April 5, 2010
saving gas when driving downhill?
1) do you save gas if you shift to neutral and just let gravity do the work? (in a manual car or an automatic)
2) do you have less control of the car when in neutral?
3) is it bad for an Automatic car if you keep shifting from D to N?
Why is it against the law to put it in neutral? don’t the brakes work just as well as normal? wouldn’t it be worse to be accelerating downhill?
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Filed under Gas Conservation FAQ by on Apr 5th, 2010. Comment. 
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Comments on saving gas when driving downhill?
1)You don’t save gas, you just don’t use gas. But really, your not using gas at all as long as your not pushing the “GAS” pedal down.
2)When your car is in neutral, the only thing you dont have control of is going forward.
3)Yes, An auto car was not made to do that every minute.
1) against the law in my state to take your car out of gear
going downhill (unless you are a soap box derby racer)
2) yes – less
3) buy shares of Aamco – that should cover it
all the best
1) No you even use more gas because then the motor is still running. When you leave it in D the wheels make the motor turn and in newer cars the gas is shut down, if you dont push the gaspeddal, so you use zero gallons per mile. When the motor runs itself in N you use about 1/2 gallon per half hour.
2) Yes you have almost no control of the car in neutral downhill
in D you use the motor as a brake, but there is also a letter for when you are driving in the mountains, better use that.
3) Dont know but wont do it while driving.
not a good idea. what little you save on gas you will spend on shift linkage repair. just plan your trips better and you will be further ahead………..
Coasting is against the law everywhere, you dont really save anything and for less control by that it means that if an emergency arose and you were in neutral you would panic and hit the gas first but go no where also shifting from neutral to drive you could make a mistake and shift it to drive (3) and the engine would rev up which just might blow the motor…
The difference in gas usage (if any) would be so minimal, it’s not worth it, especially considering the extra wear and tear on the transmission. They’re not designed for constant shifting back and forth. So it’s not a good habit to get into.
You would have the same steering and braking control if it’s in neutral.
As to whether or not it’s illegal – not really much to worry about. I’d sure like to know how a cop could tell, from outside your vehicle, what position your shift lever was in or whether or not you had the clutch pedal depressed.