Do you keep your Stinger in drive or neutral at red lights?

[SFM]

I sometimes shift to neutral when I know the light just turned red because if I keep it on drive while completely still, I can feel the car trying to move while I'm holding the brakes, and the exhaust sound is noticeably louder when it's in drive compared to neutral at the same idle rpm. I don't mind keeping it in drive while at red lights, the only thing I'm worried about is damage to the transmission and what is better for it.

 

[Dodger Blue]

It's an automatic, it's designed to just be left in drive whenever you're driving, and to creep forward when you take your foot off the brakes from a stop. Any difference in noise is probably just from the trans being uncoupled from the engine when in neutral. I wouldn't worry about putting the car in neutral at a red light.

Neutral is basically just there for coasting, pushing, or towing. If leaving the car in neutral at a light were necessary to prolong the life of the transmission then they'd put that in the manual, just like how they don't recommend using launch control frequently.

 

[ChaneRZ]

Keep it in drive. Auto hold when I’m really stuck in traffic due to accidents or what ever.

 

[cjbigcog]

Auto hold ftw!

 

[Deviate]

Drive...putting it in neutral when stopped has never crossed my mind. Little hard to roll forward when the guy behind you is comng in hot and you dont know if stopping is on his mind. Or if the cars behind have decided to play tag and inertia is pushing people forward. I will put it in park at the drawbridges around town though, but only after a several people are stopped behind me. I just don't trust anyones driving, to many tourists and distracted drivers here. Not a big fan of the auto hold. Cant say ive never used it but ot often

 

[SFM]

Auto hold ftw!

I almost never use auto hold. For some reason, I don't like it.

 

[SFM]

Drive...putting it in neutral when stopped has never crossed my mind. Little hard to roll forward when the guy behind you is comng in hot and you dont know if stopping is on his mind. Or if the cars behind have decided to play tag and inertia is pushing people forward. I will put it in park at the drawbridges around town though, but only after a several people are stopped behind me. I just don't trust anyones driving, to many tourists and distracted drivers here. Not a big fan of the auto hold. Cant say ive never used it but ot often

I used to keep it in drive at red lights for a couple of months when I bought the car, but I kept hearing from some people that it "damages" the transmission if you keep it in drive for a long time (1-2 mins) while standstill.

Earlier today, I was at a red light, and the car in front of me had it in neutral, and it was rolling back and almost hit me. Once I realised that it's rolling backwards, I kept honking until they slammed their brakes. It was a Lexus sedan. That was a close call.

 

[monusa]

If it bugs you, switch to "manual" while at a light won't do anything but sit. I drive mine w/paddleshifters most of the time and have never gotten "creep" at a light. When the light is ready to turn green, shift it back to Auto.....

Never heard of an automatic being damaged for being in "D" for a minute or two at a light.....??

 

[SFM]

If it bugs you, switch to "manual" while at a light won't do anything but sit. I drive mine w/paddleshifters most of the time and have never gotten "creep" at a light. When the light is ready to turn green, shift it back to Auto.....

Never heard of an automatic being damaged for being in "D" for a minute or two at a light.....??

My father planted that idea into my mind with his 35+ years of driving expertise . I'm pretty sure he does this with his car all the time, but I think there's nothing I can do to convince him because, in his eyes, I'm a newbie as I only started driving 3 years ago. It's safe to say that I will no longer shift to neutral at the lights.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I almost never use auto hold. For some reason, I don't like it.

Lol. I use it all the time. It's my favorite way to "launch".

 

[ChaneRZ]

Your shifter might be the first to go because of going N and D all the time lol.

 

[turboAWD]

It will slightly heat up your fluid, since you're spinning the engine and NOT letting the wheels spin and that energy needs to go somewhere - it goes into heating up the transmission fluid. However, that small amount of extra heat is well within the allowed heat range of the system and won't really affect anything.

If you were to rev the engine up as high as it could go (which, with our computer controlled systems isn't really that much), then it might heat the fluid up faster and if you held it for 30 minutes that way, you might do something. Of course, brake snip + full boost AND holding the brakes would quickly overheat the fluid and probably break something in 5-10 minutes. There are reports of someone breaking their transmission with brake snip + holding it too long + full throttle. But, clearly, you're not doing any of that.

35 years ago, when your dad was presumably driving cars from the 60s-80s without as much computer control / safeties, if you had a high idle (due to a badly adjusted carb or something), sitting at a light for a long time might overheat the fluid faster. If the fluid gets too hot or gets totally worn, you may have issues. These days, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[westcoastGT]

Reverse ......................just to scare the guy behind me ....

 

[5tinger]

In vehicles without Auto hold I would shift into N just to relax my foot.
However with AH there is no reason to shift to N.

 

[white03]

I use the parking brake immediately after coming to a stop

 

[Revvdmedia]

I've heard from a few sources that shifting into neutral at lights is not advisable and can create transmission issues in the long run. If laziness is a factor, I suggest using Auto Hold since you don't need to hold your foot on the brake at a light. My new car doesn't have this feature, I do miss it at times, because of said laziness lol.

 

[SafetyPilotCal]

Never. The only thing that goes into Neutral at a stop light is my 6-speed Corvette because I'm not going to sit there with my foot on the clutch through these long-ass Texas red lights. In the Stinger, I use Auto Hold. SOMETIMES in auto cars without Auto Hold if I'm going to be sitting for a long time (e.g. in a drive thru), I'll put it in Neutral if I'm tired of holding the brake down.

There is no additional wear created by having the car in Drive. It was specifically designed around this. If anything, you're causing significantly more "wear" by constantly engaging and disengaging the parts associated with moving the car forward (usually a band of some sort) and parking pawl.

 

[WRXtoStingerGT]

Reverse ......................just to scare the guy behind me ....

LOL

 

[WRXtoStingerGT]

In automatics I keep it in drive at the light.

When I drove stick I kept it in neutral with my foot OFF the clutch.

To each their own.

 

[Revvdmedia]

In automatics I keep it in drive at the light.

When I drove stick I kept it in neutral with my foot OFF the clutch.

To each their own.

Same here regarding stick. I was just too lazy to hold that clutch down so long, and my Mustang had a lighter clutch spring (therefore a heavier clutch action), I didn't want a disproportionately large left leg lol.

Slight tangent but I also was the type to leave a manual car in neutral when parked, not in gear. Luckily in my first car I had the wheels turned towards the curb when the e-brake cable snapped lol.