Quote:
Originally Posted by Tally100
Hi all
Changed from a manual 320i GT xdrive to X1 auto xdrive 1.5 petrol as I wanted to go back to auto. Question is do I leave in drive when stopped and electric handbrake on or put into Neutral I don't want to stress clutch but not sure
thanks for your views
|
Hello and welcome to the forum.
It is often interesting to read a question and then think, what do I do and what does the manual say?
From reading the manual, it would suggest you leave your car in Stop/start mode, as usual good advice from oakey46 on this. Stop/start will turn off the engine if battery charge is good enough (other factors include electrical load, a/c etc).
Manual suggests you engage the park brake whenever you are stopped , so also when you stop at lights (also prevents blinding driver behind) and interestingly (‘cos I did not realise), the park brake will release automatically when you press the accelerator pedal. The manual says for automatic park brake release to operate; you have to have a steptronic gearbox, the engine must be running, seatbelt on and doors shut. Now I know the diesel X1 have steptronic gearboxes but I read petrol versions have dual clutch which may not have “automatic park brake release”.
What I have not tested is if stop/start is on and I apply parking brake, will the engine stop? or if it has already, will pressing the accelerator start it again and disengage the parking brake automatically. Plenty of scope here for things to go wrong. I have, a couple of times, pressed start button accidentally when stopped in traffic. The car was not happy and having to quickly put gearbox in park and engage parking brake in order to restart felt embarrassing
.
I will experiment tomorrow and let you know because currently when coming to a halt at lights I just leave my foot on the brake until ready to go. Lifting my foot off the brake will start the engine if stop/start has stopped it. I only use the park brake when “parking”. Your question has now got me thinking, I used to rage at cars in front who kept their foot on the brake at traffic lights because it can be blinding at night. Now I appear to be a culprit, so I better revisit my approach and test options.
With regard to the clutch, have no fear, modern electronics in automatic gearboxes mean there is no strain on it when stationary with foot or park brake applied. The only time there would be strain is if you were on a hill and left the engine and gearbox trying avoid roll-back for any length of time. The only time I put the gearbox in park or neutral position with engine running is if I know the wait is very temporary and I do not want to turn off the engine, oddly traffic lights don’t count.