Do you still hate the auto start-stop on your gas-powered car?

November 14, 2023 2:43 PM

I'm talking to you if you acquired a gas-powered vehicle that has the auto start-stop "feature", where the ignition automatically shuts off when idled. If you originally hated yours, and then some time passed, do you still hate it, or have you gotten used to it? Please answer only how much it annoys you (or not) now - the environmental/mileage/engine wear aspects are thoroughly covered elsewhere.
posted by bluesky78987 to Grab Bag (54 answers total)

Best answer: Very much so, especially since Volvo also cuts a/c power by 90% when this happens.
posted by zeikka at 2:45 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: heh, when I tested drove the model of Porsche I ended up buying, the very first thing the sales dude showed me in the interior was how to disable the auto start-stop.

I actually don't mind it. When the car is in Sport mode it is disabled anyway. When I turn the car on and it's in regular mode, I leave it on since I'm just cruising around town and it's fine if the car shuts down at light.

But, as a caveat, my car comes with a 48v starter that's more similar to the electric motor part of a hybrid car engine. When I lift my foot off my brake my car is already re-started before I start pushing the accelerator. The only difference between start/stop and continuous comes when I immediately mash the accelerator because the turbo's aren't already spun up.

I also leave it on with my wife's Volvo XC60. That's an actual hybrid, so again it uses a larger electrical motor to restart the car and not a regular starter.

Anyway, to really answer you question: I never found it that annoying, but maybe my specific cars are special in that case.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 2:56 PM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: 2018 VW Tiguan SEL. Absolutely zero problem with the start/stop system. I vaguely disliked the idea of one before we bought the car but have come to realize I was just internalizing the general dislike of them from other car owners.

In practice it’s totally fine. It just works. It’s unobtrusive, fast to react from a stop, comes back on if the car is getting too warm or cold. Doesn’t stop the engine if there’s too much electrical load to begin with.

I’ve come to be of the opinion that most of the argument against it is based in car-guy snobbishness, much akin to auto vs. manual transmission.
posted by potent_cyprus at 2:57 PM on November 14, 2023 [5 favorites]

Best answer: I'm in the UK and have a Nissan Qashqai with this feature. I like it. The car makes it obvious enough - there's a dash light and you can hear the engine go quiet. I think it only happens when you have your foot on the brake and the stick in neutral (oh yeah, we have those here). The start-up is pretty instant when I press the clutch, so I suppose it has that half-second before I release the brake and accelerate to get the engine going properly. In the Qashqai, it just doesn't stop the engine if the AC is on, rather than cut the AC.
posted by pipeski at 3:02 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: BMW 228i, never liked that feature and ended up keeping it turned off permanently. Especially annoying in stop and go traffic.
posted by 4rtemis at 3:25 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: My minivan has this. You can turn it off easily on the dash, but I don't. At a long red light in the summer, I might take my foot off the brake for a sec to get the a/c going again, but, then again, it's a minivan, so I'm not drag racing.
posted by atomicstone at 3:27 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: I have a Subaru Crosstrek, and one of the first things the sales guy told me when showing the car was how to turn that feature off. I think it's dumb. Every time I start the car I press that button.
posted by jozxyqk at 3:28 PM on November 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: We recently got a Subaru Forester and I hate the auto stop/start. There’s a button you can push to disable it, but it resets when you turn-off the car, so you have to use the button every time you start the car. It’s a dumb feature.

There’s an aftermarket thing you can install that permanently disables the auto stop/start.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:36 PM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Mazda CX-3 - I don't mind it.
posted by koahiatamadl at 3:40 PM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Yeah, I still kind of hate it after three years. '21 Subaru Forester.

Mine also tells me how much gas I've saved and I think after three years I've saved like .0000003 of a thimble full. Every time my car shuts off I remind myself that it's not about my car, it's about 100,000 cars on an LA freeway idling in stop and go traffic. I also hope that modern starters are better than the ones on my '81 Dodge Omni, which, I mean, toss a coin every morning whether or not it'll start. Part of why I hate it is because I'm so shell shocked having had cars in my younger days that would just randomly die at red lights.

The only time it's an actual issue is when I'm at an intersection where I know I'm going to have to peel out at the first opportunity.

