I'm enjoying my new Micra automatic. When I picked it up the salesman went through all the controls and said to leave it in Drive for all normal situations. I have always gone into Neutral at lights etc. and applied the handbrake. I know that other drivers just leave their foot on the brake pedal but I thought this was bad practice. Is overuse of Neutral in an automatic going to do any damage? It's CVT transmission; would this make a difference?
From Drive to Neutral at lights?
- Thread starter Vicario
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your hi level brake light will dazzle other drivers behind, and if a following car tailgates the car behind you, your foot could come off the brake
Sitting at lights just sat on the footbrake is lazy in my opinion. If you're coming to a stop such as a traffic light, put the car in neutral and the handbrake on. As Tigercubrider points out, it is dazzling having a sea of brake lights in front of you and at night it can be problematic.
Well, I have been lazy for 55 years.
What is the point of having an automatic and treating it like a manual?
I would blame the excessive brightness of the rear lights in modern cars for the problem you mention.
You can put the handbrake on without putting it in neutral.
What is the point of having an automatic and treating it like a manual?
I would blame the excessive brightness of the rear lights in modern cars for the problem you mention.
You can put the handbrake on without putting it in neutral.
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The lazy part is just sitting on your brake pedal, I imagine keeping the car in drive won't harm modern auto boxes. It has actually been instructed for those being taught how to drive not to sit on the footbrake at lights since the first driving tests in the 1930s.
The (agreed) excessively bright stop lamps of today only further the cause for using the handbrake.
The (agreed) excessively bright stop lamps of today only further the cause for using the handbrake.
I don't think I've ever paid much attention to whether the car in the queue in front of me has it's brake lights on, I believe my Golf activates the brake lights when the auto brake is applied so that's pretty much every time I stop, pretty common I expect. Front lights these days dazzling me, that's an issue for sure.
It's hard not to when there's a sea of them in front of you in the darker evenings, but to be fair tends to be worse on those un-necessarily huge cars like modern Range Rovers and the like. Maybe my eyes are more sensitive to light, but I won't be alone.
I've never known a car to have a brake light switch connected to the handbrake -- are you sure?
Modern headlamps are the worse though (again especially on the large "SUVs"). They activate when the car comes on like laser beams..!
I've never known a car to have a brake light switch connected to the handbrake -- are you sure?
Modern headlamps are the worse though (again especially on the large "SUVs"). They activate when the car comes on like laser beams..!
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I also didn't realise that cars in front with the brake lights on at traffic lights were an excuse to get annoyed - great - I can add it to my very long list of things to get wound up by whilst driving - LOL
Having my foot on the brake utilises the engine stop-start mechansim (which at traffic lights is one of the very few occasions this annoying function seems worthwhile)
Having my foot on the brake utilises the engine stop-start mechansim (which at traffic lights is one of the very few occasions this annoying function seems worthwhile)
If this was aimed at my post, this is for the auto-brake not the handbrake.
Incidentally, for me 99% of the time the auto brake is fantastic. Parking in a very tight spot on a steep hill though ... that's another story!
I think it's just common courtesy to the driver behind!
Start / Stop... Many work only by having all feet off the pedals and the car out of gear. You can then be a good driver and put the handbrake on.
Start / Stop... Many work only by having all feet off the pedals and the car out of gear. You can then be a good driver and put the handbrake on.
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do you ever get out and tap on their window and tell them off ?
If a car has an auto-brake you never use the handbrake whilst driving.
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Stop Start in ours only works when brake pedal pressure is above 4% - which is good as you can keep her ticking over at busy junctions
Seriously I really can't imagine how the car in front havig its brake lights on could be even remotely anti social- drivers with more than two exhaust pipes are far more annoying, how much pollution are they causing. should be allowed to stuff a large carrot up one of them
It's just particularly blinding at night that's all (and totally unnecessary when stopped at lights). I know it's not deliberate of them, but the handbrake is there for good reason! You must have sat at an island with say three or four lanes, where all the drivers in front have bright stop lamps on? The LED high-level lights can be like flood lights!
The genuinely anti-social drivers are deliberately annoying, I agree.
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