Loving our RX450h but...

[sorcerer]

18 hours ago, steveledzep said:

Your list is very similar to mine John.  Your car is very similar too.  Great music and a great car too. 

You're obviously a man of impeccable taste Steve  

If a band called Whole Lotta LED ever play around your area, I highly recommend that you go to see them. They aren't a 'looky-likey' sort of tribute band with wigs and costumes, but they just concentrate on the music of Zep and by 'eck, they do a fantastic job of playing it too. I know they're playing Narberth in November - I don't know how close you are but the name always sticks in my memory because I got a set of speakers from eBay and went to Narberth to pick them up!

[SLACKBLADDER]

Just looking at what's written I would like to say that I also have driven HGV  automatics and never used neutral  also if you used neutral on a driving test you will fail because you will not be in control of your vehicle  

Edited April 5, 2018 by SLACKBLADDER
Predictive text fault

[sorcerer]

17 hours ago, NemesisUK said:

There is no need to select neutral, no matter what the transmission type.

But nothing bad will happen to the transmission if you do. You don't need to select neutral but you can if you want  

I did follow the link you gave and yes, I agree that there is slight wear of certain components, but I think it's so small as to be insignificant and it doesn't harm the transmission. It may shorten the life of the components by three months before the rest of the car dies anyway.

I bought one of my previous cars at 70,000 miles and I have no idea how the previous owner(s) used to drive it. I went on to put another 120,000 miles on it, always selecting Neutral at the lights, and the box was as good as always when the rest of the car died around it and the whole thing went to that great scrapyard in the sky.

In the end, I think it comes down to individual habits and personal preferences and as I said at the beginning, I'm only now, after two months of ownership, becoming comfortable with breaking the habit of a lifetime and leaving it in Drive.

 

[JeffL]

John, I know you are talking specifically Hybrid/CVT, but just for the record, I've driven lots of different cars over the last 40 years all with petrol engines and conventional torque auto gearboxes. My wife the same but with petrol engines/CVT gear boxes. We've both always left them in drive when stopped at the lights or in a traffic queue, never any problems. It's part of the enjoyment of driving an automatic, not having to move the gear selector or put the handbrake/parking brake on.

[sorcerer]

1 hour ago, JeffL said:

John, I know you are talking specifically Hybrid/CVT, but just for the record, I've driven lots of different cars over the last 40 years all with petrol engines and conventional torque auto gearboxes. My wife the same but with petrol engines/CVT gear boxes. We've both always left them in drive when stopped at the lights or in a traffic queue, never any problems. 

I agree Jeff, there's no problem with leaving an auto in drive if you want to, and there's no problem with putting an auto into neutral if you want to, nothing bad will happen either way.

My only point is that when I was learning to drive back in early 1975, I had an absolutely fanatical driving instructor who used to rap my knuckles with a wooden ruler if I didn't put the car in neutral at traffic lights. Obviously, the habit became deeply ingrained in my psyche and it seems completely alien to me now that I've got a hybrid and I have to leave it in drive - but I am getting used to it now after two months of ownership  

[ChrisM]

I am sure I read somewhere that holding the car on the brakes when discs are hot could warp the discs or melt particles onto the surface creating ridges, possibly in the LS forum.

I always shift to P when stood at lights, as I always did with my LS400.

 

[sorcerer]

2 hours ago, ChrisM said:

I am sure I read somewhere that holding the car on the brakes when discs are hot could warp the discs or melt particles onto the surface creating ridges, possibly in the LS forum.

That would be correct in a 'normal' braking system where the braking is done by the friction of the pads against the discs, the result of which is high temperatures, but in hybrid cars like ours the vast majority of braking is done by the regenerative brakes, where there is no friction and so no heat produced to warp the discs - or at least not enough anyway. I believe it works in such a way that when the driver presses the brake pedal, the electric motors actually begin to turn in the reverse direction, which has the dual effect of slowing the car and also generating electricity to charge the traction Battery. The 'traditional' mechanical brakes only come into play when the car has already slowed down a great deal, so less friction and less heat.

[SLACKBLADDER]

Oh Dear 

[SLACKBLADDER]

Yesterday in Dorset the sun was out I dropped the top down on the sc stuck it in drive and drove it  never gave a thought to the thingy that generates the wasname took all the worries and blew them away   lovely  xx

[rich1068]

On 04/04/2018 at 6:26 PM, mikesands said:

Now to the question of Hillstart.  Sorry but I don't understand - why would any automatic need hillstart.  I thought it was a way of preventing a manual car from stalling if the driver let out the clutch without enough revs.  Even on the steepest of hills I cannot remember any of my automatic cars running backwards when in drive mode, and certainly none of them have ever stalled.

No experience of the RX and only just picking up this thread but surely the hill start do da is irrelevant on these cars? As Mike says, being autos? I've driven plenty of manuals with hill start but none of them seem as complicated to operate as you guys are describing. They just hold the car for a period while you operate the bewildering number of pedals 

Also, I can understand the internet logic of shifting to neutral or park but don't feel it's at all necessary. Quite simply manufacturers would make it very plain that this is how you're supposed to drive an auto. They don't so it isn't.

[rich1068]

1 hour ago, SLACKBLADDER said:

Yesterday in Dorset the sun was out I dropped the top down on the sc stuck it in drive and drove it  never gave a thought to the thingy that generates the wasname took all the worries and blew them away   lovely  xx

I had the sunroof open. Does that count? 