Now, the thing where you push a button and you don't have to hold down the brake anymore, that absolutely RULES.
posted by bondcliff at 3:43 PM on November 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I originally hated it on our Renault, but mostly because I thought I was stalling the car every time I stopped (it was a manual transmission - this was in Europe). The first time was on a freeway coming home from the dealer. Heavy traffic, slowed to a stop, and ohmigod I just stalled the car - quick shift to neutral, press the start/stop button to restart the car... but this turned the car off - because it was still "on", right? The motor had merely turned off because we were stopped. Cue frantic jabbing of start/stop button, the Milanese commuters honking... I eventually got the hang of it. I actually grew to like it.
posted by niicholas at 3:43 PM on November 14, 2023 [7 favorites]

Best answer: I get these occasionally as rental cars or zip cars. The only one that bothered had the too-clever-by-half feature of turning down the volume of the radio when it turned off the car, presumably because "it doesn't have to play over the noise of the engine". But it turned the volume down so low that we couldn't hear the book on tape we were listening to, and had to manually adjust the volume every time we came to a red light.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 3:55 PM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I have this feature in my Mercedes GLC-300. It's annoying but not enough to drive me really crazy since most of the time I'm listening to audio books and blocking out the customary noises of the car.
posted by tafetta, darling! at 4:19 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: I disliked it at first. I drive a Ford F-150 Crew Cab. The salesman commented on it during my test drive. He said I would get used to it. I have. I now neither dislike it or like it. It is just something I had to adjust to. Sometimes, I relax my foot off the brake in advance of starting off to get the engine going and sometimes I don't. I do focus a lot on my mpg, and it seems to help small. As noted above, it does cut off power to the AC or the heater, but it is set to kick back on if the temp deviates some amount from where it was.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 4:21 PM on November 14, 2023

Cyclist-commuter's perspective here: one of the hazards I deal with daily is cars that will slowly roll through a right turn on a red light when I'm crossing (legally) -- it's ambiguous automotive body language and I don't know if they're paying attention and will stop so I can cross safely, or are they trying to prevent the idler thing from kicking in?
posted by morspin at 4:24 PM on November 14, 2023 [6 favorites]

Best answer: I loathe it. I don't have it on my car but my father's car has it, and I regularly have to ride in or drive this car to accompany my parents to medical appointments. The car has stalled more than once during idle (eventually repaired after multiple trips to Honda) and now the first thing I do when taking control of the vehicle is to turn off that feature.
posted by MagnificentVacuum at 4:48 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: 3.5 years with my Subaru Forester and I still despise that feature, with a passion. It decreases response time, supposedly only for a split second but it feels like much longer.
I believe it's the norm for all gas powered cars built after a certain date. You can turn it off for each trip, but that's still a pain
posted by Neeuq Nus at 5:00 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: Almost one year in with a Hyundai Tucson. Doesn't bother me now.
posted by perhapses at 5:23 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: 2020 Subaru crosstrek. I don't hate, and it's kinda nice how quiet it is at a quiet intersection at a long light. These days I have to consciously activate it because I usually press the brake pedal enough to hold the car stopped but not hard enough to cut the engine.

The rumble as the engine comes on is a little annoying but not enough to bother me.

I do want to highlight that it's highly car make dependent. Subaru did a good job with the starter being fairly smooth. My girlfriend's early 2010s BMW had an awful starter that felt terrible each time we left an intersection. I turned that one off. The Hyundai European econoboxes I rented in Spain and Italy barely felt like it turned on or off.
posted by just.good.enough at 5:29 PM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: 2020 Outback. I got used to it. Then someone pointed out the little shake at startup and now I hate it, oops. I mostly live with it and don’t notice unless I specifically think about it.

During the winter it usually doesn't happen because I mostly drive short distances and the car cabin never gets up to thermostat temperature, and the auto-off doesn’t happen when there’s demand on the heater.
posted by supercres at 5:32 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: I'm on my second Honda with it. It thoroughly freaked me out when we bought our Civic hybrid in 2005, but by the time that got totalled 2010, we were completely used to it and ended up buying an Insight, which also has it.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:38 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: 2014 BMW 328 xdrive: I don't mind it and feel virtuous when at a long light. However, when approaching a situation that will involve closely spaced starts and stops I find myself deactivating the future. Supposedly if you pulse the brakes immediately it will abort the shut off - but I can never get that to work consistently. Actual off/on operation is pretty smooth although noticeable. So for me, overall, not at all bad, but I think the technology is a work in progress. I assume later models are better but really don't know.
posted by Kevin S at 6:00 PM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: When I first encountered this feature years and years ago, in a rental car, it startled me at first, but I quickly got used to it. I drive a 2021 VW Atlas with the feature and it's absolutely fine.
posted by charris5005 at 6:04 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: I have it on our Subaru for a couple years now and I didn’t like it at first (reminded me of when my teenage minivan would stall out) but have largely gotten used to it and am generally indifferent now. However I haven’t run into any issues of AC not working/radio volumes changing etc. honestly the most annoying part is my sister going "omg i thought your call was stalling" at every intersection when im giving her a ride but thats more about our family dynamics than anything.

