pb mpg on the trip to work. I've got a couple of roundabouts now where I can go over them without braking

 

... and you are probably annoying a lot of drivers behind you just as I do ... ... but we help create a better traffic flow and we save gas at the same time ...

 

Have a good one!

Coasting is fine and in gear, does mean you use ZERO fuel.

 

Coasting in neutral is not recommended as you are less in control of the car.

 

Coasting in gear is an advanced motoring skill I put in to practise, With enough awareness, is most situations you can coast in gear and thereby save brakes, save fuel, and keep traffic flowing well.  "Ease and squeeze" is another way of putting it, but sometimes when you do ease & squeeze some other bugger jumps in the gap you are deliberately making to coast in to.... [sigh]

Er, "coasting" in gear is not coasting.

 

That aside, the issue I tend to get is people tailgating because they seem unable to realise that a car can slow down without the driver actually braking!

Oh yeah, I only do it in gear, technically not coasting? If you do it in gear there is no fuel being used, out of gear you're still using fuel. 

 

I only do it on my way to work, 5am so dont tend to see many other cars.  

Do it all the time particularly down long hills. Uses a minuscule amount of fuel when coasting but your speed is higher at the bottom of the hill than if you stayed in gear so net result is better fuel consumption than it you stayed in even the highest gear.

Latest VAG boxes, not available in Skodas yet but in Q series cars, use this ie disconnect engine to gearbox when in economy mode and re-engage in tenths/hundreds of a second when you press the throttle again.

Alway to be done only when quite and not when there is a danger of a wildebeest crossing the road unexpectedly. Some good places to do this in Cumbria, M40, A38.

I don't coast...

But my gear changes are terribly slow.

Nice to see I am not the only one guilty of knocking my car out of gear and rolling down the many daily hills then.

Obviously not advisable in a built up area due to the added assistance of engine breaking in the case of an emergency stop/very sudden slowing. But clearly it is used by many in other more 'predictable' stretches.

JRJG