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Your shifting hand (right for right hand drive, left for left hand drive) is also going to get very bored and start looking for things to do in heavy traffic. It took me years to figure out why every time I got into heavy traffic in my wife's cars I grabbed the soda can that was invariably in the center console.
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If you mean the gear shift, it's left for right hand drive
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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I know when I first moved from England to Germany I kept bruising my knuckles on the left door when reflexively reaching for the gearstick that was now on the other side.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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I keep reaching for a gearstick that doesn't even exist!
And a clutch pedal ... 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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Watch out for that wide brake pedal in an automatic. I've left footed it to the floor hard on more than once occasion.
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Yes, when I moved to the USA and had to rent a car it was an automatic (no other choice) and I did some seriously hard left foot braking now and then!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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I have auto start-stop on my petrol, manual Skoda - love it, and it gets me noticeably improved performance in traffic / around town. The engine's very smooth/quiet anyway, so half the time I need to check the tachometer to see if the engine's running or not. Auto-starts on depressing the clutch or tweaking the steering wheel. When I drive my wife's older car, I now find myself turning the engine off manually at every traffic light and queue. Just feels wrong to be stationary with the engine running.
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Be careful with that - apparently the ECO start /stop system doesn't work like just turning off the ignition - it stops the engine with one cylinder at TDC on a compression stroke so the restart is as easy as possible, and only works if the engine is warm enough to not need increased mixture richness.
And an extra battery specifically for the task which has to have enough charge!
There is an interesting video on it here: The truth about engine stop start systems | Auto Expert John Cadogan - YouTube[^] - he does some good tech stuff on engines and transmissions.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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Oh sure; I only do that (a) in the wife's car and (b) when the engine's warm. The auto-start on mine is (normally) very smooth indeed; not like a "normal" start, though occasionally it will give a bit of a kick (presumably if not, as above, stopped in quite the right place). The linked video sounds a bit dated to me, or maybe I'm just lucky with Skoda. There's an option in the "settings" (accessible from the control stick on the wheel) to permanently disable auto-stop, and there's a big button right by the gear stick to disable it for the current journey. Never felt the need to use either option.
When the engine's cold (or you've inadvertently moved the wheel so the engine re-starts) and you're sat at lights, during a short round-town journey, you can see the average mpg dropping while-u-wait. Yes, in the scheme of things it's a small saving overall, but from my experience definitely worth going for both for the effect on the pocket, and on the climate (for the grandkids).
I think start/stop is probably better for manual than auto gears. A criticism of the system in autos is that it will sometimes shut the engine down then need to restart just moments later, because it's based simply on the driver keeping their foot on the brake. As a manual driver that just sounds horrible anyway, but it means that in my case if I am just about to stop when I can see the lights are about to change, then I either keep my foot on the clutch (start/stop only happens once I'm in neutral AND lift my foot off the clutch). So that makes it very easy - and natural - to "override" the engine stop. Locally I know most of the light sequences so know if I'm going to be stationary for less than a few seconds, and in traffic can simply look a few cars ahead to see if things are about to start moving again. Be interesting to see how AI can in future take that sort of stuff into account...
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To my mind, that's not that complicated: the satnav app in my phone talks to home base and coordinates data with other vehicles on the same road to give a damn good idea of traffic flow 5 or more miles ahead.
So it shouldn't be difficult to give a much more localised "traffic slowing / stopping ahead" which can control whether it's worth killing the engine, an for how long.
I have to admit, I find it irritating when I park because as I switch from drive to reverse it cuts the engine and then restarts it immediately - but I'm sure that's more my inexperience with it than anything else!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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Which model?
cheers
Chris Maunder
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B class - B180 CDI
My series 2 A class was getting long in the tooth at 15 years / 80,000 miles although still in damn good condition; the age says corrosion is likely to start being a problem as usual.
I don't like the Series 3 / 4 A's - they are too Yoof / sports oriented, and the B was the closest I could get to the series 2.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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Those things are huge inside for the size of the car.
Noice.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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Yep. The A felt bigger on the inside than the outside, but this is just huge!
I suspect a Tardis was involved in the design.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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OriginalGriff wrote: And you hardly notice it turned the engine off at the roadworks and started it again when you pull away.
Right up until your battery dies and you find out the auto start requires a battery 4 times the price of an ordinary one!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity -
RAH
I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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OriginalGriff wrote: My left leg is wondering what the heck it should be doing though
Add more automations to car and then you get bored. On highways, I turn on self-drive and then I just sit there observing what's happening on the road.
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[ ^]
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foreign power capacity to be conveyed (12)
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Is this another one of your non Ximenean clues ? 
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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I think it's actually Ximenean!
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Oi Greg !
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Busy - new car delivery day!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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i set up a blind dinner-date at an expensive restaurant for two of my personalities; afterwards, i interviewed them.
They both said the food was invisible, and, since they were very hungry, they ate the waiter.
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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Tch! You are supposed to Eat the Rich[^] - not the poor!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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Oh LOL Griff! I just posted the same thing! 
"If we don't change direction, we'll end up where we're going"
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That makes three Modest Proposals I know of:
- Eat the Irish (Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal)
- Use radioactive elements as currency (Larry Niven, Yet Another Modest Proposal)
- Eat the Rich
Any more?
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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