I will say that I recently helped out with cars entering a parking garage and it was interesting to see that is made SUCH a difference being outside the car. the cars turning off made it so much easier to uear, so many fewer fumes floating arouns, etc. overall it just made it a much nicer pedestrian experience.
posted by raccoon409 at 6:04 PM on November 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I've had it on a 2015 BMW 325 and 2018 Audi A4. I turned it off immediately in the BMW as soon as I figured out how because it annoyed me. I tried to get used it it in the A4 for about 6 months, and just couldn't. It worked well enough for what it was, but cutting the AC and the split second hesitation when I took the foot off the brake, it just "felt" wrong to me. I eventually found a little aftermarket device that shuts it off as soon as the car is started.
posted by niteHawk at 6:23 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: 2019 BMW 440. Hate it. I habitually put it in sport mode to avoid it.
posted by Carbolic at 6:46 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: 2014 Prius C: Never bothers me, smooth starts with the hybrid power supply.

1999 Honda Insight Manual: Can't pop the clutch too fast, but otherwise great.
posted by nickggully at 6:56 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: I have only experienced it in rental cars and found it startling when I didn't understand what was happening BUT it reminds me of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland so once I figured out the car was okay it made it actually much more fun to drive.
posted by potrzebie at 7:08 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: I own a 2014 plug-in hybrid and a (now-ancient) all-electric car, but I have often rented ICE cars that have stop-start. I have a surprising take on this.

Oh my, despite having a deep concern with the environmental impact of cars, do I find a stop-start engine aggravating. I will never get used to it even during a rental of more than a week, and I would never want to own a car with it. The gas -> STARTING NOISES -> motion sequence is annoying every single time even if it takes mere milliseconds. If I let my foot off the pedal long enough that the engine stops and then it starts when I hit the pedal again, I sigh.

However, my plug-in hybrid doesn't work like that. It'll do whatever it needs to do and start the engine at whatever time it needs to do it "in the background", and it always works like a car should and it never ever bugs me. The difference between the PHEV and a stop-start ICE is that the engine start virtually never happens "on the line". Even when the battery reserves are fairly depleted, the PHEV usually has enough power to get me out of a red light and up to speed, and then when things are copacetic it'll start the engine fairly transparently, and it just feels normal even if there's some engine noise at some point.

There's also, as a child of the '70s who owned less-than-reliable cars without fuel injectors, where starting the engine was never necessarily a success on the first try, there is an inherent reaction to engine cutting out at a stop light that never quite goes away.

But the primary aggravation I've had, across any number of stop-start rental models I've experienced, has always been directly related to "gas doesn't literally immediately mean go", while most hybrids and PHEVs will always just go when you hit the pedal and intelligently figure things out. I don't want a car without that.
posted by eschatfische at 7:30 PM on November 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Yes, I see fundamental differences between the way stop-start systems work between hybrids and ICE-only vehicles. On my Prius, the electric motors start the car moving from a stop, and the gas engine starts up a second or two later, almost invisibly (so to speak). Having to start a ICE-only vehicle from a dead, engine-off stop would probably drive me crazy.

The real point of stop-start systems isn't to save gas, I don't think; it's to reduce emissions. Ideally, what good is it to burn gasoline and emit exhaust when the car is sitting idle? It just doesn't work that well in a ICE vehicle.

