OK so day one in our new Mini last week and it "stalls" at a stop sign and then at a stop light. Took me a minute to realize that it had auto stop/start... Odd I thought as it's not a hybrid vehicle like the Prius. So while it may save on emissions and a bit of gas isn't it a bigger drain on the battery?? Does it really save that much gas and emissions to have it as a feature? I find it a bit of an odd feature in the Mini. I usually turn it off.

 

Our new Porsche does it too. Have to manually turn it off, which is crap.
The most wear on an engine is the start up. Wait 5-10 years and lets see how many problems “newer” cars are having with blow by, battery and starter replacements.

Troy

 

It is just a weird feature. Almost creepy! I am always afraid it isn’t going to start up again, so I generally turn it off. I wish it were not the default setting.

 

"They" say that the battery and starter is upgraded to be able to handle the extra load of startups. I think I read the "normal" car has an estimated 50,000 starts while a start/stop car is designed for 250,000 (more complex and expensive, I'm sure). I'm honestly not sure how much of a bonus to mileage you'll get, but I assume it depends on how much stop and go traffic one drives in.

I'm like Getn_off and I imagine this is a technology that sounds nice when a car is brand new, but after 10 years and trying to start/stop in the snow, it'll sound like much worse technology. I definitely feel like this is a leased car option.

And there's a reason why in many cars you need to turn the "feature" off every time. If the option needs to be turned off every time, the car's mileage is tested and reported with the feature on. If you can turn it off and it stays off, the car is tested with it on and with it off. Then the results are averaged. That's why so many cars have a button to turn off the feature, but you need to use it every time. When I discovered that, I thought "THANK YOU BMW for taking the hit to your reported mileage to not annoy all of us!"

 

I just generally turn it off and I'm finding that most do.

Way to make it political. One, start/stop has been around long before Obama and two the EPA has been playing around with the rules and regulations since their inception often times seperate of the administration that's in office.

 

my dealer is pretty good about loaners when I come in for service and the issue extends ....

first thing they warn me about is the 'start/stop' system and how to disable . . .

 

Auto start/stop is a deal breaker for me. If I can't have it permanently switched off, I'm not interested in the vehicle.

 

I am use to the auto start/stop from my hybrid. However, my hybrid was able to start moving again, totally on electric power. So, any lag in re-starting the ICE wasn't noticed. Also, my hybrid's re-start was a lot smoother than on my F56.

My F56 is a manual stick, so I have some control over the start/stop. It doesn't auto-stop if I keep the clutch in. So, if I am at a light that is know to me to be short, I keep the clutch in (which is something I would probably do anyway). If it is a long, 5 min, light, I release the clutch, relax my left foot, take a short nap, and save about 10 molecules of gas.

 

Just “calling a spade a spade.”
Yes, Obama did lay down the law of requiring all mfgs to hit 54mpg by 2025. All this does is raise the price of cars. When will Dems get this basic biz 101 idea?
I am all for individual mfgs trying this, but leave gov out of it. Let the consumer decide. 5 more years and every US car will have this.
Troy

 

So you get to choose between unnecessary wear and tear on your engine/starter or unnecessary wear on your clutch and throw out bearing.

Why can't we just choose to have a car that doesn't have features I don't want?

But then how will they justify their useless existence and thefts? I mean, taxes.

 

Unfortunately, we're not at the point that cars are custom built.
At least BMW took the hit and allowed the Start/Stop to be turned off until you turn it back on. Most other manufacturers require you to hit the switch every time you start the car (which would have drove me nuts). So I'll praise BMW there.

 

We used to be. I have the original, custom chosen build sheet for my 1965 Chevy II. How far we've fallen.

I don't need custom built, I just don't want a bunch of useless mandated luxuries/features that artificially drive the price up. I don't mind that they exist for the discerning buyer, but the market should dictate availability of features, not the overlords.

I'm not too concerned, as long as we can keep them from artificially destroying the used car market again, I'll manage to stay away from this garbage.