[sorcerer]

1 hour ago, rich1068 said:

No experience of the RX and only just picking up this thread but surely the hill start do da is irrelevant on these cars? As Mike says, being autos? I've driven plenty of manuals with hill start but none of them seem as complicated to operate as you guys are describing. They just hold the car for a period while you operate the bewildering number of pedals 

I'm only guessing so this may be complete ******* but, it may be something to do with these cars being eCVT as opposed to 'normal' automatics. In a normal auto the car will creep forward when in drive unless you have the brakes on, which I think is down to the fact that there is no 'clutch' to completely disengage and there's a constant 'drag' on the transmission fluid, resulting in creep (remember I said I'm only guessing). If you happen to be on an uphill slope then gravity will cancel out the creep, ergo you don't need 'hill start'

Maybe eCVT transmissions don't suffer from this fluid drag, so no creep, so on an uphill slope you'd start to roll backwards the second you lift your foot from the brake, ergo Hill Start is a good and useful thing.

I'm no mechanic, I don't know 

[sorcerer]

1 hour ago, rich1068 said:

Also, I can understand the internet logic of shifting to neutral or park but don't feel it's at all necessary. Quite simply manufacturers would make it very plain that this is how you're supposed to drive an auto

It isn't necessary, that's already been decided - just personal preference and habit.

[SLACKBLADDER]

 

1 hour ago, rich1068 said:

I had the sunroof open. Does that count? 

Nope

[Ala Larj]

Not sure about the RX but my GS has a hold button. You have to turn it on every time I start but it means when I come to a halt in stop start traffic I can take my foot off the brake pedal and don't have to set the handbrake.

[rayaans]

4 hours ago, rich1068 said:

No experience of the RX and only just picking up this thread but surely the hill start do da is irrelevant on these cars? As Mike says, being autos? I've driven plenty of manuals with hill start but none of them seem as complicated to operate as you guys are describing. They just hold the car for a period while you operate the bewildering number of pedals 

Also, I can understand the internet logic of shifting to neutral or park but don't feel it's at all necessary. Quite simply manufacturers would make it very plain that this is how you're supposed to drive an auto. They don't so it isn't.

Some autos still roll back on a steep hill though

1 hour ago, Ala Larj said:

Not sure about the RX but my GS has a hold button. You have to turn it on every time I start but it means when I come to a halt in stop start traffic I can take my foot off the brake pedal and don't have to set the handbrake.

The 3RX has a foot operated parking brake and therefore doesn't have the hill hold button.

[Silversalmon]

2 hours ago, rayaans said:

Some autos still roll back on a steep hill though

The 3RX has a foot operated parking brake and therefore doesn't have the hill hold button.

My 2010 RX450SEi has the hill hold facility, you just press down firmly on the brake pedal and you get a couple of seconds grace to allow yourself to move from the brake to the accelerator. Not the same as the electronic handbrake on more modern cars, my son has a GTI and I hate that system though I'm sure you get used to it in time. I remember the first time i encountered it on a golf 2 years ago on a VERY steep hill in Lausanne and someone had parked very close to me. I was terrified getting to grips with it, thought I was going to burn out the clutch to avoid hitting him.

[rich1068]

6 hours ago, sorcerer said:

I'm only guessing...

Ah, CVT. I suppose that could be the difference. But then I've driven other CVTs and they've not behaved any different to normal autos. Well not that I recall.

6 hours ago, sorcerer said:

It isn't necessary, that's already been decided - just personal preference and habit.

Fair enough 

6 hours ago, SLACKBLADDER said:

 

Nope

Spoilsport.

 

[rayaans]

4 hours ago, Silversalmon said:

My 2010 RX450SEi has the hill hold facility, you just press down firmly on the brake pedal and you get a couple of seconds grace to allow yourself to move from the brake to the accelerator. Not the same as the electronic handbrake on more modern cars, my son has a GTI and I hate that system though I'm sure you get used to it in time. I remember the first time i encountered it on a golf 2 years ago on a VERY steep hill in Lausanne and someone had parked very close to me. I was terrified getting to grips with it, thought I was going to burn out the clutch to avoid hitting him.

That's not the hold though. It's hill start assist.  

Hill hold will keep the vehicle stood for an infinite amount of time until the driver presses the accelerator

[mrfunex]

Why do auto cars even have neutral? I’ve never found a use for it, and I’ve owned several now - a Merc SL500, ISF, RX450h, GSF...

 

edit: I don’t know if this is classified as a ‘use’ per-se, but in my old Merc SL, you couldn’t rev past 4000 in Park. If you wanted to experience the full noise (I absolutely did - my first V8!!!), then it had to be in Neutral!

[SLACKBLADDER]

I've never used the park brake never seen the point 

20 hours ago, rich1068 said:

I had the sunroof open. Does that count? 

Nope

[rich1068]

9 hours ago, rayaans said:

That's not the hold though. It's hill start assist.  

Hill hold will keep the vehicle stood for an infinite amount of time until the driver presses the accelerator

Sounds like I'm at cross purposes then. My lack of knowledge about the RX!

47 minutes ago, mrfunex said:

Why do auto cars even have neutral? I’ve never found a use for it, and I’ve owned several now - a Merc SL500, ISF, RX450h, GSF...

You have to put it in neutral when you run it through the auto car wash 

[rayaans]

2 hours ago, mrfunex said:

Why do auto cars even have neutral? I’ve never found a use for it, and I’ve owned several now - a Merc SL500, ISF, RX450h, GSF...

 

edit: I don’t know if this is classified as a ‘use’ per-se, but in my old Merc SL, you couldn’t rev past 4000 in Park. If you wanted to experience the full noise (I absolutely did - my first V8!!!), then it had to be in Neutral!

So you can rev it lol - but some cars dont rev past 4k anyway regardless of being in neutral or Park

[Ala Larj]

In a Merc you need to put it in neutral to get in on the back of a tow truck!🤣

[SLACKBLADDER]

1 hour ago, Ala Larj said:

In a Merc you need to put it in neutral to get in on the back of a tow truck!🤣

Absolutely hahaha