Technical stop/start

[brynrosa]

Just had the 500 Lounge delivered yesterday from the 500 Centre in the Wirral, excellent company. So, this stop/start thing, do you have to cancel it every time you use the car or can you disable it more or less permanently? We prefer not to use it for our short local journies but so far are having to cancel it each time we use the car. Advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[Venters]

Has to be disabled each time, if you don't want to use it.

 

[brynrosa]

Thank you, apart from this the little car seems fine. Far too complicated for Luddites like us but we can pick and choose what we use. Still looking for the Light programme on the wireless!!!

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

We prefer not to use it for our short local journies

Why

Thats exactly the conditions SS is there for.

 

[Andy Monty]

No its not john on short trips the car won't achieve its required levels of charge / temperature once it learns itself

To the op check your hand book there is a list of "none stop" variables / reasons

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

No its not john on short trips the car won't achieve its required levels of charge / temperature once it learns itself

I thought it had all these systems in place to monitor battery level etc so it doesn't operate if its low

 

[Spinnerdcc]

I thought it had all these systems in place to monitor battery level etc so it doesn't operate if its low

It does.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

It does.

So why isn't post 4 valid then

 

[frupi]

Well it's only a thought, but if one consistently uses a 500 stop/start for short journeys (shopping trips around town etc) and fails to actually take the darn thing for a proper run on frequent basis, then surely, the battery will start to suffer even if the car supposedly intelligently monitors the system? Technology is known to have it's fault's......

I'm afraid we do the same, prefer not to use stop/start on short town journeys. Just can't see the point myself, but I'm sure someone will argue the toss about it. After all, I doubt one would really save that much cost in fuel.

Ahh, 30 quid a year road tax, who cares anyway! Far better than the £260 a year the wife used to pay on her MX5. (absolute pah! to those of you who pay nothing - tight wads!) :devil:

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

But the who point is to save fuel on the stop start journeys. Thats the entire point of SS.

As a result theres a load of things monitored and from another post in this section it seems to hardly ever kick in half the time anyway as it always seems to think ideal conditions are not occurring.

I've only driven one car with SS though on a test drive, so perhaps I am missing something from not having used a vehicle with it fitted more.

 

[frupi]

Oooh, controversial for some I know, but personally, if I could permanently disable the stop/start, I would! I absolutely can't stand listening to eerie silence at traffic lights but would rather listen to the beautiful idling tones of a perfectly engineered 1.2L Italian engine, but the one in our household aint my car, so I should count myself lucky that I only drive the darn thing a couple of times a month to the local recycling centre to dump the grass cuttings!

Seriously though, the whole point behind technologies such as stop/start was I believe to assist in cutting our massive greenhouse gas emissions (mmm, India, China etc......) and the benefit was a reduction in road tax? Well, my Missus is getting the benefit of lower road tax, until of course the Government lose so much money on more and more vehicles in the 30 quid tax bracket that they either have to increase the VED to levels previously associated with older vehicles, or increase the fuel duty even more so we're all paying about 2 quid a litre! Ooops, ranting and going off topic......:devil:

 

[deeyup]

I'm completely the opposite, I love sitting with no engine noise at the traffic lights.
Light turns amber, clutch in, motor starts and off you go. Its ace!

 

[jrkitching]

I'm completely the opposite, I love sitting with no engine noise at the traffic lights.
Light turns amber, clutch in, motor starts and off you go. Its ace!

:yeahthat:

Unlike some others here, I've been fortunate in that mine has worked faultlessly for 2 1/2 years and I definitely miss it when I'm driving the Panda. I don't like sitting in a stationary car watching the trip mpg move steadily downwards & much prefer the silence of the 500 - somehow it makes the car feel that bit more modern.

Whether it'll ever save enough fuel to pay for the added cost & complexity is another matter, though.

