Merv is right. From a standpoint of mechanics it will not harm the transmission. But, agree with the rest : not recommended....

 

To save gas i presume...
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It doesn't save gas! When you leave it in D it saves more gas!!



You can damage the car!!!

 

I don't know why anyone would do that when coming down a hill. You loose engine braking power, you loose the ability to move quickly if some event arises where you have to make a decision and accelerate. Re-think your decision to go that route.

 

It's not a good idea and it is illegal in most states. Aside from the possible transmission damage, there is a safety issue as mentioned above. I couldn't find it on the web for California, but I did find it for South Dakota:

"Coasting downhill in neutral or with clutch out as misdemeanor. The driver of any motor vehicle when traveling upon a downgrade shall not coast with the gears or transmission of such vehicle in neutral. The driver of a truck or bus when traveling upon a downgrade shall not coast with the clutch disengaged. A violation of this section is a Class 2 misdemeanor."

 

I hardly believe the police is going to find out you are driving in Neutral, and wonder if they actual give out a violation ticket like this.

ps. I don't recommended driving in Neutral......... anymore....

 

I heard that it will save gas which i think is bullshit! :thumbsdown:

 

Thank you guys for all your comments. It?s very helpful.

Btw, I love this forum as much as my 530i.

 

I tried this with my E39 & saw that when going down hiII in gear and foot off the accelerator, the consumption was near zero.
When going downhill in neutral the consumption is higher.

 

I go in N plenty of times. The engine braking is more than I want sometimes. Of course it will be better for gas mileage (a bit) because you are able to go faster (and longer) with no gas. The automatic downshifting is fine most of the time but when you want to coast, it slows you down too much. As far as needing to be in gear in case of emergency - give me a break - that is an incredibly rare occurrance. It depends where you are but if you are on a single lane road then there is rarely a situation where speeding up is the thing to do in an emergency.

The Dakota law undoubtedly is because of trucks on mountains overheating their brakes. I don't think anyone here is suggesting that you use neutral while you are hitting the brakes. Neutral is used when you don't want braking.

Again - I do this in a manual and I think it is also fine to do it in an automatic. The slight amount of wear on the tranny is nothing compared to a full throttle shift at 6500 rpm.

This all reminds me of people that are wholeheartedly convinced that holding down the clutch at a stoplight is worse or better than just putting the car in neutral. It really doesn't matter. Synchros wear out because of high speed shifting as do clutches. There is almost no wear going on at rest and idle speeds. A shift from neutral to drive will cause the engine (and hence stress on the tranny) to go from 600 to 1200 rpm - WOW! - think of the wear, the grinding gears - oh the tragedy....