|
I coast a lot. My Fiesta is a rebuilt salvage vehicle, so there is no warranty from Ford once it went to the salvage auction. Recalls are still done by Ford but no warranty repairs.
Coasting in "neutral". I don't think it really is neutral, because I can feel the transmission downshifting as the vehicles speed decreases in neutral, so my best guess would be it uses the clutch to coast. Not sure if it really has a neutral, it could be just a disengaged clutch.
As far as damage, lets just say I hope not, since I would have to pay if there was damage. I would not recommend coasting in neutral as long as you have a factory warranty, since Ford can tell from the data recorder in your car what you have been doing and could deny a warranty claim based on "improper" operation by the driver.
I have been using neutral coasting for 12k miles now and in my case it makes a significant difference. Today I reset the MPG guage at the top of my driveway and got it over 40 MPG in 3 miles at 40 degrees ambient temperature. I probably coasted 40% of that distance and had it at 23 MPG .3 mile from my house with coasting over 50% of that distance.
Can I tell you absolutely that coasting will or will not damage the transmission? The answer is no. In my case if it causes damage I will have to pay out of my pocket to get it repaired. Experience tells me that extensive coasting will not damaged the gear trains in the transmission but could cause premature wear in the throwout bearings and clutch release mechanisms. That being said it can't be as bad as someone crawling through bumper to bumper rush hour traffic in some of the more congested commutes in the US.
Whether you should or should not might be best answered by refraining from coasting in neutral until your warranty expires. There has been a higher than normal customer service issues with the powershift transmissions in Fiestas. My gut feeling is it is mostly due to drivers being unfamiliar with the type of transmission which is automatically shifted but technically a manual transmission.
If you decide to refrain from coasting, you might ask someone at the selling dealership if it is OK but I doubt they will authorize coasting without consulting Ford first, and I would bet Ford would say no, especially since it is illegal in some states dating back to the 1930s when Plymouth built a car with freewheeling which coasted every time you let off the gas.
regards
Mech
|