In many of my videos and articles, where I say half a word about neutral gear, slide, and fuel consumption, my readers or viewers start to write: "You can't put a neutral on the slide, the consumption will be much higher than if you roll on a high gear (say, fifth or sixth). Some wrote - "fuel consumption is generally negative", that the onboard computer shows almost a minus. That's crazy! That is, the car is refueled from the air or something? Today I decided to conduct an experiment, it will be useful for many skeptics and "pros".
The experiment on the slide, neutral, and transmission - purely informative, I checked it on three cars (two were on the automatic transmission and one on the ISS). In this article, we will talk about my KIA OPTIMA. But before I start, there are a couple of moments.
What should I remember about the neutral gear?
Once again, the task here is to measure fuel consumption. BUT NOT IN ANY CASE, THERE IS NO NEED TO DO IT:
Always roll on a neutral, automatic gearbox (ACP). Hypothetically it is possible to do it, but then at the end of the hill you need to completely stop the car and then turn on the "D" - DRIVE and go. Turn ON the BEFORE from neutral to automatic transmission - FORBIDDEN! I wrote about it here.
Safety. Of course, the machine in gear will be safer because it has an engine brake. Not the braking system, but the engine. Thus, on a slippery (ice) slide, it will be a predictable and safer descent. On our old VAZs, many of them must have braked with a motor on a slippery road, a safety system. Modern cars have a lot of different electronic assistants, ranging from ABS, EBD, etc., so that the transmission is no longer possible to brake here
Well, now we're starting our experiment.
START #1: Transmission from the slide
What I did was, I have the perfect ELM327 + TORQUE PRO bundle. In the latter, I configured the fuel consumption (in milliliters) + mileage per trip (in meters), that is, there are 1000 and there!
Canceled the reading
We've got a 1.5-kilometer slide, and I've got two marks on it. The first is a limit sign of 50km/h, the second is a stop. How will the test happen - I accelerate up to 60km/h, from one mark to another, then I just release the accelerator pedal and swing for the first time at speed, the second at neutral.
On gears
So I went to "60," released the accelerator pedal and rode in the gear. The car did not gain speed, despite the fact that the slide was steep. And then he started to stop slowly.
That turned out to be the consumption of 0.062 liters, mileage of 2.048 km, let's remember quite well.
Indications
Now the second experiment.
STOP #2: "Neutral" from the slide
Actually we do the same thing, switch off the air conditioners and other equipment (it was also switched off for the first time). Well, let's go.
Acceleration up to 60 km/h, and neutral near the bus stop.
60 km/h
The car began to gain speed very quickly, and I expected fuel consumption to be much higher. But no, there was no rapid growth! I'll even say more, the consumption was less than "at speed".
I set a neutral
In TOTAL - we drove almost a half a kilometer more, this is because we start to climb further if it hadn't been for much more. Consumption 0.053 litres, mileage - 2.449 km
The readings are neutral.
And where are these people who say now that the throttle is closed, but the fuel is consumed less, or not consumed at all (negative figures)! Here is a simple experiment for you.
As a result, the neutral one from the slide consumes about 10% less, and the mileage is about 25% more!
But you have to remember about safety and automatic transmissions, read the points above. It's just an experiment that I did for myself.