 

[The Littlest Hobo]

SS is fantastic. Have it on the Merc and my wifes fiat. Its now second nature for me to accept that when the car is stationary it isnt using fuel. Is it that hard to accept?In the wifes fiat if i am at a set of lights or stop start traffic where it isnt needed i just keep the clutch down and the car in gear for a couple of seconds more than normal.I dont think we have ever used the off switch for the SS. In fact i dont think the wife kinows there is an off switch

 

[306maxi]

SS is fantastic. Have it on the Merc and my wifes fiat. Its now second nature for me to accept that when the car is stationary it isnt using fuel. Is it that hard to accept?In the wifes fiat if i am at a set of lights or stop start traffic where it isnt needed i just keep the clutch down and the car in gear for a couple of seconds more than normal.I dont think we have ever used the off switch for the SS. In fact i dont think the wife kinows there is an off switch

Agree. Don't get why people don't want it (assuming it works 100% of course). Since driving a couple of S&S equipped Punto Evo's I now stop the 500 and now the Panda whenever I come to a standstill. Why burn petrol when you don't need to? Seems a bit like having your central heating on and then opening the windows when it gets too warm.

I think it's somewhat selfish to think "well I get cheap road tax either way so screw the environment and lets burn oil needlessly" some of us are in our 20's and would like to be able to enjoy driving cars powered by old animals well into the future. If you think the pleasure of idling at the lights is worth wasting fuel for then I think you need to get a better hobby

 

[jimbo118]

SS is ok for town driving but shockingly bad for turbo longetivity on the TA & MJ after a motorway jaunt or spirited drive. Imagine suddenly cutting the oil supply to the hot bearings of the turbo that has just been spinning at 120,000rpm+ which is what happens when SS engages when say pull into a service area - extremely bad for the long term life of the turbo.
This is why you should always let any turbo charged car idle for a couple of minutes before turning off after high speed/stress usage (many tuned turbo cars have a timer to facilitate this) - lets the temperature of the turbo drop before the oil pressure drops when the engine is turned off.

For this reason I *always* disengage SS on a motorway run.

 

[306maxi]

SS is ok for town driving but shockingly bad for turbo longetivity on the TA & MJ after a motorway jaunt or spirited drive. Imagine suddenly cutting the oil supply to the hot bearings of the turbo that has just been spinning at 120,000rpm+ which is what happens when SS engages when say pull into a service area - extremely bad for the long term life of the turbo.
This is why you should always let any turbo charged car idle for a couple of minutes before turning off after high speed/stress usage (many tuned turbo cars have a timer to facilitate this) - lets the temperature of the turbo drop before the oil pressure drops when the engine is turned off.

For this reason I *always* disengage SS on a motorway run.

See now this I can understand and agree with. That said though, modern turbo's are much better in this regard than their 80's counterparts and you don't really need to idle them for all that long for the turbo to slow down. Just lifting and going for long enough with no throttle to slow down and take the slip road into the services will be enough to slow the turbo down rather a lot

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

See now this I can understand and agree with. That said though, modern turbo's are much better in this regard than their 80's counterparts and you don't really need to idle them for all that long for the turbo to slow down. Just lifting and going for long enough with no throttle to slow down and take the slip road into the services will be enough to slow the turbo down rather a lot

:yeahthat:

 

[jimbo118]

See now this I can understand and agree with. That said though, modern turbo's are much better in this regard than their 80's counterparts and you don't really need to idle them for all that long for the turbo to slow down. Just lifting and going for long enough with no throttle to slow down and take the slip road into the services will be enough to slow the turbo down rather a lot

It's not the slowing down that's the issue - it's the heat build up and the time it takes to dissipate - the turbo on my Ypsilon TA has been glowing before after a particularly spirited run.

Interestingly, when I aired my concerns to one of the technicians at the dealership, he was in agreement about turning of SS for this reason.

Guess it doesn't matter if you don't plan to keep the car long term - it'll be some other poor bugger that has to forkout for a new turbo at lowish miles!

 

[306maxi]

It's not the slowing down that's the issue - it's the heat build up and the time it takes to dissipate - the turbo on my Ypsilon TA has been glowing before after a particularly spirited run.

Interestingly, when I aired my concerns to one of the technicians at the dealership, he was in agreement about turning of SS for this reason.

Guess it doesn't matter if you don't plan to keep the car long term - it'll be some other poor bugger that has to forkout for a new turbo at lowish miles!

True Stupidly I hadn't thought of that