[Jagatvir]

I have voted for a no and that broadly seems to be the consensus here and I agree with everyone on the point of:
1. Engine wear and starter motor life being a concern.
2. A/C compressor switches off each time.
3. Pain to switch the feature off every time we start the car.

After all of this, it starts to become a pain rather than an added feature. Personally I would rather pay to make sure my car doesn't have this fitted.

However, I feel this feature does make sense when it is incorporated in a hybrid vehicle like a Camry Hybrid. The transition seems to be seamless and there's no vibrations every time you wish to inch forward. Another advantage is that the A/C compressor draws power from the electric unit so you stay cool even if the engine is off. I'm sure there's less of stress on engine components and the starter motor too.

My vote stays no for conventional petrol/diesel cars and a yes in case of hybrid cars.

[tp_dominator]

Voted for Hate It. The system is truly annoying keeping the Indian summers in mind. Just imagine you have taken out your car after quite a while since it was baking in the sun. You reach the first signal and your cabin hasn't cooled yet. And what does the Start-Stop system do? It simply switches off the engine of the car.

And along with the engine, the AC also switches off. Keep burning your rear, the car says! And as mentioned by several others, the repurcussions on the engine/starter motor/electricals are more than enough to justify that it is a useless feature.

If you want to save fuel, drive frugally, maintain your car well and check that sudden accelaration/decelaration. I presume these would save a lot more fuel than the Start-Stop system.

[GunjanArora]

This poll is like someone read my mind. I have recently bought a Ciaz SHVS and before buying, this is the question I asked the SA as well - What happens in case of delhi traffic?
Start/Stop every few sec is not just an irritation, may hamper the engine as well. I usually had a driving habit of putting the car in neutral and releasing the clutch on approach of a stoppage, but have to modulate that now. Also, have to calculate whether the pending red light time is enough to release the clutch and let it idle.
Takes the fun out of driving, voted Hate it

[GeeTee TSI]

Voted for a Yes and stems from the fact I have experienced stop start in a Volvo hybrid Low Floor city bus (NMMT running one bus to Navi Mumbai probably on experimental basis?). For a commercial vehicle, I found it quite seamless and felt that the AC was running even with engine off (I may be wrong as it could be pure recirculation too). A slight shudder is felt while the engine kicks back in but well damped for a commercial vehicle.

Being a hybrid, the bus creeps in pure electric and the engine kicks in after say 10 kmph speed

[Jeroen]

We own a nearly new Ford Fiesta and it did come as standard with the start/stop system. We always use it and I must admit I don’t even notice any more really. It starts very smoothly when you press the clutch.

Admittedly, we drive it here in the Netherlands and it’s fine for city traffic. Yes we do get congestion here as well. But nothing like we had in Delhi.

I must admit, I would think having a start/stop system in Delhi would be a huge PITA. Not so sure yet, how it will handle the airconditioning. I assume it switches the engine back on if the cabin temperature rises. We will find out this summer.

Obviously, it saves fuel. How much fuel is anybody’s guess and depends a lot on the circumstances. But then again, if you are just waiting for a red light for a few minutes why not? I would say whether this is a useful feature really depends where you live, again here in The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam it’s fine, I would hate it in Delhi.

Even if you don’t like it, the environment does, obviously. So if anything it does help the manufacturers claim lower emissions! It’s the main reason that you can switch it off, but default the system will always be "on" upon starting. Unfortunately the reputation of various car manufacturers about their due care for the environment has taken a bit of a hit in recent times. Don’t think a bit of start and stop will make up for that.

Here is an interesting read on wear and tear due to start and stop systems:

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...r-car-s-engine

Overall, I’m not concerned about the wear and tear. I daresay, soon we will see the first test reports of a start/stop engine being opened for real measurement after 100-150K. (The magazine Autoweek used to do this). Be interesting to see whether they see any effects. Mind you a lot of new and additional technology is being poured into this engines to counter the wear and tear effect.

Jeroen

[coolmel]

Man I hate it. Unless it's a hybrid vehicle where it is seamless. For turbo powered engines, doesn't it also affect the turbo life? It has barely come to life and shuts it off before it can even idle!

[Heavy Horse]

Originally Posted by earthian

Guys:
I find the auto start/stop feature in most modern cars quite irksome and have been pondering about its positives and negatives. What do you think about this?

I have seen the video.
The points he makes against the STOP/START mechanism is a "bad" restart and inability in some cars to disable the mechanism, should you not like it.
I have an XUV 500 with this mechanism. I don't drive it much within the city, mainly on highways but I have enabled the mechanism, and I love it. The restart is just like a regular start, and there's a switch that allows me to enable/disable the mechanism.
So I really have no complaints. In fact quite the opposite.

[Harshal.Bhosale]

Originally Posted by sudeep11787

I just got a Ciaz SHVS. Yes, it has a button to switch Auto start-stop off. But I did notice one thing- Regular cranking by key is harsh and loud and with vibes but ISG (that's what Suzuki calls it) starts it immediately without much drama when it has been shut by auto start stop. I do feel Suzuki must have made proper arrangements to prevent these parts from going bust? Experts can comment!

As mentioned the video in the first post, it is possible to have an easier start by managing the engine shut down in such a way that one of the cylinders remains very near to TDC (top dead center) of the compression stroke. That way, it's like a time bomb just waiting to explode into the power stroke, so as soon as the system pokes the starter motor to crank the engine, it starts rather quickly. I don't know the exact strategy used by Suzuki, but this might be one of the ways to do it.

