Traffic Lights - Auto Hold or Neutral?

[Ethernea]

On common automatic transmission, and stopping at traffic red lights ive heard 2 versions...

1) change to Neutral to wait for green lights so that the transmission is not trying to push forward unnecessarily.

2) stay in Drive and step on the brake. So you keep the transmission in place and dont make changes unnecessarily.

And then i see this in the manual:

Which makes me wonder...

Whats the best practice to maintain this car on good shape?

1) change to neutral + use emergency brake in hills (that electric brake right of the shift knob - its called EPB i think? )

wait for green, shift to drive and release EPBs...
Sounds more steps to do

2) stay in drive, and step on the brake to activate Auto Hold and release pedals.

wait until green, step on pedal and go >> my favorite option and this is what im doing....

But after reading the manual... Im not sure if im doing the right thing.

What are you guys doing in red lights?

 

[Corindikev]

Auto hold every time. The vehicle is in gear but using no power. That is what A/H is for. That's the beauty of an EV.

An ICE cars engine is always running using fuel and creating emissions unless you have one that stops the engine & restarts when you put your foot on the accelerator. That means more wear and tear on the starting system as well.

Why the manual says what it says is a mystery to me. If you put the gear in to neutral you will have to put your foot on the brake to stop the car rolling with gravity if on any slope or put the park brake on which is an extra action and when the lights go green in both scenarios you have to put the vehicle in to gear. Total waste of time & effort & if you are slow it will annoy the car drivers behind you.

 

[Ethernea]

Auto hold every time. The vehicle is in gear but using no power. That is what A/H is for. That's the beauty of an EV.

An ICE cars engine is always running using fuel and creating emissions unless you have one that stops the engine & restarts when you put your foot on the accelerator. That means more wear and tear on the starting system as well.

Why the manual says what it says is a mystery to me. If you put the gear in to neutral you will have to put your foot on the brake to stop the car rolling with gravity if on any slope or put the park brake on which is an extra action and when the lights go green in both scenarios you have to put the vehicle in to gear. Total waste of time & effort & if you are slow it will annoy the car drivers behind you.

I seriously have no idea why N even exist in this car...

 

[Coulomb]

I seriously have no idea why N even exist in this car...

I believe that it's mainly for towing. Without N gear, EVs with permanent magnet motors (all present MGs) can generate dangerous voltages and damage the motor controller unless they are put in neutral.

I also use it for squeal reduction when reversing down my driveway ?.

 

[Steve Kaye]

Auto hold, every time

 

[Ethernea]

Hmm ok but... Uhm... In practical day use?

For example, i go to my daughter's school and there's a drive-by line where we stop, drop them off and continue. Short period of waiting.

I tried to stop and use neutral with EPB, Opened door and it gave me a warning (and a bit of shaky movement before i was able to hop off)

Felt weird.

Other days what i do is brake until it stagnates, press P (parking) and hop off.

No warnings. No shakes.

I have no idea when to use Neutral that is actually more comfortable and safe.

except for towing - that one makes total sense.... Except... That the infotainment already has an option:

Towing Mode.


P.s. what did you mean by "squeal reduction when reversing down my driveway ?"?

 

[decrep]

>>

Towing Mode.


P.s. what did you mean by "squeal reduction when reversing down my driveway ?"?

In this case, I think it's when you are towing, not being towed.

 

[Torryhun]

'N' is also required to be engaged when going through a car wash that pulls you.

 

[Ian Key]

P.s. what did you mean by "squeal reduction when reversing down my driveway ?"?

I think what he means is that his driveway slopes downwards and by putting the car into neutral when he applies the brakes the brake pads make contact with the discs cleaning the rust off and stopping the brakes squealing.

 

[Flightengineer]

When you in APD mode, you dont need to do enything. Car enter to autohold automatically. In all other modes, when you stop on traffic light just push brake pedal little bit harder. This action will enter car into auto hold mode. You shell see handle brake signt in color green. Then you may leave brake pedal. No need to use neutral position.

 

[Rolfe]

There is a thread on this already, which I don't have time to find, but maybe someone else can dig it up.

 

[TerryN]

This one?

Traffic lights (etc) best practice - Auto Hold or N?

Anyone got a take on best practice when stopping at the likes of traffic lights? We just press the brake until Auto Hold comes on (or if using One Pedal Driving let it come on automatically). I'm not sure, though, if best practice isn't to shift into N though. The manual, as ever, seems...

www.mgevs.com

 

[BingBong]

Auto hold

 

[DixieTGS]

Edit: Post was incorrect. See post #23 by @fnegroni .

 

[Ian Key]

According to the Highway Code:

In stationary queues of traffic, drivers should apply the parking brake and, once the following traffic has stopped, take their foot off the footbrake to deactivate the vehicle brake lights. This will minimise glare to road users behind until the traffic moves again.
Law RVLR reg 27
Rule 114

 

[decrep]

I've never seen anybody here do that. Not sure if it's in the current highway code. That gets updated with no notice, and varies state to state.

 

[Rolfe]

In over 50 years of driving I have never been bothered by anyone's brake lights while waiting at the lights. Including during the time I had cataracts and was very much bothered by oncoming headlights.

 

[siteguru]

According to the Highway Code:

In stationary queues of traffic, drivers should apply the parking brake and, once the following traffic has stopped, take their foot off the footbrake to deactivate the vehicle brake lights. This will minimise glare to road users behind until the traffic moves again.
Law RVLR reg 27
Rule 114

I've highlighted the key word ... it's not a must so it's merely an advisory.

 

[Haricot]

Give the regular "Auto hold fault" message I get, I don't trust AH & manually apply EPB every time. Going to the dealer for investigation very soon

 

[siteguru]

In your position I'd do the same. In my case I've rarely ever had an AH fault, when I have it has cleared very quickly and not come back.