So recently I asked about holding the car on the clutch rather than using the brakes and the response seemed to be overwhelmingly against it, even though I and almost everyone I know was taught to do that. But, times and techniques change, I am trying not to do it so often.
Today’s driving technique question is: engine braking, good or bad? This is something I do a lot, especially in slow traffic, but I know people who say that its plain wrong and bad for the engine. A mechanic friend of mine once told me “brakes are for stopping, the engine is for moving” – if you don’t plan on stopping, use the engine to adjust your speed. A generalisation, of course, but one that I invite the MINI elders who read this blog to give me their thoughts.
In MINI news, heading north from Balboa Park last evening I saw two brand new convertibles, one in purple (which looked very cool) and one in black. Both had their tops up despite it being quite nice, though.
GBMINI stops much better using the brakes than using the engine 😉
But a really neat feature of the new MCS auto transmission is that if I drive downhill and use the brakes, the transmission will shift to bring in engine braking too – I have to assume that if it was bad for the engine, the developers would not have added that feature.