Does coasting in neutral mess up your car?

yeah. does it? someone told me that it does, but i don't see how it could. is it better to downshift always? i heard coasting in neutral wears out your brakes faster. what do you guys say?

Coasting in neutral does NOT hurt your car. In neutral the engine and transmission are disconnected from the wheels and the car is simply rolling-no damage done there:)


As far as downshifting....it works same as your brakes (Albeit a little bit better in bad weather). But just as you wear your brakes out so will you wear out your engine. I've heard horror stories about each. Personally, my car has some miles on it and I don't want to take any chances, besides pulling my calipers and replacing pads every so often really isnt that big a deal.

Honestly whichever you do, it's mostly personal prefernce and driving style.


-Peace

It doesn't hurt your car, but honestly it is a good idea to keep your car in gear. Almost 50% of accidents could have been prevented had the person sped up rather than hit the brakes. If you are coasting in neutral, based on reaction time etc. and the fact that it takes a pro driver around .23 seconds to shift, that could be .23 seconds too late in an accident. I know, not what you are looking for, but just my train of thought.

Hmm your obvious fact about the accidents is quite ummm, how can i say this in a good way, OBVIOUS. But I must back you up when saying staying in gear is better than coasting. As a better example though; The majority of accidents are caused by people going too slow. You are more likely going to avoid an accident by having both options of speeding up or braking. I never coast anymore after I was driven off the road and nearly wrecked since I didn't have the power immediately available to go around the insane driver that pulled out in front of me like I was not there or making an effort to speed up but for some reason pulled off the road which was my only other alternative route but I was able to skid to a stop (thanks to ABS) about a foot away from their bumper.
Oh sorry, I'm still a little upset about that. I would just like to go around and slap large stickers reading "I CANNOT DRIVE" on the cars of stupid people.
Anyways, coasting will not ruin your car but if you were to try and shift into gear quickly, that could cause you to jerk the car in the event of a stupid person. I definately would not recommend coasting in anyway. I also think it is a bad idea to use cruise control since most people take their foot away from the gas and the brake.
To summarize my statement: Make sure you are always in control of the vehicle.

WOW this is old

i noticed

Wow, I didnt even realize it's from 2002 until you mentioned it.

Locked, to sink to the bottom of the AF ocean.