[mkumar79]

Voted Nay.

This feature does benefit pedestrians/cyclists in the immediate vicinity of traffic signals. A correct implementation is to detect the signal timer or pedestrians and stop some pollution.

Manufacturers and component suppliers probably sponsored a few greenheads to get this annoying system in cars much before the advent of ADAS. The car owners paid for this feature and now chase the elusive break-even point forever.

[JoshMachine]

Have voted Nay.

The Auto start/stop in the Audi A4 is quite smooth in terms of the operation, very silent and hardly any shudder while starting.

But it can be a downer specially on those hot afternoons when you are stopping frequently at city junctions.

The most obvious way is to manually disable the system by pressing the button, every time you start the car. There's an alternative, just move to "S" mode or "Manual" mode and the start/stop gets deactivated.

[GForceEnjoyer]

Voted nay. The air-conditioning switches off causing the cabin to become unbearably hot in the summer, extra load is placed on the battery, starter and the engine, as well as the fact that the system in the Superb switches off the car even if you lift off the throttle while slowing down for a speed bump. From day one, the button has always been set to "off".

I'm not entirely sure of this so take this with a grain of salt; the car seems to crank faster when the start/stop system switches it on vs with the start button. The cabin also shakes a little in the former situation. If this isn't a placebo, is there a different way the engine is started by the stop/start system in some cars? Or was there something wrong with the test-drive car?

[karavadi143]

Voted “Nay”

This was one of the features from the X3 that I hated. Every time we restart the engine, this function would automatically get enabled. Luckily, this is not the same on the Mazda CX-5.

This might make sense in cities with stop and go traffic, but with limited traffic in tier2 cities, it gets irritating. I wish there was a mechanism to disable this from the user customization menu permanently

[Guite]

Voted nay. My current car does not have this feature. If my future car has it I will get it disabled on the first day. I want AC always on. Moreover frequent start puts more stress on the engine. I will turn it off when I want to, no automation assistance required.

[anand.shankar]

Voted Yes.

I've experienced it in two cars, Mahindra Scorpio and Suzuki Scross. In the Mahindra it was intrusive and was very annoying so had to switch it off. Expected the same in the Suzuki, but was surprised how seamless its in the 1.5 Petrol, even I dont realize when it switches unless its quiet or I look at the Tacho.

However, I feel Suzuki could have improved the logic further, it sometimes restarts even when A/C is off and the car is in Neutral and the Brake pedal is pressed, wonder why the car thinks its necessary to restart the car at that point.

[landcruiser123]

Nope. Drove a Drize AMT in the city once. Instead of creeping forward, the car would rather shut off the engine. Horrible.

Note: The batteries and starters are designed for a higher number of start-stop cycles - so one needn't really worry about it.

[The Rainmaker]

Idling Start/Stop among other so called "Modern Tech" features is just a marketing gimmick introduced by some tech to stand out from the rest and followed by others. It kills your battery, fuel saving is negligible and the way it kills your starter motor is literally ruthless and that's the tip of the iceberg. Internet will reveal other downsides to it. I mean this is the WORST thing you can have on your car after Electric Steering (That's another innovation by some wise guy trying to impress his boss at a firm and screwed the happiness of every enthusiast in the world). Such "Modern Tech" features like Touchscreens, Missing 'Hand' Brakes, Electric Steering, Servo Assisted Brakes, etc. are all ways for brands to save huge money while fooling the customer into believing that these are newer/better features. Quite the opposite if you search online and do your homework. If everyone was that aware they would never be able to push these onto the ignorant consumers at a global scale.

[krishnakumar]

I don’t know if this is extremely well tuned in the XUV300 or because my low city driving hasn’t really exposed the system to the extremities of Bangalore traffic, but I really really appreciate this feature.

The only gripe is with when the temperatures are hot and we really need the AC. And I can always turn it off, but having this feature is just good. No two ways about it for me at least.

Also, its a tiny bit you can do for the environment.

Voted a resounding YAY.

[unoczar]

Voted a Yay only for traffic signals (more than a min) and only manually. No auto on off for me.

[sridhu]

Voted Nay

The killer problem is that when the car restarts audio cuts off on bluetooth. Impossible to have a conversation.

I can see it being useful in Hybrids.

[itwasntme]

No no no!

Implemented only to burnish green credentials, meet individual vehicle fuel efficiency & broader CAFE targets.

Practically speaking, only suits temperate climates and puts pressure on the turbo, starter & battery. I would much rather manually switch off when required.

BMW's implementation is also a bit idiotic as it switches off before the car fully stops. I have a short steep ramp near my house where it meets the main road. The silly system switches off (and immediately restarts) as I carefully cross that bit. Hideously irritating!

Again, it automatically restarts on its own when it needs to maintain the cool temperature in the car. That startles me when I'm peacefully in a trance in stationary traffic.

I want to code it permanently OFF!

[naikameya]

Absolute NO.

But I would like to be educated on these two points by some of our experts.

My worry is the Turbochargers. Do the new cars have Turbochargers that can take this load?

Also, I remember, around 15 years ago, the starter motor was an item of wear and tear, is there some other system that doesn't load the starter motor?

[jeetumg27]

Yay for sure.

I have it on in my Toyota Urban Cruiser for most of the time. It is a "smart" Start/Stop system i.e. one that turns the engine on if the cabin temperature goes a degree or two below the desired set temperature.

I have found it to be quite intuitive & no complaints whatsoever. With fuel costing upwards of ₹110 + crazy Mumbai traffic, whatever fuel saved is good enough, even if marginal. Over time, I started noticing a slight milliseconds delay in the engine starting up & the car moving ; the trick to get started smoothly, especially at signals with timers, to lift your foot off the brake when there are 3 seconds to go.

The only situations where I prefer to turn it off:
- Crawling, slow-moving traffic
- On major roads/highway crossings or turnings where I have to stop, look & go

[saur95]

Voted Yay. Experienced it in our erstwhile X1. It's one of the older systems so was a little jarring on restarts, especially in the 5th year.

However, it is useful when traffic lights don't have timers and you don't know whether you should turn the car off or not (especially at the longer signals). The car wouldn't switch off if you didn't depress the brake pedal past a certain point and I got used to it after a week or so. You can play around with the system based on what you intend to do. I believe the AC point is subjective but the system did kick back on if it needed to maintain cabin temperature.

Regarding wear and tear, DBHPian kiku007 explained how AGMs are designed to deal with this wear and tear and we did not have to change the battery in the 5 years that we owned the car, and we almost never switched the feature off. I personally worked on the implementation of auto start-stop for a popular manufacturer in India and the starter, flywheel and starter cables for these vehicles are a lot beefier than their regular brethren, designed to bear the additional load. Coming to turbos, I'm aware that the Germans do have a electronic oil pumps which would maintain flow even when the engine is off. Not sure how it works for other companies.

Perhaps earlier implementations were less than satisfactory but it's here to stay and it's only getting smarter. The new set of mild-hybrid Mercedes cars have higher powered ISGs (Integrated Starter Generator) that provide an additional torque boost and even come with electric AC compressors. Other than the latter, BMW and VW group have caught on as well. These vehicles can coast on highways and to a stop with the engine off, saving a lot more fuel.

While I understand it might not work for everyone's driving style, I personally tried adapting to it (and gaming it), just like one will have to when they switch to EVs some day.