Originally Posted By: BearZDefect
The vehicles I've owned since EFI became standard all did it after the engine had warmed up and the vehicle's momentum would turn the engine at least 1,200rpm.
That's about how ours work, and you can feel it more in the CR-V...probably because it's lighter. Coasting down in 4rd gear, the mpg graph is maxed out and the car is slowing down. When it slows to about 21 mph, the engine is down to about 1,200 rpm or so, and it applies fuel to the engine again. You can see it in the graph (it falls back down to the high 50s) and you can feel it in the car (it feels like you just took a slight drag off of it). You can't feel it quite as much in the Acura, probably because it's 1,000 pounds heavier.
I really appreciate the fuel cut at speed. I rarely use the brakes on the highway. If I do use the brakes at speed, not only is the fuel cut, but the transmission will also downshift to increase engine braking. This doesn't happen very often in NC (except with exiting on an off-ramp), but it was very helpful in the mountains of WV. You learn how to induce a downshift with the brake pedal, and once it has shifted down, it stays in that lower gear until you're back on the throttle for long enough that it has decided that you're on flat ground again. The end result to the user is a very intuitive experience, but I imagine that the programming took many hundreds or thousands of man hours to get it just right.
The vehicles I've owned since EFI became standard all did it after the engine had warmed up and the vehicle's momentum would turn the engine at least 1,200rpm.
That's about how ours work, and you can feel it more in the CR-V...probably because it's lighter. Coasting down in 4rd gear, the mpg graph is maxed out and the car is slowing down. When it slows to about 21 mph, the engine is down to about 1,200 rpm or so, and it applies fuel to the engine again. You can see it in the graph (it falls back down to the high 50s) and you can feel it in the car (it feels like you just took a slight drag off of it). You can't feel it quite as much in the Acura, probably because it's 1,000 pounds heavier.
I really appreciate the fuel cut at speed. I rarely use the brakes on the highway. If I do use the brakes at speed, not only is the fuel cut, but the transmission will also downshift to increase engine braking. This doesn't happen very often in NC (except with exiting on an off-ramp), but it was very helpful in the mountains of WV. You learn how to induce a downshift with the brake pedal, and once it has shifted down, it stays in that lower gear until you're back on the throttle for long enough that it has decided that you're on flat ground again. The end result to the user is a very intuitive experience, but I imagine that the programming took many hundreds or thousands of man hours to get it just right.
