Automatic into neutral at lights?

Brigadier said:
As in "No way!" to either of them?
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Pretty much.

I driven countless thousands of miles in trucks/buses etc. powered by large diesels, but for my own vehicles it's a 6 or 8 cylinders of petrol power.
As for EV's I'm a long way from being converted to ownership for logistical reasons: anyway I could never justify the cost of purchase & depreciation for our low annual mileage.
 
Vicario said:
I've been driving automatics for 50 years and I was taught to put the stick into neutral if I needed to stop for more than a few seconds (lights, slow queues etc.). so as not to dazzle the driver behind with the brake lights.
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I can't help with your question, but salute your courtesy to other drivers. Now seen as unnecessary on our anything goes roads, but glad to see some still do things sensibly. Seems that even using indicators to warn other drivers you're turning is too much bother for a lot of drivers these days.
 
Talking of handbrakes, brother used to have a smallish late 90s Merc, about the size or slightly larger than a 190. Can't remember exact model. Anyway it had the handbrake on lower dash - a flap type handle. Was hopeless because lots of steep hills in Bristol, and because it was a manual, you needed a proper handbrake to do a hill start - not the either on or off thing the Merc had. You couldn't syncronise the clutch and handbrake like a proper lever type, because as soon as you released the handbrake, bang it was off. No subtle control feeding clutch in as you gradually released the handbrake as with traditional setups. Made for some very tricky hill starts. Rant over!
 
ReganAndCarter said:
Talking of handbrakes, brother used to have a smallish late 90s Merc, about the size or slightly larger than a 190. Can't remember exact model. Anyway it had the handbrake on lower dash - a flap type handle. Was hopeless because lots of steep hills in Bristol, and because it was a manual, you needed a proper handbrake to do a hill start - not the either on or off thing the Merc had. You couldn't syncronise the clutch and handbrake like a proper lever type, because as soon as you released the handbrake, bang it was off. No subtle control feeding clutch in as you gradually released the handbrake as with traditional setups. Made for some very tricky hill starts. Rant over!
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As the big market for Marx's is/was the USA most had Parking brakes, either foot or hand operated yes as such the parking brake was either on or off with little manual control.

On hill starts I'd have expected to control the setting off with 'toe & heel' control on accelerator and brake pedals with right foot and left foot on the clutch.
 
Vicario said:
I've been driving automatics for 50 years and I was taught to put the stick into neutral if I needed to stop for more than a few seconds (lights, slow queues etc.). so as not to dazzle the driver behind with the brake lights. (One video on YT says that you should use neutral at night but not necessarily during the day.) I did a test drive recently in a hybrid, so of course it's automatic. The salesman said that I just need to keep the footbrake pressed and not to touch the gearstick in the circumstances I mention above. There are lots of videos and articles about this issue, and very varied opinions. So can I ask:

What do the automatic drivers on this forum do?
Is there a different rule for hybrids?
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I use the parking brake at traffic lights and jams.

I checked yesterday, and neither the parking brake nor the Hold function put the brake lights on. Both my automatics have electric handbrakes. They both have a hill start function to avoid roll back.

I am very conscious of brake light dazzle.
 
JohnD said:
Both my automatics have electric handbrakes. They both have a hill start function to avoid roll back.

I am very conscious of brake light dazzle.
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What you refer to as 'hill start' has been a function of automatics for decades, my own experience of it goes back to the 'sixties with Rover P5's & Humber S/Snipes.

Your concern for others when it comes to brake light dazzle is commendable (y)
 
Diver Fred said:
On hill starts I'd have expected to control the setting off with 'toe & heel' control on accelerator and brake pedals with right foot and left foot on the clutch.
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I'm way too cack handed for that. Mastered double declutching on my old Rover, but H&T seems too much for one who was noted for crushing girl's feet at Tiffanys dance floor back in the day with my size 11s. :eek:
 
Vicario said:
so as not to dazzle the driver behind with the brake lights
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On the flip side of this, it makes you more visible and more obviously stopped/not moving off. You'd hope that this makes a rear-ending less likely (because psychologically people are primed to understand that a vehicle showing brake lights in front is more likely something they will collide with if they aren't braking themselves) and gives you further ammo against someone who does run into the back of you

Personally I don't like to hold brake pads against discs heated by braking so I arrange things such that I can release the brake regardless of the kind of transmission

Also, I don't consider brake lights as something that *should* reasonably dazzle another road user; be a bit pointless if brake lights were so bright they dazzle the people behind and increase the risk of a shunt into you because they were shielding/closing their eyes..
 
robinbanks said:
On the flip side of this, it makes you more visible and more obviously stopped/not moving off. You'd hope that this makes a rear-ending less likely (because psychologically people are primed to understand that a vehicle showing brake lights in front is more likely something they will collide with if they aren't braking themselves) and gives you further ammo against someone who does run into the back of you

Personally I don't like to hold brake pads against discs heated by braking so I arrange things such that I can release the brake regardless of the kind of transmission

Also, I don't consider brake lights as something that *should* reasonably dazzle another road user; be a bit pointless if brake lights were so bright they dazzle the people behind and increase the risk of a shunt into you because they were shielding/closing their eyes..
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It's a difficult one. As you say, if you're stopped, you want following traffic to know about it, but once you've stopped, and the car behind you has stopped, there's no point in advertising the fact any further. On a dark, rainy night, glare from brake lights a few yards in front of you, can be quite irritating, if not actually dazzling.

As far as I'm aware, it's a legal requirement for brake lights to be illuminated if the "service" brake (i.e. hydraulic brakes on pretty much all cars) is applied. As the "hill hold" function works on the hydraulics, you end up with pretty much all modern cars, just having their brake lights on all the time they're stopped but running. What's needed, (I feel) is a cheap proximity sensor at the back of the car what (even when you're using hill hold) kills your brake lights a few seconds after it detects that something behind you has stopped moving.
 
Of course, there is also the fact that the rear lights on many (all?) modern cars are ridiculously large and consequently even more ridiculously bright.
 
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