What Uses Less Gas - Coasting Or Engine Braking?

Is It More Efficient To Coast In Neutral Or In Gear?

What uses less gas? Coasting in neutral, or engine braking? Of course, the answer is it depends. A simple example? If you're approaching a red light, and know that it's going to remain red, engine braking will slow you down without using any fuel, and will be the most efficient option. If you know for a fact that the light is going to turn green before you reach it (which, you don't, but hypothetically), then it's more efficient to coast in neutral and maintain your speed, then get back on the accelerator once the light has turned green.

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[BladedAngel]

Cool! Now I can show this video to my friend who always insists on coasting in Neutral for every hill they encounter.

[jakelivni]

When I'm trying to be fuel efficient (pretty much always), I simply avoid using the brakes. Avoid as much as possible (considering safety and road law, of course). Every use of brakes == throwing away kinetic energy that I needed to burn fuel to achieve in the first place. Of course, I apply the brakes when necessary and use engine braking, too (manual transmission) when appropriate or necessary. When coming to a potential stop, though, e.g. a red light that will turn green at some stage or stopped traffic up ahead that will start moving at some stage, the EARLIER you apply the brakes, the more likely that you will still have useful kinetic energy when you arrive at that point up ahead. If you rush towards a red light and come to a sudden stop there you will face the green light with zero speed. If you brake early / strongly enough, though, you can still have motion when arriving at the green light. That is a more efficient use of the energy derived from the fuel that you burned up in your engine. (We're talking very fine points, at this stage.) WARNING: It is quite dangerous to barrel through an intersection as soon as the light turns green, so don't do it. Some wiseguy might be running a red light across your direction of travel, hoping that he'll get through before you get to start but because you're so efficient, you both meet in a bloody, smoking mess of twisted metal in the middle of the intersection. Happens all the time. Drive efficiently, but drive DEFENSIVELY. Look in all directions before going through that green light.

[MePeterNicholls]

Another fuel saving tip: try not to stop. Starting from standing is a big fuel user overcoming rolling distance from standing. The answer is to slow down and keep crawling to traffic lights, through traffic queues, and so on - as long as it’s safe and legal to do so.

[dudaavixx]

Basically, If you're going to stop at some point anyway, use gears.
If you are going to effectively use the bonus kinectic energy you get from neutral coasting (longer distances, climb up a cliff ahead) then it becomes viable

[iVTECInside]

If I'm intentionally engine braking down a hill, I'll occasionally put the A/C on to get a little more braking. Kinda funny feeling the compressor cycle on/off also gives you a good idea of just how much power that little thing uses.

[coscorrodrift]

"The answer is always it depends" I love science xd

[MattMaranMotoring]

I've always wondered this, now I know! Thanks man!

[___]

Driving a big rig... Use engine brakes to save BRAKES and lives lol.

[impaul]

why there's a thunder in the picture

[aaronhowell]

I can't get enough of your coasting & engine braking videos. Thanks for anew one!

[pumacat]

It's awesome to see how much your channel has grown

[GearsandGasoline]

I've always wondered this... Thanks Jason!

[Talented]

FOR YEARS . . . I've been trying to get definitive answers on the MPG advantage/disadvantage of (manual transmission) neutral coasting vs engine coasting. Just couldn't find it. This pretty much answers the detailed concerns that I've had while trying to maximize fuel efficiency. It's the detailed explanations such as this that are important and don't get attention that are why i subscribed and love this channel. EE is the ish!

[VNavale]

Thanks for the video I no longer coast downhill. Coming back to your scenario it would probably be more efficient even if there are not a series of his but flat straight road as the momentum built by coasting can be used to cover some distance as long as you don't exceed the safe speed for that road.

[That.Old.Toyota]

Short answer: In neutral the engine has to go bang to keep spinning, in gear the hill keeps the engine spinning. In modern EFI cars the ECU cuts fuel delivery when coasting in gear, results may vary.*

[brenotanure]

Few minutes ago I was just thinking about it while driving home. Arrived home and here's your video about it...
So nice!

[sterlingmantlow]

thanks man, I've been coasting down this two mile hill in South Carolina in neutral forever. noticed difficulty in control, and braking falls through as well. Didn't know coasting did 99.9 mpg. I'll leave my gear box alone now bro! Thanks for the great vid, and as always, good luck on the next one!

[hotpinkturban]

This was really helpful. I didn't realize that fuel wasn't being used when the engine brakes were revving high. Thanks for posting

[combatcqb]

Great video, had this discussion at work many times too. The built in mpg gauge may behave differently based on manufacturer software. I logged injector duty cycle on my Subaru to get the same conclusion and would be more consistent data regardless of the car.

[nutzeeer]

wow that means by going down a hill you can use tha a/c for free