Auto Stop/Start Is Out Of Sync With My Reality

I have been using the Stop/Start feature. I figured that if I gave it enough time, it would become second nature and I'd come to appreciate it for what it is. But then this happened:

1. I pulled into my garage and as I stopped, the car shut itself down. So since it was not running, but in a sort of 'radio ready' state, I took my foot off the brake in order to press the start button to totally kill the car without starting it again. Get it so far? I've done this plenty of times before with the auto stop not active. But when I took my foot off the brake, it immediately started and rolled forward, almost striking the front wall of the garage. The subtle difference between having shut itself down and my having shut it down got passed me in a moment of distraction. In my opinion, not cool and not funny.

2. I was in Starbucks and while on line, wistfully gazed out in the parking lot to notice that the angle eyes were still on. Funny I thought. I locked the car and I know that when it locks it shuts down all that stuff. When I got back to the car, I realized that the auto stop is what shut off the motor when I arrived, and that I had again been distracted - thought I was the one that shut it down, got out and locked it. (I'll have to check to see how I did this. My hunch is that I opened the door while still on the brake so when the brake released, it did not start). So there it was in a state of auto shutdown, and locked from the outside.

Well, maybe I was a bit distracted - I'm a busy guy, but the difference between 'auto stop' and 'radio ready' states is just too subtle - in fact they can appear near identical. The only difference is who did the shut down. It's easy to see that the consequences of this subtlety may not be humorous in some circumstances.

Auriga Caveat!
Q

Like you, I have been tempted to not push the button as soon as I turn on the car. But, the whole concept is unnatural to me. Should be a way to permanently disengage the system, or at least make it an option instead of standard.....

This could be dangerous. I see law suits already.

Originally Posted by Quacker

I took my foot off the brake in order to press the start button to totally kill the car without starting it again.

I am not familiar with this feature implementation on the F10, but why would you have to take your foot off the brake to turn off the car?

Because under normal operation, if you are in the off state or the radio ready state, if you have your foot on the brake when you push the button, it starts.

my question is the following: has there been any discernible difference in gas mileage between the '11's and the '12's? i cant imagine this making any real difference...

Just a suggestion - try putting it in park before you turn it off?

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Just a suggestion - try putting it in park before you turn it off?

Was waiting for someone to say that! DCT M3 doesn't have a park that I know of, but when you shut it off you see "P" on the display. My brother's 2011 M3 has autostart-stop but you have to enable that function, on startup it is automatically disabled.

I test drove a 2012 with the auto start stop and hated it. I was comparing it with a 2011 Honda Civic Hybrid which by the way the auto start stop feature is almost unnoticeable...not sure if it has something to do with being a hybrid but compared to the BMW which is no where nearly as seemless and smooth. I was going to test a new Porsche with the same feature to see how there auto start stop compares to BMW.

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Just a suggestion - try putting it in park before you turn it off?

Call me lazy but I like it that the car organizes it's own shutdown when I press the button.

My golf cart operates the same way as the Stop/Start feature in a BMW. I like the feature in a golf cart....I don't like the feature in an automobile. I'd be happy to pay for the extra gas to NOT have this feature in my car.

Maybe you need to back into the habit of putting the car in Park before you take your foot of the brakes.

Auto start-stop needs to die a painful death. I can't think of a single car where the transition when the engine kicks in has been smooth. It's terrible and I've owned many Toyota hybrids

I predict second coming of "unintended acceleration."

Originally Posted by AlBoston

Was waiting for someone to say that! DCT M3 doesn't have a park that I know of, but when you shut it off you see "P" on the display. My brother's 2011 M3 has autostart-stop but you have to enable that function, on startup it is automatically disabled.

aaaaaand we're talking about an F10, not an M3 so this is rather moot, no?

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

aaaaaand we're talking about an F10, not an M3 so this is rather moot, no?

Perhaps. But it appears that all future BMWs will have this "feature" standard so this should affect everyone, eventually.

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

aaaaaand we're talking about an F10, not an M3 so this is rather moot, no?

Not necessarily. Wouldn't shock me if the whole BMW lineup has start/stop in about a year or so.

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

aaaaaand we're talking about an F10, not an M3 so this is rather moot, no?

The M3 point is that it has start/stop also however it more correctly is defaulted to OFF.

At least one car from the same maker chose to make it an option to enable it, so why did the F10 team chose the reverse? The decision to save gas is probably best left to the driver, if this feature even does save in the long run.

Originally Posted by davidc1

Perhaps. But it appears that all future BMWs will have this "feature" standard so this should affect everyone, eventually.

The question is, why is it working differently on different BMWs? The M3s implementation seems to be the prefered one. The car just works as if it didn't have start-stop if you don't push the button. Is this always on until you disable a new big brother requirement to be able to claim any mpg savings? That the gov. thinks people will get tired of disabling it and just start to live with it?

I wonder what the answer would be if you told your dealer that you would only buy the car if they can program the function to be off be default?

The way I understand it is that BMW does NOT get credit for start/stop if it is defaulted to off. So they make it default to on for cars that are the most mass produced like the 528/535. The M3 comes with a gas guzzler tax so why would they default it to on for that car? I also heard the 550's default to off as well, but not sure if that is correct. I am glad I got a 2011 without this annoying feature. If I get a new one then I will get the 550 just to be rid of this feature....it would annoy me to no end.

Originally Posted by Alpine300ZHP

The way I understand it is that BMW does NOT get credit for start/stop if it is defaulted to off. So they make it default to on for cars that are the most mass produced like the 528/535. The M3 comes with a gas guzzler tax so why would they default it to on for that car? I also heard the 550's default to off as well, but not sure if that is correct. I am glad I got a 2011 without this annoying feature. If I get a new one then I will get the 550 just to be rid of this feature....it would annoy me to no end.

I see. Maybe that's why. I would hate to upgrade just to get rid of this feature. But then, it might be a blessing in disguise.

Originally Posted by davidc1

I see. Maybe that's why. I would hate to upgrade just to get rid of this feature. But then, it might be a blessing in disguise.

Ironic Justice - BMW forces buyers into a car with worse mileage in their quest to help minimize gas usage.

Originally Posted by Alpine300ZHP

The way I understand it is that BMW does NOT get credit for start/stop if it is defaulted to off. So they make it default to on for cars that are the most mass produced like the 528/535. The M3 comes with a gas guzzler tax so why would they default it to on for that car? I also heard the 550's default to off as well, but not sure if that is correct. I am glad I got a 2011 without this annoying feature. If I get a new one then I will get the 550 just to be rid of this feature....it would annoy me to no end.

That would explain it, other than why then did BMW add the function at all to the M3 if it doesn't give them any credit? I highly doubt M3 buyers have been begging for this feature and it comes "free" of charge.

The 2012 BMW 550i does not have Start/Stop.

Time to ask the dealer if they can default it off for us!