My favorite use of it on my Prius is when I'm waiting for my wife to go into a store or something; I put the car in park, the engine turns off, but I can keep the heater and radio on without burning a bunch of gas. The ICE comes on for a couple of minutes now and then to keep the battery charged up.
posted by lhauser at 7:42 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: Hated it when we first got it, almost never notice it now (like once a month maybe). I don't even know if I'm preventing it from happening or if I'm used to it happening, that's how much I don't notice it at all.
posted by slidell at 7:46 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: Hate it. It knows just when I’m about to pull out into traffic.
posted by whuppy at 7:47 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: 2019 BMW 540 - it’s never bothered me even slightly
posted by rd45 at 8:07 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: Subaru Crosstrek and I really don't notice it and all of my driving is in the city. I don't get why the hate?
posted by JJ86 at 8:14 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: 2018 Jeep Rubicon, I vacillate between hating it and not minding it. The way it's implemented in the Jeep is good, the engine starts instantly without noticeable lag so it's not a worry when pulling into traffic. When it kicks in and I know I need to move in a second, I sometimes back a little off the brake to start the engine before actually moving.

I hate it during summer when I'm relying on the A/C. There's very little insulation with the top I have on it so it gets unbearably hot really quickly. I habitually turn it off when I have the A/C on.

I rented a Kia Kona a few months ago and it was miserable in that car. Noticeable lag every time that it kicked in, to the point that it felt almost dangerous if I needed to move quickly.
posted by mikesch at 8:59 PM on November 14, 2023

Best answer: I hated it in my Outback for a long while, choosing to toggle it off each time I started the car. Then I had a thought: I realized it was making me anxious because I've never owned a car that nice and I had this thought that it turning off and on was surely tempting fate and asking to get stuck in an intersection.

I chose to ignore that. Now it does its thing and I kind of like it. It's such a confident thing for a car to do: Sense that it can turn off when it doesn't need to be running, and sense when to turn on again. I appreciate it.

It shows how many minutes it has been in that state and how many gallons of gas it has saved, in theory anyhow, not running. For a while I was paying close attention just to see the number move. Now I don't pay any attention to that, either. It does its thing, I let it.
posted by Pudding Yeti at 9:41 PM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I love it. I had to drive a manual transmission car after driving automatics for decades.
Start/stop was a lifesaver in London traffic, because every time I botched a gear change and stalled, the car would restart itself as soon as I started releasing the clutch pedal.
posted by monotreme at 10:43 PM on November 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: it's fine, mazda 3.
posted by Sebmojo at 10:52 PM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I have this on my 2018 Mini. It’s the first car I’ve had with an auto transmission, and by the time I’ve lifted my foot off the brake to press the accelerator it’s started and ready to go. In a manual I can see it might take a bit more getting used to.
posted by spikysimon at 12:09 AM on November 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I also hope that modern starters are better than the ones on my '81 Dodge Omni...

Yeah, that’s the tiny question that bounces around in my head every time the stop/start does its thing. How much extra wear is this putting on the starter?

There’s also the thing where (I’m told) if you need to replace the battery, apparently you need to get a particular type of (more expensive, of course) battery designed to support the stop/start function.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:24 AM on November 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I work in the automotive space, all manufacturers I'm aware of will put in a much more robust starter that will almost certainly outlive the regular starter in car without the auto start stop feature, even with the additional start cycles. Yes, also a more capable battery. Some even go further and beef up the starter motor and battery even more, and you end up with a mild-hybrid where the starter motor can provide electric motive assist and braking regeneration...

Personally I like the dead silence and lack of vibration when the car is stopped at the lights. Our latest batch of vehicles is missing the feature due to the chip shortage and it annoys me now NOT to have auto start stop feature.
posted by xdvesper at 6:12 AM on November 15, 2023 [4 favorites]

Best answer: 2013 BMW 320i (what a great car, BTW!). I dislike it. I usually turn it off, as I mostly city-drive, and it's an predictable dice-roll as to whether the engine will shut off at any particular stop. It doesn't seem to do so every single stop if I'm in stop and go traffic, for instance. So I end up oddly focused on it, my attention still goes to "will it stop this time?" every time I come to a complete stop, even eight years later (we bought it used). It's distracting, but maybe that's just me.

Maybe the technology is better on newer models, but I turn it off always because it's distracting to me.
posted by SoberHighland at 6:51 AM on November 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

2017 Audi A3, liked it quite a bit after hating previous cars with it. The improvement is that the start was instant, maybe when I took my foot off the brake (as opposed to pressing the gas). I never felt a delay. Also it turned itself on if it needed to for the AC.

