Neutral: Why is it available when driving?

[jgs]

I do not feel the loss of any control of the vehicle

I think the theory embraced by the “OMG you are giving up control I must wave my finger at you severely now!” camp is that if you needed to make a quick maneuver with the accelerator you’d have to put the car back in drive and not just move your foot over. Takes longer.

I, for one, am not too worked up over it and it’s obviously overstated to say you’re “not in control” if you’re in neutral (you’re self-evidently not out of control which is what that phrase implies). But I do think @Corsair had the right answer as to why the feature is actually needed as opposed to just fun, and it has nothing to do with using it during normal driving.

 

[dgpcolorado]

When in neutral, if you hit the accelerator the car will beep at you to remind you that you are in neutral. I know it is hard to believe, but some of us drive in areas with no traffic. None. The idea that using neutral to coast is unsafe is patently ridiculous in such conditions.

The notion that being in neutral is unsafe because it eliminates instant regen braking also applies to using cruise control (you need to turn off cruise for regen to kick in in a panic stop), driving in low regen mode (hardly any regen available), and driving with a full or cold battery (reduced or no regen available).

At some point the wringing of hands over the use of neutral becomes silly. If you feel unsafe coasting in neutral, don't use it!