What everyone else said. Coasting down big hills with the engine shut off:
1. Potentially jeopardizes your power steering
2. Potentially jeopardizes your power brakes
3. Gives you zero acceleration in an emergency
4. Is hard on your transmission because you have to try to speed match the engine when shifting back to D - an inexact science
5. Is generally illegal.

I will admit that coasting in neutral with the engine off is probably a bit more efficient, mileage-wise than coasting with the valves sealed in the HCH 2. But the difference is also so small, I would imagine, to not make the tradeoffs worth it. If you're on a closed course going for a mileage record, then by all means. But I would suggest that for anyone driving an HCH 2 on a public road, it's just not worth it. My opinion.

 

MSantos,
That was well said.

As I said before, doing an FAS in the HCHII can great benefits under some conditions. However, for my commute, it does not help much.

In contrast, when I am driving my Honda Odyssey, it offers great benefits. In many countries, it is even encouraged to kill the engine at stoplights. The FASing that I do in my Odyssey is usually approaching stops. I kill the engine as I am approaching a stop and restart at the appropriate time from the stop. If you are sitting at a lot of stoplights, it seems pointless to let the engine idle and waste all that gas. In some countries, they even have signals that alert the drivers when to restart their engines.

I know some people like to use this technique with pulsing and gliding with great fuel economy benefits. I have not tried this. My commute would make this very annoying for the other drivers around me and I do my best to be courteous to other drivers.

With all that said, I would strongly encourage anybody that wants to try this technique to thoroughly research the topic. Also, they should first try it in a very controlled environment.

 

It says nothing because I'm assuming people understand what is involved in performing FAS.

Any one step missed, screws it all up, plus your train of though is not 100% on the road. The average driver has enough of their mind to just keep their car between the lines. Throw in, when the time is right, put car in N, turn off car, watch for power steering loss, turn car on without turning on engine, rememeber to have to pump the brakes if you already used the brakes (brake assist will fade over the course of you using brakes), turn motor back on, match revs, engage cvt from N.

 

For the record, there was no transmission lurch coasting downhill at 30-40 mph WITHOUT rev-matching. I'm not sure CVT requires rev-matching. It was very smooth.

Not defending the method, just want to hash out the issues accurately.

 

If I brake once during a FAS, for some reason I have a hard time picking up any speed so that I would have to use the brakes again. If the road was long and steep, where I would need to use the brakes often, I would not even consider an FAS. If you want to make this out to be rocket science, that is fine. I also hope you do not ever drive a manual transmission. Think of how complicated this is compared to driving an automatic. You could do a similar step by step write-up of the complicated thought process of driving a manual transmission and say nobody should do it.

I am not asking anybody to do this technique, but I do wish the conversation would stay factual.

 

Go to the top of any mtn road, and tell me about not bleeding the brakes dry.

And I drive a manual, and it's not rocket science but if you think everybody can drive a manual, you are mistaken. So I don't get your point.

 

You are replying to a post where I said "If the road was long and steep, where I would need to use the brakes often, I would not even consider an FAS." Please tell me, does a mountain road qualify as a long and steep road?

Driving a manual really isn't that hard, but not everybody can do it. Doing a FAS really isn't that hard, but not everybody can do it. Was my point that hard to get?

 

yikes.