New to automatics 751

Harry Bloomfield

I don't like that, because you are used to pushing quite hard with your left when pushing in the clutch coming to a stop. That's an action you've learned over many years, it is relatively difficult to loose it and you may well end up coming to a rather faster stop than you expected... Doing this you may also be tempted to ride the brake pedal all the time - I used to regularly follow a couple of cars on my commute (Merc-BMW) whose drivers did this; the brake lights were on constantly unless they went over a bump, when they would flicker off.

D for everything, unless the box is "seeking" (moving up and down gears regularly, usually on a hill climb), or you need to keep the speed down (e.g. on a steep hill or in traffic). If your box has a sport mode, that can be useful around town. Depending upon the box, it will stop it being quite so keen to move to higher gears, keeping the car more responsive (and, as long as you are light on the loud pedal, less likely to creep up in speed past the 30 limit).

Putting into neutral is a balance. The act of doing so puts mechanical wear on the linkage etc.; when holding the car in D on the brakes you aren't slipping a clutch, it is a viscous coupling slipping (so no mechanical wear, but it could get nasty if it gets too hot). For a short stop, at junctions, traffic lights etc., don't put it into N. For longer stops (e.g. completely stationary in a jam that isn't going anywhere) then take it out of drive.

Yes - although not all do. My wife's doesn't, which makes it less easy to move it around at low speed (in mine I'd just use D or R, then only use the brake).

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Matt