Turning engine off at traffic lights...

[TheInsanity1234]

Also , My mini has stupid indicators that return to centre rather than stay up or down while indicating

Ian

I recall the Vauxhall Vectra estates that I had as taxis for a few years had indicator stalks like that.

I couldn't fathom how you were supposed to cancel them?

[tioaboa]

Yes sodding things will starting indicating the other way if your heavy handed....

[fungus]

Yes sodding things will starting indicating the other way if your heavy handed....

Just like my Fiesta when the lane change facility is enabled.

[Mike H]

My new car will be programmed with 'comfort' indicators, or some such fancy marketing name. I don't want the car to indicate three times if I just touch the stalk. I want to determine the number of flashes myself depending on the circumstances at that moment.

*My italics*
I highlight that, because you'll find that if you hold the stalk in place for the duration of one flash, the indicators will not flash 3 times.

I only wish that it was so.....
I can't be certain on the new car until it arrives, but on both the current and previous cars I can assure you that, before deactivation, regardless of whether the stalk was just flicked for one millisecond or even one second, the indicators would flash three times.
Bring back the old semaphore signals - that's what I say. Either in or out

[jont]

Bring back the old semaphore signals - that's what I say. Either in or out

Just buy a BMW, then you won't have to worry about them at all

[onlinegenie]

Bring back the old semaphore signals - that's what I say. Either in or out

And a lot easier to see than most modern indicators.

[TR4ffic]

Bring back the old semaphore signals - that's what I say. Either in or out

...out with the help of a good thump to the inside of the B post as was sometimes the case in my Dad's Rover 75 (that's the 1950's model, not the recent incarnation) - usually administered by one of us kids in the back at my Dad's request...

[TheInsanity1234]

I wondered how those things flipped out and got pulled back in?

Was there a string you had to pull or what?

[waremark]

Re the stop start mini, control over SS is much easier in a manual car like yours than in an auto. I never disable mine, but do feel in control of when it stops and when it starts (pressure on brake pedal, touching accelerator).

Re indicators with triple flash, I generally think that three flashes is neither one thing nor the other. If I need to indicate I generally do so for longer. If I start to indicate and then due to the response of another wish to cease indicating I find the triple flash maddening. I have not found a way to switch it off on my current cars (it is switchable on Mercs and BM's).

[TheInsanity1234]

Re the stop start mini, control over SS is much easier in a manual car like yours than in an auto. I never disable mine, but do feel in control of when it stops and when it starts (pressure on brake pedal, touching accelerator).

Re indicators with triple flash, I generally think that three flashes is neither one thing nor the other. If I need to indicate I generally do so for longer. If I start to indicate and then due to the response of another wish to cease indicating I find the triple flash maddening. I have not found a way to switch it off on my current cars (it is switchable on Mercs and BM's).

And on Skodas too, if you have the multi-functional display thing in the car.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Modern VAG (including Skoda) systems are very good. We spent a session with a RoADAR associate a few weeks back with a new Golf with DSG gearbox, electronic parking brake and stop/start technology, to work out how all the systems interact, and that thing can sing! There's an auto-hold function on the parking brake which comes on when the stop/start kicks in, which doesn't display the brake lights. So coming up to traffic lights or a junction with no immediate prospect of pulling out, you can let the system do its thing, and it's just like stopping a manual car, putting it in neutral, applying the handbrake (in whichever order floats your boat), and switching off the engine. Then you touch the accelerator and everything is reversed and you're ready to go. If you don't want the stop/start to activate, you just press less hard on the brake pedal - this had been a revelation to the associate once she had learned the ins and outs of this technique. You can apply the parking brake manually at any time if you want to. You can also disable the stop/start (per journey) if it annoys you.

Insanity, when you say "you haven't noticed any difference" - did you measure economy over the same journey(s) with stop/start on and off? Did you allow the system to operate normally when it was "on". How many miles was the measurement carried out over? How many repetitions of the same journey? Manufacturers aren't putting these systems into cars for fun, you know, but to meet ever more stringent CO2 emission standards (and economy). Burning fuel creates CO2, whether idling or restarting the engine, so if CO2 is being saved, so is fuel.

My Pug - and I'm sure many other cars with lane change indicators - will indicate the required number of times if you engage the switch fully in the direction required (i.e. until it clicks). This is the only way you can cancel the indication should you wish to, for example, switch to indicating the other way, too.

[TheInsanity1234]

Insanity, when you say "you haven't noticed any difference" - did you measure economy over the same journey(s) with stop/start on and off? Did you allow the system to operate normally when it was "on". How many miles was the measurement carried out over? How many repetitions of the same journey? Manufacturers aren't putting these systems into cars for fun, you know, but to meet ever more stringent CO2 emission standards (and economy). Burning fuel creates CO2, whether idling or restarting the engine, so if CO2 is being saved, so is fuel.

It certainly makes differences in stop-start traffic, however, a large proportion of our driving takes place in the countryside with very few occasions where we need to stop, which means the engine is still running most of the time.

I appreciate it might make significant savings if you are in the city, or somewhere with plenty of congestion and traffic-lights. However, it doesn't make a world of difference in our circumstances, it probably goes as far as to add an extra mile or so per gallon.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Let's say your car averages 50mpg (should be somewhere in the right ball park) so "an extra mile or so per gallon" equates to somewhere between 0 and 4 percent saving. That's roughly the equivalent of having a Tesco (or name your favourite supermarket) 2p off a litre voucher every time you fill up. Not worth having?

In your case if you are not stopping much, it's unlikely it's making a whole extra mile of difference, but think of it in money terms, rather than mileage, and it soon becomes more attractive. When you start driving the car, who's going to be paying for the diesel?

[jont]

Let's say your car averages 50mpg (should be somewhere in the right ball park) so "an extra mile or so per gallon" equates to somewhere between 0 and 4 percent saving. That's roughly the equivalent of having a Tesco (or name your favourite supermarket) 2p off a litre voucher every time you fill up. Not worth having?

In your case if you are not stopping much, it's unlikely it's making a whole extra mile of difference, but think of it in money terms, rather than mileage, and it soon becomes more attractive. When you start driving the car, who's going to be paying for the diesel?

Depends whether the marginal increase in fuel efficiency is offset by the extra cost of the technology, and any additional maintenance down the road (such as more expensive battery replacement, premature starter motor replacement etc etc).

/convinced this whole co2 output measurement is entirely the wrong approach if we're genuinely serious about the environment - instead "whole lifetime cost" of the car should be considered, including manufacturing, servicing, premature replacement of the car because it become prohibitively expensive to maintain etc etc.

Right now manufacturers only care about EU measured Co2, and cost over 3 years (as that's the usual warranty period/company car replacement cycle). If it blows up on year 3 + 1 day, then they'd count that as a win

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

If, like me, you never buy a new car, the extra technology cost is unlikely to influence you much. I kind of agree with you about the total cost of manufacture of the vehicle in CO2 terms, but fuel costs are where it speaks to the motorist - in the wallet. I doubt, personally, if the stop start systems are all going to blow up at exactly 3 years old - there are plenty of cars with the technology which are already over that.