Me and a friend have been debating as to whether shifting into neutral while driving helps to slow down your or not? He says it doesnt because your transmission wont be able to help ur car slow down. What are your thoughts?

 

If you shift in to Neutral all that is slowing the car down is loss of momentum, leaving the car in gear will slow the car faster because of all the moving parts that are now adding to the "rotating mass" basically. Neutral = slow down slower than in gear.

 

Some cars are worse than others. I drove a Titan and if you let off the gas the car felt like the brake was applied and my 79Z doesn't make much of a difference. It should always slow faster in gear.

 

Having the transmission in gear will always slow the car faster than with it in neutral. When in gear (especially with a manual) the engine is always trying to return to its idle speed, so it will slow down, in turn slowing the rotation of the transmission, and then the wheels. In neutral, the engine can kick down to idle quickly, except now you are relying on road friction and loss of momentum to slow you. Just think of going downhill with the same concept. In gear, car slows down with no gas applied. In neutral, it keeps gaining speed.

 

Thank you Green96Z, mrmint69, and '94 Bad A Z28 our debate is settled-- "car is slowed down faster while in Drive rather than Neutral" Thanks again