Can someone please answer this? I have asked this from everyone and I didn't get a proper response yet. How I use my start stop -
1) I keep my start stop on for city driving, switch it off before ending my commute, idle my car and then shut it down.
2) I keep it off in my highway/ high-speed drives.

Do you think I am still damaging the turbo if I idle before parking but use auto start stop in traffic?

From my experience in the turbocharger industry, hot shutdowns and cold starts are always significant contributors to bearing- and subsequent entire turbo-system failures. I'm skeptical of how manufacturers safely implement start-stop on turbocharged cars, but no matter how you do it, suddenly shutting off a turbo-ed engine after driving it spiritedly for a few kilometers WILL cause trouble.

One potential solution is to keep your car's engine RPMs below 2000 or 1750rpm (whichever point the turbo kicks in at) during your city commute, so that the turbo doesn't spool up much at all, thus not heating it up enough for hot shut-down to matter. (Hot shut-down is the damage that occurs when the lubrication system automatically shuts down along with the engine ignition, thus causing the oil/lubricant that was flowing through the turbocharger to stop and collect in the sump, and therefore not allowing the inner core components like journal bearings and thrust collars/bearings to cool down to safe temperatures).

[niranjanrvce]

Voted for 'Hate It' and consider this feature a torture on the driver. I used to have it on my Jag XF in the Bay Area and this was the first thing to switch off when you get in the car.

Funnily enough, when I was selling the car off, a prospective buyer came to take a test drive with his friends and we went for a spin nearby. After about 5-10 minutes, his friend comments that there is something 'wrong with the engine'. The buyer agrees and says 'engine shudders when moving from standstill'. They think they are being conned into buying a defective car. I facepalm, explain the Start/Stop feature and switch it off. Another 5-10 minutes later, they pay me the booking amount

[StarrySky]

Isn't there something between love and hate? In my personal opinion, the system does not have a big enough impact on my life to love or hate it I'm OK with it.

My car is an automatic, so the system stops the engine as soon as the car comes to a complete stop. This was an issue for me at first, since all stops are not at traffic signals - some are at pedestrian crossings or for giving way to other vehicles etc. Then I learned to control the system using the pressure applied on the brake pedal - it is possible to apply just enough pressure to stop the car completely, but not enough to trigger the system. So, no issues on this front anymore.

I do switch off the system when I know that I am going to be on the highway for a reasonable length of time - just so that the car doesn't switch off by itself as soon as I come to a stop after long highway run.

Does it save fuel? I don't really know. It's quite rare in my part of the city to have red lights that last 60-90s or more, so I think the FE gain, if any, will be marginal.

[awini]

The Porsche system is even more annoying. It sometimes cuts off the engine while the car is still rolling to a stop. In a car like the 911 when you have to really slow down for speed breakers, it sometimes cuts off on top of the speed breaker! That said, it does start instantly and does give a little better fuel efficiency.

[twin_turbo]

Okay. I change my mind. Earlier i voted for 'Hate it'. What caused me change my mind?

Today i drove Ford F150 Lobo Platinum. Was a joy to drive. A good mix of Drivability, Dynamics and Luxury. So i was driving the road, stopped the vehicle in a parking lot when the engine shut off automatically. I was like wow, this has Start-Stop, and guess what my friend told me. It was working whenever i stopped at a signal. (like 4-5 times before i reached the lot) and i did not realize that the engine had gone off. Yes, the music was ON, and it was a smooth Petrol engine. But then, i was surprised to see such smooth transitions, having only driven a Ciaz D with this feature before. So there you go. The technology is evolving i think and one day might work really well.

[Hayek]

Debated a while before voting - but finally settled for love it. Have it on my X3 20d, and have not yet figured out how to turn it off by default. But I actually end up turning it off only very rarely (on the worst days while driving through Dharavi or Lower Parel). At other times, it works quite well, especially in Comfort Mode - switching the engine on before I feel uncomfortable and turning itself off if the traffic is extreme. Plus it gives me the comfort that BMW would have designed the starting system and battery for such use - which is better than turning the car off on long signals manually. I don't know about the X3, but my Superb used to consume about 1.5-1.6 litres / hour while idling, and I idle at signals for about 10 minutes each way on my 11 km work commute. So it probably saves me about ₹30 / day, not something that will pay for my retirement but certainly something that is good for the environment when multiplied across a million drivers. The restart vibration is noticeable but not obnoxious. Yes, the system is over eager and less focussed on your comfort in Eco Pro mode - but that is something you opt for. So overall, it is a good thing and something that assuages my conscience for driving a 1.7 tonne SUV with only myself (or at best my wife and me) in it

[pgupta]

Well I use this feature in my xuv. For me it's a nice option and there is a switch to disable or enable it. When I am driving in highway I switch it off. Sometimes within city also I keep it switched off but when I am approaching a traffic signal where it usually takes time e.g. Hope farm signal in whitefield then I switch it on. I find it quite useful as it keeps it state between manual starts. Overall pretty useful.

[Kestrel5915]

Originally Posted by saur95

Also, I can say with certainty that most premium car manufacturers have an electric water pump and water cooled turbo bearings and thus its not required to idle anymore, although I still prefer to do it after highway runs. I'm not sure about mass market cars though.

How exactly does this water pump save the turbo when one stops the engine immediately after a long hard drive?