Is this a good thing to do? I have been throwing my G in neutral if I see a red light or stop sign ahead and braking in neutral to save gas. Is this OK for the car? Thanks!

 

It's okay to do.. You just wear out your brake pads a little bid quicker. The gas that your saving though is really not much at all...

 

Do you think it's better to just keep it in gear then?

 

You'd be far better off down shifting into a lower gear to slow down and only using your brakes to come to a complete stop. If you have a major down grade you can put it in neutral and coast, just make sure you put it in 6th at the bottom of the grade and not a low gear.
Gary

 

If im not mistaken our cars ecu saves more gas when decelerating IN gear and 0 throttle.

 

thanks guys! btw gary, i LOVE your car!

 

dont downshift unless you are racing. use your breaks. doing a break job is much easer, and they are cheaper than your clutch to replace. much cheaper

 

when you are off the throttle in gear the ecu goes into fuel cut (0 inj. p/w). If you coast it has to maintain idle thus using fuel. That being said, you drive a g what do you care about fuel economy. Im lucky to get 10 or 15 mpg average around town lol and my 240 averages about 5. Downshifting wont wear out your clutch if you are good at rev matching.

 

if you rev match…. that is the key. most idiots dont. i have also found that rev matching is easier with a lightweight flywheel… our OEM "dual mass" flywheels are a load of s**t in my opinion...

 

just leave it in gear to let the engine stay in momentum (in that case, the injector stop fueling) or the engine would have to supply more fuel to stay in idle.

 

I usually just leave it in gear... say I'm in 4th gear and I need to stop at a traffic light ahead: I'll just slow down gradually and pop it out of gear when the rpms dip to around 1k. Changing brake pads is so easy, and you'll still only have to do it once in a blue moon.

 

I think folks are over thinking this. If gas mileage is the issue just do slow starts and shift at the lowest rpms without bogging the engine (there is a sweet spot). I doubt anything you do coming to a stop makes much difference. I usually do it the way 'monteitis' describes but sometimes I'll coast with it in gear and use any engine compression there is. But that's just 'normal' driving. I rarely coast with the clutch in or downshift to slow the car unless I'm on a downhill slope (mountains) and then only rarely.

I get 19-20 around town, 25 mixed driving. Car has 77k miles on it.

I don't know anything about racing but at least on road courses I've heard that a good driver is always on the gas or on the brakes. So downshifting for compression slowing seems redundant....but again...I know nothing about racing.

 

This is what I do as well, prob around 1.5-2k though.

 

^^ I do it as well but around 1k as well.

 

That's like saying the car uses more fuel at idle then higher rpms...

So coasting in Neutral at 800 RPMS uses more fuel than decelerating at 2300 RPMS?