Any thoughts or experience of stop start

Reading different opinions and some good some bad

Can’t make my mind up whether to disable or not

This is my first car with it. I don’t really like the NVH impact of the restart but the car was designed and specced for it and my understanding is that it is fine from a wear and tear perspective.

I have noticed that it’s quite smart and won’t engage until the battery level is well charged and the oil temperature is up etc.. For most short errands I do it usually never engages. So I tend to leave it on now and if I’m in a situation where it annoys me I have shortcut at the top of the screen to turn it off.

I now only notice the stop/start when it doesn’t activate (e.g. with cold engine or heavy electrical load). My current and previous 2 cars fitted with it so nearly 200k miles and no issues with it whatsoever (one diesel, two petrol).

The cars have manual transmission, so at junctions it’s easy to keep the engine running by keeping my foot on the clutch should I feel the need. The engine always restarts quickly so I’ve never felt the stop/start interfering with my driving.

In the early days I thought that the repeated restarting would use more fuel so did some internet searches; found an article on a research paper which reckons that if the engine is off for 7 seconds or more there is a fuel saving as well as reduced emissions. Sadly I have lost the link to that paper.

The batteries have held up well. Current car is 4.5 yrs old with 58k miles and I know that my previous car, now 11yrs old with 125+k miles are on their original batteries. Both are petrol.

@Saver Like @SteveTheElder I only really notice Stop/Start in a Skoda when it doesn't activate at traffic lights. It's not going to activate at roundabouts unless there's a queue in front of me; if I'm in the front 2 or 3 cars I'll be on the clutch and in first gear.

Like others above I have no concerns with stop start and actually tend to worry more about whether something could be wrong when it doesn't kick in.

But then those that seem to be bothered about it seems to be drivers of automatics and ours are manuals.

Honestly first thing I do when start the car is to disable Start-stop and Lane assist.

33 minutes ago, djukak said:

Honestly first thing I do when start the car is to disable Start-stop and Lane assist.

Fair enough, but it'd be good to know the rationale behind your decision to disable stop/start. Maybe I/we have missed something.

Edited 29 April, 20251 yr by SteveTheElder

DSG standard as you know nowadays,it seems to very much operate in its own “strange” way,sometimes not at all what I expect eg when a car in front queue moves off car starts engine without any input from me?

Is this using the radar?

Yes, that is the case. If you have adaptive cruise control set, it is possible for the car to set off and maintain distance from the car in front too.

Very convenient in stop start traffic on a motorway.

Hi i disabled my start stop on my superb whit a "dongle" and its the best thing ive done to my car. It is so confused when driving slow and turned of more times when i did not want it to then i wanted. And i think my starter engine will thank me in the long run.

15 minutes ago, Saver said:

DSG standard as you know nowadays,it seems to very much operate in its own “strange” way,sometimes not at all what I expect eg when a car in front queue moves off car starts engine without any input from me?

Is this using the radar?

Yes, that happens in the manual ‘box cars too. It uses the radar and I guess the car assumes you’re about to move forward. As @vfr says, with a DSG and ACC enabled it uses will move forward and/or stop by itself making traffic jams much less tiring.

Appreciate all the comments and opinions,vfr casts a light on how car uses radar in traffic queues,I’d read this somewhere but hadn’t had opportunity to use it honestly found ACC a bit spooky when Salesman took me out to demo rather than try to explain feature

When in queuing traffic and with the ACC in operation, I find that the radar only stays in operation for approx 10 secs. If the vehicle in front hasn't moved away by then, you can simply reactivate the ACC (radar) by either tapping the gas pedal or activating the ACC stalk again.

I wouldn't worry about deciding whether or not to use stop/start from a technical point of view, the car is designed for it and it works perfectly well. It will be like most of the other inbuilt features in the car, you'll eventually develop personal preferences for your settings which may be different to what others do.

I've had my Mk4 for almost 2.5 years and after trialing various settings, turning systems on/off etc, I now leave all the default features active. It's a very competent car and find it entirely comfortable to live with.

Yes I just turn off Lane Keeping assist on startup and I turn the start stop off only if it begins to annoy me. Like I said my objection is solely that the car re-strarting is not a very sophisticated sensation so its annoying.

2 hours ago, whippersnapper said:

Yes I just turn off Lane Keeping assist on startup and I turn the start stop off only if it begins to annoy me. Like I said my objection is solely that the car re-strarting is not a very sophisticated sensation so its annoying.

As upthread my objection is more noticing when S/S doesn't activate so the engine keeps idling whilst I'm stationary.

18 hours ago, SteveTheElder said:

Fair enough, but it'd be good to know the rationale behind your decision to disable stop/start. Maybe I/we have missed something.

Just because it kicks off even if I stay still for one second or less, even sometimes while the car is not fully stopped, and it is annoying to me.

4 hours ago, Paws4Thot said:

As upthread my objection is more noticing when S/S doesn't activate so the engine keeps idling whilst I'm stationary.

It's designed to keep running when you're stationary under certain conditions e.g. on an incline or engine not up to temp. It will also re-start to keep a/c running to the set cabin temp. I believe it also keeps running if the wheels are turned while stationary (although I might be wrong on that point, I'll have to take more notice!).

46 minutes ago, SouthernComfort said:

I believe it also keeps running if the wheels are turned while stationary (although I might be wrong on that point, I'll have to take more notice!).

Yes, turning the steering wheel will restart the engine, presumably in anticipation of a manoeuvre.

These cars are in danger of getting smarter than us poor owners😁

2 hours ago, djukak said:

Just because it kicks off even if I stay still for one second or less, even sometimes while the car is not fully stopped, and it is annoying to me.

Hate to say this but if you're only still for one second it sounds like you're not reading the road or traffic conditions very well...???

3 hours ago, skomaz said:

Hate to say this but if you're only still for one second it sounds like you're not reading the road or traffic conditions very well...???

I don't know what do you mean by this, but for example, car in front of me is turning to the left (i live in Bosnia which is right side driving coutry) and as i aproach him and stop, shifting gear in neutral, he moves and I have a free way to continue my journey, but start-stop has already kicked off. Or on small stops when i turn to the left and have to allow one car to pass before I turn. Just for example.

7 hours ago, SouthernComfort said:

It's designed to keep running when you're stationary under certain conditions e.g. on an incline or engine not up to temp. It will also re-start to keep a/c running to the set cabin temp. I believe it also keeps running if the wheels are turned while stationary (although I might be wrong on that point, I'll have to take more notice!).

Teach your great grandfather!

Pity that my post about stop start replied to by many people in a very positive informative fashion has been hijacked by personal comments about someone’s driving skills

It’s not what I expected on this forum,but sadly some people just can’t help themselves it seems☹️

Thanks again for all the very helpful responses and maybe it’s time this thread was left

2 minutes ago, Saver said:

Pity that my post about stop start replied to by many people in a very positive informative fashion has been hijacked by personal comments about someone’s driving skills

Thank you. My point was that there circumstances where, even on a hot engine, S/S does not activate when it should.