When idling, does it save gas to shift to neutral?

It does not save any gas, but it is better on the engine.

No noticeable gas savings will be seen, you would just cause more wear and tear on the shifting linkage, and bushings.

We went in search of an expert opinion on this one. According to Paul Williamsen, the product education manager at Toyota, “All contemporary Toyota and Lexus vehicles (and every other car built since the 1990s that I’ve looked at) can detect the condition when engine revs are higher than idle with a fully closed throttle: Under these conditions, all current to the fuel injectors is stopped, and no fuel is injected.” That means if your foot is off the gas while the car’s in gear, you’re not using any fuel.

Tom Read, GM’s powertrain spokesman, agrees: “Shifting into neutral in an automatic will cancel fuel cutoff. Thus, it is better to remain in gear and let the drive wheels pull the engine airflow down to where fuel cutoff can be enabled or where fuel flow is minimized.”

Case closed, we’d say. Plus, shifting into neutral takes away the driver’s ability to accelerate instantly in a sudden emergency.

does not make any difference, plus could be harder on tranny but shifting in and out.

Dosent matter to be in park or neutral…. wont save any gas, the engine is still at the same rpm’s

Yes. In neutral … your motor is not laboring. – But the gas savings is negligible.

Please don’t do it at a stop light! You could create a ‘dangerous’ situation.

no it won’t save gas as your engine actually gains RPM’s when in neutral or in park.