I'm trading that car in for an EV this week and looking forward to Volvo's one pedal driving. And of course no engine to start and stop.
posted by Nelson at 7:21 AM on November 15, 2023

2020 Peugeot 3008. Second car with this and I don't mind it. On mine there's an added benefit: if you actually do stall the car, it will start back up again if you put the clutch in.
posted by chavenet at 7:58 AM on November 15, 2023

It depends on where I'm driving. In an area with stop lights, I don't mind it.

However parts of town have lots of 4-way stops, where you stop for a bit, creep forward then stop again. Auto Stop is extremely annoying in this case, especially when the time limit seems to be set to 'as soon as the wheels stop' like my Ford. If it waited just a few seconds longer, it wouldn't be an issue.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:22 AM on November 15, 2023

I have a 2023 VW GTI, and it weirded me out at first. But now I'm okay with it. I think the thing that still bugs me is that the manual says that you should never use the auto on/off when "in water" (like, a puddle I guess?), but to turn it off manually in the moment is a chore. My husband's truck (Chevy) just has a button that turns it on and off, but the GTI you have to go through the infotainment system. So that part of it annoys me.
posted by eekernohan at 8:22 AM on November 15, 2023

‘21 outback, I like it. It doesn’t bother me in the least functionally, and I feel mildly virtuous when it kicks in. The only thing I don’t like about it is really about me: I tend to edge forward when stopped at a red light, and that makes the motor turn on again even though I’m not really starting to go anywhere. If I can get myself to just be patient and sit still, it stays off longer.
(I guess this answer doesn’t really count, since I didn’t hate it originally.)
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 8:52 AM on November 15, 2023

‘22 Subaru Forester, and my first car with the feature. Hated it sooo much to start. But then learned i can control it with the brake pedal - a light brake doesnt trigger it, but still holds the car. A more firmer brake in place will kick it in. I also think there’s some magic in the Subaru system that determines when to use it based on what the camera sees, but dang if i can figure it out for sure.
posted by cgg at 9:17 AM on November 15, 2023

Coming from a Mk7.5 GTI (2019) with the start/stop feature (ha ha eekernohan, we still had a physical button for this in the mk7!) I really quite liked it. Very smooth and very easy to turn on and off when the situation called for it.

Now driving a '23 Forester Wilderness and heard the stop/start described as "a donkey kick." Which, compared to the GTI, it is very much more noticeable. Indeed, a light brake will prevent the system from activating so I usually leave it on. I don't mind it, but it feels like a very Subaru implementation - less refined, more functional.
posted by spbb at 10:02 AM on November 15, 2023

'23 Subaru Outback - hated it at first, but have made peace with it. I commute in a mostly straight line home, so I don't have to worry about quickly making a turn after the engine has paused. I do feel virtuous when the gauge tells me how much gas I've saved and simultaneously horrified with the minutes I have spent sitting at stoplights. My husband, who drives that car much less frequently, hates that feature with a white-hot passion.
posted by sarajane at 10:03 AM on November 15, 2023

I have had one of these since 2018 and it didn't bother me that much at stoplights but the air conditioning stops if you stay in the car while someone runs into the store and it is way too hot in the summers for that business! Added discovery: it wakes the baby up when he's sleeping in the car every stoplight! Why???? No, bad auto-stop, no biscuit for you! Also terrible: we were so sleep deprived when this was an issue that we never remembered to turn it off until it was too late. Fine for casual use, not fine for intensive use is my verdict after 5 years.
posted by *s at 10:31 AM on November 15, 2023

Last-couple-years model Honda CR-V. Still hate it, because (in descending order of annoyance):
1- it kills the bass in my music (WTF?? Why?);
2- I traverse a lot of steep urban streets, which means the potential for rolling backward into somebody at a stop (or at least it feels that way); and
3- it only kicks in when certain climate settings are active, and I have to change the climate settings at least daily, so I never seem to be able to learn when it's likely to kick in--so I get surprised by it all the time.

I would disable it permanently if I knew how. (Some kind soul wanna MeMail me?)
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 2:43 PM on November 15, 2023

Late model CR-V Hybrid. I stopped noticing it by the end of the test drive.

With a hybrid, it doesn't really matter because you can always start moving from just the battery. I would never want to get something like that in a combustion-only vehicle, though.
posted by thecaddy at 11:14 AM on November 16, 2023

1- it kills the bass in my music (WTF?? Why?);

I would guess that killing the bass makes the engine more audible.
posted by pipeski at 3:13 PM on November 17, 2023