 

Sorry, but I doubt it. Lets' see this build sheet of yours with custom features like, for example, a 9 speed automatic, a turbo 8 cyl engine, 12-way power seats, and so on.

 

That is the way on my F56 works. I turned the auto start feature off (with the switch on the console) and it stays off until I turn it back on. It sounds like this may not be the case for all MINIs?

Actually, in stop and go traffic the auto start feature will save on gas. Any time you are not moving, your gas mileage is going down and costing you money. If you hardly ever stop where stopping is for a very small percentage of your travel time, then it will be a very small percentage of your costs. You might not notice it in your cost of travel. If you spend a lot of time stopped, like people who commute or the like, then the percentage of time when the car is stopped will go up and cost will become noticeable.

Not having custom built cars - BUS101 - more profit. The Gen III MINIs have done away with most customization. As noted, this will be the trend for the future.

 

1965 Chevy II. Are you special?



I'll dig it out when I get home if I remember. The options chosen by the original owner included front seat belts, 194ci I6 engine, and the Powerglide transmission. I personally think I would have gone for the SS package, the 327 V8, and the 4 speed manual, but I know the guy purchased the car for his retirement so I'm assuming he was past his days of driving fast.

 

Unfortunately you may not have a choice as it seems more vehicles are becoming standard.

 

I remember those days, too. The option list was pretty long. There were something like 10 different options you could get for engines alone in the mid-60s Impala. There were 4 or 5, if you count the SS, different trim levels. But, those disappeared as option items became standard items and things like certification of engines became more expensive. Even MINI when they first came out had a very extensive option list, which no longer exists.

But don’t confuse options with differences or advances in technology. Sure, we have some great advances in technology (9 speed automatic, a turbo 8 cyl engine, 12-way power seats, etc) but they are likey standard items in the car’s production, and likely there are not 10 different engine options for any one car any more.

The discussion here is people would like the option to choose the auto stop-start feature. But that is not an option. The option that does exist is to disable it, which some of us have done....

 

Well then Trump has had plenty of time to overturn those mandates just like any other administration.

 

I'm not, which is exactly why I don't want these things even though they exist. Technology always advances, but I don't want most of it. I literally paid more money for something that automatically disables the DSC in my R53. I don't even like throttle by wire, my R53 will hopefully be the only car I ever own that is equipped with it, it has put a bad taste in my mouth. All this wonderful technology is great if you want to pay for it. I don't.

Now, I'm going to go back to yelling at the neighborhood kids for playing in the street outside my house.


Yes, I would like it to be an option I do not have to purchase. Along with a million other forced and mandated features. This is exactly my gripe.

 

The defaults can be altered using Bimmercode, FWIW.

 

Not sure I know what you mean by default setting? If you disable the auto start/stop feature, doesn't it just stay off forever? My wife and I both have 2015 Minis, and we both have the feature disabled, and never give it a second thought. I owned a 2015 BMW which was the same - disable it once and it stayed that way.

Are you saying you have to disable it each and every time you get in the car?

Here's what the 2015 owner's manual says about the feature. If yours doesn't work this way, I would take it to the dealer.

"After every start of the engine using the Start/Stop button, the Auto Start/Stop function is in the last selected state, refer to page 50"

 

Maybe I accidentally turned it back on, without realizing it, or meaning to use it. I do know that when the engine does stop, with the feature, on my car, it restarts after a period of time, without my taking my foot off the brake, or pressing down on the gas pedal. I find that odd. Truthfully, I haven’t read my manual yet. I will have to pay more attention, and see if it is working properly.

Kat

 

I think with the 2020 model year MINI changed the default mode from OFF to ON.

 

If the 2020s require you to turn it off each time, that's another reason to be happy that I got a 2019!

And I was previously praising BMW/MINI for taking a hit on their MPGs to allow their drivers to have the choice!

 

^^
This! Auto start/stop was driving me nuts on my 2020 F54, but it was really easy to fix along with many other settings with Bimmercode. Highly recommended and easy to do. It does cost something to get set up with the app and a Bluetooth ODB adapter, but it’s well worth it if you are frustrated by MINI’s default settings.