Neutral

Neutral isn't really neutral, since the car is always in gear.
All you're doing is switching off the regen braking you get from lifting your foot off the accelerator, so you can coast farther before needing to burn more gasoline.

As to using it I've found it helps a lot once in a while, but usually the hills are too small to bother with, or too big and I need some extra regen braking. So depends on what your terrain is like. Rest of the time I'm in too much traffic to slow on slight grades and need a little battery power even though it would be better mpg to coast.

And using the accelerator to set no arrows works pretty good at least when going slow.

 

By gliding, you mean no arrow coasting. Im sure the 55+ gas saving fantics are doing a lot of gliding.
The more gilding the higher the gas mileage.

 

I've found that the "no arrows" coasting that can be achieved with a very light touch of the gas pedal is a bit too hard to accomplish. The zone seems to vary greatly with the speed of the car and whether you are going slightly downhill, level, or slightly uphill.

I happily settle for the state where it is showing power supplied from the battery (orange arrows from battery to wheels). This is easy to achieve at all speeds and with a light touch, I don't think it really drawing very much power from the battery. I usually have to press the gas pedal quite a bit further (relatively speaking) after first seeing the orange battery arrows before I have enough power to actually keep speed at 40 mph.

The amount of power drawn from the battery is variable; the more you press the gas pedal, the more you will use. I would think that the amount drawn from the battery when you just barely exceed the "glide zone" is probably not enough to care about.

So, to sum it up, I press the pedal just hard enough to make the green regen arrows go away when I want to glide. If I get orange arrows instead of no arrows, so be it.

This is also easier to do by feel instead of staring at the screen. I press the gas pedal until I can no longer sense that the car is decelerating. If I then look at the screen, sometimes I'll see no arrows, sometimes I'll see orange arrows.

 

Hold the shift joystick to the neutral position for a couple seconds until the [N] illuminates on the dashboard display.

Neutral works best on long gradual declines - too steep a hill causes you to pick up too much speed so you might as well stay in [D] and charge the HVB.

Everything else works as normal. Use [D] if you need to slow down. Don't use the brakes unless you have to, let the traction motor charge the HVB.

To put car in drive, just move the joystick to [D] and watch the display.

 

In neutral, only the friction brakes are used. Always switch to D prior to braking. If something happens suddenly, the friction brakes will panic stop the car just fine so don't worry about what gear you are in if something radical happens. I would not use neutral if I was in a position for something like that to happen anyway though.

Having said that, I use neutral for around 10-20% of my commute. I don't use it above 62 mph. I use it automatically as if I was just shifting gears in a standard. Did I say it....... I love this car!

 

I read this topic this morning and after wards tried to go in to neutral a few times, with good success... it did seem to make the engine "kick in" a little harder so I am not sure I agree with the concept that its completely safe to have the engine go through this process on a regular basis.

Any dealer reps or senior people have any opinion on this??

 

Did you try this after the warmup cycle was complete?

 

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I would suggest rather than diddling arond with going in to and out of Neutral that you practice a bit of accelerator feathering. Its a lot more useful and productive to develop an educated rightfoot than just poking the control stick.

BTW, in many states it is illegal to operate your car in neutral and is considered as being technically "out of control".

 

mehrenst,

Thanks for the reminder about the laws - I think MN is one of them with that law. I will continue to try to get that feather method down, its not an easy thing to figure out. I think having the a/c on a lot is not helping either though... these darned 90+ degree HUMID days are not fun!

 

The feeling that the engine "kicks in" when shifting into N is due to removing the engine drag imposed while coasting in D. I shift into N several times a day to maintain or gain some speed in long, gradually descending hills. Works great.

 

Oh, I actually didn't realize it but when I shift in and out of neutral I feather the pedal as I do it. It is so automatic that I didn't even notice it.

Feathering the pedal for a mile or so is fairly tedious. That's why I use neutral. on short stretches I just feather the pedal. I have some really long stretches where I can glide with the engine off. One stretch is right at two miles long. That's why I "diddle in and out of neutral" and "poke the control stick". How silly of me.

BTW- If the curve sign says to drive 20 mph and you drive 21 mph, that is a violation of the law. Geez, I hope I don't get caught coasting in neutral. I wonder how that would work. The cop is hiding behind a tree and has really good binoculars. He waits till you pass and then reads the indicator on your dash. hmmmmm

 

A point about Neutral that I beleive is true, but didn't see adequately explained here. If you switch to N, I believe the regen braking is deactivated. Example, if you are coasting down a hill in N and gain too much speed, then apply the brakes to slow down, you have actually wasted energy by failing to recapture any. So it is only advantageous to COAST in N, but you begin losing the advantage the second you touch the brakes.

 

Since neutral doesn't really take the car out of gear, it's sole purpose is for coasting.
I assume that is why Toyota almost put the gear shift on the stearing wheel, or at least within easy reach.

If you pay attention to silly laws I guess driving a manual shift car is llegal. You are in neutral between every shift or when you push the clutch down.