long time at idle

Sep 11, 2007 10 Replies

When I pick up the kids from school, I spend 15-25 minutes in a pick-up line. The other cars move along at a snails pace till we get to the front of the school.



My question is, is it better to just leave it in drive or shift into neutral during long 2-4 minute periods of not moving?



Jay.


Turn it off?

Park nearby, walk to school, pick up kids, walk back to car?

D.

On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:42:49 +0200, D wrote Re Re: long time at idle:

We see a lot of that here in America, only instead of a Focus it's a "soccer-mom" in an Excursion or some other brand PigUV.

What an excellent idea!

I am in the minority with the 2003 ZX5. There are so many trucks and SUVs that you have to look hard to find a small car in the bunch. We also have an Explorer V8 that we use to pull an RV on rare occasions. The Explorer mainly stays in the driveway. I actually put a battery charger on it once and a while to keep the battery up, it gets used so infrequently.

What really bugs me is that while in line and waiting for the bell to ring and no cars are moving for 12-20mins, these people keep their engines running. I am afraid nothing will change here until maybe another generation or two. Too many people still think nothing of $3 a gallon gas.

On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:44:01 -0400, Jay1028 wrote Re Re: long time at idle:

It won't be nearly that long. In another 10-years we'll be seeing $6/gal gasoline here in the U.S. and probably twice that in Europe/U.K.

IANAM (I Am Not A Mathematician), but I make the current price of UK "gas" as 7.28USD per US gallon!

Chris

The last tankful of petrol (gas) in my UK Focus was equivalent to 90 USD.

On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:16:24 GMT, Chris Whelan wrote Re Re: long time at idle:

Well, I was being an optimist, but I guess $6/gal gasoline (i.e. doubling of price) with 5-years in the U.S. is probably closer to the mark.

What is the current price in Euro's/L of gasoline in Europe?

Lowest price in stockholm/sweden is 11.09 skr/L, which is about 1.2 euro. /Jorgen

On Thu, 13 Sep 2007 01:36:50 +0200, Jorgen Moquist wrote Re Re: long time at idle:

Ok then: 1.2 euro x 1.38usd/euro = 2.58usd/L

2.58usd/L x 3.8L/usg = 9.80usd/usg

So Stockholm is about 5-years ahead of the U.S. on the pretroleum price curve.

today our "beloved leaders" announced an extra carbondioxide tax.

0.29 skr extra per litre petrol, 0.50 skr extra for diesel. ;-) /Jorgen

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required