Modern vehicles with stop/start engines
 

I am starting a search for an SUV for my wife . Probably looking for a 2014 - 2018 . Have not decided anything on brand . This past week I rode in my brother's Toyota Highlander with stop/start technology .

While it was seamless I am not sure I liked it . I may be stuck in the past . Do all vehicles now come with this ? Can it be turned off ? I have to think starter longevity suffers . So for those of you that have a car or truck with stop/start what are your thoughts ?

I think that there is an aftermarket firmware 'disable' for most all makes now. Seems to be the #1 owner/ driver complaint these days. You'll need to find out if your model has it and what company offers a disable mode

I'm not a fan.

Some of the cars you can disable it, some not, with varying degrees of difficulty to disable it.

Volvo, I think has a disable in the computer setup (on each drive I think). A buick I drove did not, but, if you switched from automatic and used manual (tiptronic like ) shifting, it would disable.

Some cars have oversized starters for this.

Personally, I worry about the start up wear on the engine myself. Most these engines are small displacement turbo thingees for ultimate efficiency. For me, these cars seem more the last gasps of a forced death of ICE.

My 2016 F150 has that feature and so does my wife's Mercedes SUV. Although I don't like it, when I start the car I turn it off every time. It's just become part of the starting sequence, so I hardly know I'm disabling it.

My 2020 Forester has it and the wife's BMW X1 has it. Hers can be disabled via a switch and stays t that way until turned back on. My Suby has to be switched off every time that the car is started. I find it beyond annoying and another useless feature. Disable kit is about $100.00 but hitting the switch when I start it is labor and cash free. A friend has a Forester and never turned it off. She got a report that she had saved 100 miles of fuel in a year. She now turns it off.

I could rant for an hour on the stupid (IMHO) nanny crap that new cars have. And people wonder why there is a chip shortage?

I was able to disable on my wife's '13 Cayenne but seems like I heard some of the newer ones are not so easy to disable.

My Rubicon is a 2019 and has that. I do not like it, but it can be disabled easily with a button push...

Audi Q5 has it. But there is a switch right on the dash to shut it off. It can't save as much gas as people think.

I'm not aware of any car that has it where it can't be disabled. After if first came out, some manufacturer(s) allowed it to be disabled indefinitely. I've seen sport modes that will disable it, but some of those cars go out of sport mode in the next driving cycle.

I always switch off as soon as I get in the car.

Seems like a ploy to sell more batteries and starters.

My wife's 2017 Macan has it. The first time I ever drove it, the engine shut off, and I cussed it, and then remembered it was a feature, not a bug. I just programmed my key to the Macan to set the seats, mirrors, AC temp, and steering wheel and so on to my preferences, and it never shuts off.

I can see it you are one of the unfortunate commuters stuck in stop and go traffic, or lots of red lights it might save some fuel. We live in a mostly rural area, and avoid rush hour by staying home for most things at rush hour.

My wife’s 2011 Cayenne S has this. You shut it off and it stays off.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1684158854.jpg

The most idiotic feature ever put on a vehicle.

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My wife's Ridgeline has it - not a fan.

The starter motors on vehicles that have this feature should have been over-engineered, but something tells me they weren't and that a starter replacement will probably be in the card at less than 100K miles.

_

I've read reports that with direct injection motors, (or hybrid powerplants) there should be no need for a starter. Just direct the computer to ignite a quick squirt on a hole that's at tdc. The fact that I first read about this at least 3 or 4 years ago tells me that there are issues that need to be resolved, but the theory seems absolutely feasible.

(I've also read that DI brings it's own set of problems with the raw fuel affecting hard parts like valves, rings and cylinder walls)

Expect more under this Biden fruitcake administration.

We get Porsches in with stop/start complaints because people replace the battery with non-AGM type which usually doesn’t allow it to function.

My 2015 Volvo v60 has a button on the center console to turn it off.
It is.

I have to turn it off everytime.

My 991 has a button that disables it. It stays disabled permanently in my car.