Do you use start/stop?

[The Governor]

I came to my A3 from an LCI BMW 3 series that had start/stop. I've always been of the view that no matter what BMW say about uprated batteries, starter motors, active battery charging blah blah that stopping and starting the car often is not going to be good for it, to that end I always switched off the stop/start function.

My A3 has the same function and I also switch it off, I just cannot see how it can do anything other than put parts under greater strain than they need to be.

When I had the beemer I ran it stop/start for a while and monitored mpg, then switched it off and there was barely any difference anyway.

So, who leaves it on, or like me do you err on the "mechanically sympathetic" side of things?

 

[PH1L]

personally i see nopoint its not exactly quiet restarting i like hearing my engine purr and do not think that it is a good idea like yourself

 

[Dalik]

Is there a way (SW?) how to switch it off "forever"?
I'm still waiting for my new A3 and it's gonna be my first car and expirience with that function

 

[MattyW19]

To be honest, I think it's pretty good! As long as your under warrenty, what have you got to worry about? Like with the journeys I do, It is possible that I could end up sitting at lights/traffic for a good 5 minutes!

I don't actually know how much fuel it saves though?

 

[Dalik]

I don't actually know how much fuel it saves though?

It depends, of course, but they say about 10% during city driving.
It's not only about fuel consumption, but about emissions too (but most people don't care ).

 

[MattyW19]

Yeah I suppose! I'm not complaining if it brings my tax down

 

[The Governor]

To be honest, I think it's pretty good! As long as your under warrenty, what have you got to worry about? Like with the journeys I do, It is possible that I could end up sitting at lights/traffic for a good 5 minutes!

I don't actually know how much fuel it saves though?

To my mind it's the long term damage that you're doing that might only come to light after the warranty runs out. There are one or two threads on the BMW forum I'm a member of with people's stop/start cars having battery issues after 3 to 4 years for example... and considering on a BMW a battery is probably circa £80-£90 and requires coding that's an expensive problem which probably outweighs any fuel saving made.

 

[KhalifaA3]

Every time I get in my vehicle after switching on the car I turn off start/stop. Every time I question Audi about the feature they just response brings the tax down and it's mainly made for the people who travel on the motorway everyday.
I do A LOT of city driving surely it would take more fuel if I keep starting the car? Nah?

 

[audicruiser]

It's more the emissions than the mpg which in turn lowers the tax bracket of the car from new.

In my view you shouldn't be allowed to turn it off, because if your car has a CO2 value of X and you keep turning the start stop off then the value will be higher and so in theory you should be paying more tax!

The engines are designed around stop start, as is the oil and sundries, plus there are so many parameters where start stop doesn't kick in that it protects the battery for one as it won't turn off if the charge is low.

 

[KhalifaA3]

It's more the emissions than the mpg which in turn lowers the tax bracket of the car from new.

In my view you shouldn't be allowed to turn it off, because if your car has a CO2 value of X and you keep turning the start stop off then the value will be higher and so in theory you should be paying more tax!

The engines are designed around stop start, as is the oil and sundries, plus there are so many parameters where start stop doesn't kick in that it protects the battery for one as it won't turn off if the charge is low.

Very true, I remember reading that it will only switch off if it is suitable to switch off I.e. weather inside and outside the vehicle and other stuff I can't remember!
But am I right in saying that if I'm doing only city miles and I keep the start stop on it will take more fuel? Or is that nonsense?
When I am about to approach Rail crossings I immediately turn it back on because I know I can be waiting there for years

 

[h5djr]

I have start/stop on my new A3. My wife also has it on her A1. As mine has s-tronic and hers is a manual they work slightly differently. With the A1 the car starts again as soon as she depresses the clutch. With mine I have to keep my foot on the brake to stop it re-starting. I'm not entirely happy with this because, when I was learning to drive many years ago, I was told it was bad manners to leave your foot on the brake pedal as your brake lights would be very bright in the face of any drive behind you.

Whilst speaking to an Audi Master Tech at a dealer do the other evening her said that dealers have to told not to switch it off permanately even if a customer asks as it would affect the CO2 rating of the car.

 

[Helifella]

Applying the handbrake should also stop the car restarting shouldn't it? It does with my manual. I have S/S enabled as it is a fleet car.

My Boss has it on his Tiguan DSG and is desperate for it to be perminantly disabled. So if anyone knows how do tell.

 

[Arjuanamo]

I have Stop/Start on my A3 and it annoys me most of the time,when im on a roundabout it takes away a vital second or two that i need to quickly go for it.I got my car in september and so far three times i have had an error come up saying the stop start system is deactivated and i have to put it in park and restart it .I believe there is a way to permanently turn it off in VCDS coding,might have to look into doing that soon.

 

[SLineMK]

Found this little write up. I was searching for answers for this but couldn't find an in depth answer on the forum so thought I'd post.

http://www.audi.com/com/brand/en/tools/advice/glossary/start-stop-system.browser.html

 

[h5djr]

I have Stop/Start on my A3 and it annoys me most of the time,when im on a roundabout it takes away a vital second or two that i need to quickly go for it.I got my car in september and so far three times i have had an error come up saying the stop start system is deactivated and i have to put it in park and restart it .I believe there is a way to permanently turn it off in VCDS coding,might have to look into doing that soon.

It seems to work OK in my wife's manual A1 but it tends to annoy me in my s-tronic A3. It's OK some of the time but others it will happily switch the engine off and then come up with a message saying it's been de-activated and cannot start it again. If anyone comes up with a way to switch it off all together I for one would go for it.

 

[colicabcadam]

warmer engines are looser, the voltage of a battery after the engines run for a bit will generally stay at around 14v and drop slowly over 5 minutes

these 2 factors mean retarting puts no real pressure on the starter or battery

i tjink it's a gay idea though

 

[Zak0123]

I leave mine on and use it if I think I'm going to be at the lights for longer than 5-10 seconds. Pretty good to have it whether you use or it not, £20 for 12 months road tax? Thank youuuuu.

 

[Towns]

All i know is that it does not work in a S tronic as when you lift your foot of the brake pedal and depress the accelerator the engine has not had time to restart so you pull away like you are learning to drive.

I hate it with a passion.