I hate stop/start and turn it off almost without thinking, every time I fire up the car.

Once or twice early on, when I forgot to turn it off, I found I sometimes almost stalled when doing a prompt pull away from traffic lights.

Anyway, hearing and feeling the engine constantly firing up and conking out when around town (i.e. doing a lot of stopping and starting) also makes me wonder how long some of the starter mechanism components will last.

For the sake of one or two less mpg I'd quite happily throw the mechanism, and its designer,  off the nearest cliff !!!

 

 

If it was calibrated to activate only when my foot was hard down on the brake and I had been completely stationary for a short period - say 2-4 seconds - I would probably use it more.

 

As it is, it frequently decides to kick in when I still have a final bit of forward momentum when slowing to a stop, as well as when I am not full-down on the brake.

 

TBH it isn't just annoying, it is arguably dangerous.

 

I drove a manual, diesel Golf rental 2 years back with the same system and it worked much better - would only kick in with Clutch fully depressed and brake down and the second you moved your foot up on the clutch, it would kick back in again.

Edited 1 December, 20169 yr by Item

The starter motors used are of the pre-engaged type to avoid starter pinion and flywheel ring gear wear. The perceived savings to the planet relies on most cars using start stop these days. I tend to use computer number one (the brain) and decide when start stop is going to actually result in a fuel saving. If you are stopped for less that 30 to 40 seconds, it takes more fuel to get the car started again than has been saved. So I leave it switched off and activate it only when I know I am stuck for a minute or more.

 

Start stop is a bit more complex with DSG equipped cars, I'm not even sure if the handbrake is tied into the DSG start stop system, if it isn't, when you release the footbrake the engine will start again.

The whole uses more fuel to start it, than to keep it running is a bit of a myth.

However, people often overlook the DMF - the most pressure is placed on the arc springs inside, during starting and stopping the engine.

My passenger said my starter motor will be prematurely worn out with the stop/start usage. Surely a special mechanism or design is used ? Any info on that ?

Correct. It's a well known fact that the starter motor system will fail before the end of your period of ownership. Very expensive.

Standard operating procure is therefore (1) start car (2) switch off Stop/Start system.

I find it very disconcerting and a complete PITA.

Just turn the wretched thing off, immediately after starting the engine. It just isn't worth the worry.

 

I can see only one possible advantage, if stuck in a jam on a motorway, slow-moving traffic, and even then as soon as you put on the handbrake and release the foot brake the engine fires up again.

I drove a manual, diesel Golf rental 2 years back with the same system and it worked much better - would only kick in with Clutch fully depressed and brake down and the second you moved your foot up on the clutch, it would kick back in again.

On the Octavia the stop/start only activates when the clutch is released with the gearbox in neutral. As soon as you press the clutch to re-engage gear the engine starts again. Works perfectly for me.

It seems that the vast majority of complaints about stop/start come from automatic owners.

Worked great for me on the dsg fabia mk3

It seems that the vast majority of complaints about stop/start come from automatic owners.

I agree - I mentioned earlier I had a courtesy car when mine was serviced. The courtesy car was a DSG Fabia, and with me being unfamiliar with its minor controls I didn't cancel the stop/start.

It was awful, especially as most of my usage of it was in slow traffic that stop/started a lot!!

I have no problem at all with stop/start. It works fine for me and I love the fact that I'm not wasting fuel or polluting the environment needlessly by pointlessly running the engine when the car is not moving. The engine restarts plenty quick enough when you put the clutch down to move off with the traffic.

 

Yes, it is a new thing which works differently than cars used to work, but I'm all in favour of new things that help us in some way, and have had no problem at all in adapting to it. Why do people always have to find ways of letting themselves get annoyed about anything new? Find the good rather than searching for the bad and you will have a much less stressful life.

 

Having said that, engines running at traffic lights is not my main bete noire. That is reserved for people who sit in car parks with their engines running. That is something I really don't understand, but you see it surprisingly often. Just think of all the particulates and/or other emissions being created for no discernible benefit whatsoever.

Edited 4 December, 20169 yr by nickcoll

I agree - I mentioned earlier I had a courtesy car when mine was serviced. The courtesy car was a DSG Fabia, and with me being unfamiliar with its minor controls I didn't cancel the stop/start.

It was awful, especially as most of my usage of it was in slow traffic that stop/started a lot!!

 

This is one of those situations where the button to disable the function for that trip may be your friend.

I have no problem at all with stop/start. It works fine for me and I love the fact that I'm not wasting fuel or polluting the environment needlessly by pointlessly running the engine when the car is not moving. The engine restarts plenty quick enough when you put the clutch down to move off with the traffic.

 

Yes, it is a new thing which works differently than cars used to work, but I'm all in favour of new things that help us in some way, and have had no problem at all in adapting to it. Why do people always have to find ways of letting themselves get annoyed about anything new? Find the good rather than searching for the bad and you will have a much less stressful life.

 

Having said that, engines running at traffic lights is not my main bete noire. That is reserved for people who sit in car parks with their engines running. That is something I really don't understand, but you see it surprisingly often. Just think of all the particulates and/or other emissions being created for no discernible benefit whatsoever.

 

It's reasonable for anyone who's spent a lot of money on their Car to have concerns over new technology that might possibly cause expensive mechanical issues in the future. 

Another wee problem with stop start (some if not all) is that one way to prevent the constant stopping is to sit with your foot on the clutch, now I'm fairly sure that no one on this forum would be sufficiently lacking in mechanical sympathy to do this, but equally I know there are folk that do - you could end up buying that car, just in time for a replacement diaphragm spring and clutch release bearing long before it should have needed doing.

I would guess that most of these people would ride the clutch anyway, whether the car had stop/start or not.