On Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:29:04 -0500, "HeyBub"
wrote:

So says Popular Mechanics:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...?click=pm_news

'Course the author is assuming an internal combustion engine. Presumably
with a hybrid, the coasting actually CHARGES the batteries, thereby
increasing gas mileage. I'm not even going to get into external combustion
engines...

He says "When coasting in neutral, the engine is idling, consuming
just as much gasoline as when it's idling at a traffic light or
warming up in your driveway, roughly gallons per hour (gph), "

But he NEVER got around to filling in the number of gph used during
idling. However if it is the same in all three cases, it doesn't
matter what the number is.


What's clear is that applying the brakes means you have wasted gas.

For example, you have sped up not enough to get through the light when
it's green, and more than you needed to get there when it was red. So
you have to apply the brakes.

Or you have to turn at the corner, and you have to apply your brakes
to do so without skidding. If you wanted to save gas, you'd slow down
far enough in advance that you didn't need your brakes for a 90 degree
turn.

I had a girlfriend who lived near 65th and California in SW Chicago,
when I lived near 57th and Woodlawn. I had many stop lights and a
minumum of 5 turns to make to get home from her house. I tried to do
it without using the brakes. It was usually late at night with very
little traffic. It took me about 7 tries, but eventually I made it
all t