Rental Volvo shuts down at every stop on purpose?

We rented a luxury full sized car this week on vacation in San Diego. They gave us this Volvo station wagon thing. Says T5 so I am guessing turbo five cylinder? Any who. Push button start and every time you stop it shuts the engine off. I know other cars have this. I heard a Jeep Cherokee that did it. Seems like it would be hard on the engine and real hard on the starter. I hate driving it! Maybe I will get used to it after a week?

Peace. D

 

Ram has the start stop system, you only know it is doing it by watching the tach

 

I think Fords *spit* are doing the same thing on a bunch of their vehicles as well. It's becoming more and more common as companies strive for better fuel economy numbers. I seem to remember though that starting a vehicle actually uses a large dump of gas, so wouldn't just letting the thing idle for the 30 seconds at a light be more fuel efficient?

Either way, it's stupid and I doubt I'd ever buy a vehicle with that feature.

 

Drove some rental, think it was chevy, drove like a golf cart. Yeah that's the new Tech that we Tundra guys are supposed to be missing out on.

 

That's on purpose, it saves on gas. They're going to be using something way more durable than what we think of as a typical starter. There may be a setting to turn that functionality off.

 

That kid needs a haircut.

 

And someone should make him a sandwich.

I've driven a few vehicles with start/stop and I guess not being used to it, it is noticeable. I would imagine that it would become less noticeable over time but it's not a feature I would want. I also don't do enough stop and go driving for it to be beneficial.

 

The 2018 Toyota Highlander we bought has the auto stop/start feature. It can be turned off but it you would need to do that after every new drive. You can also control it by not pressing the brake so hard. It was kind of annoying at first but I’ve gotten used to it.

 

Drive it like you stole it. Hopefully you got their insurance

 

BMW has been doing it for at least 7 years - I thought there would be wear issues with it but nothing so far.

 

I need to hear my vehicles rumble when they are at the stop light. Cause it is cool.

 

Recently rented a minivan while on vacation with the family that did this.........Chrysler, I believe. It was noticeable and annoying.

 

Here is my theory on this... I am betting the starter is placed in a nearly inaccessible place, and it requires many hours of labor and an expensive starter to replace it, so people are more likely to trade them (and trade up) when they see the forthcoming bill. Maybe I am crazy, but I know Rolls Royce/Bentley and Cadillac used this tactic.

I hate Volvos.

 

My wife’s car has it however you can turn it off and when you turn it off it stays off until you click it back on. Thank goodness cuz it’s so freaking annoying to turn off at every stop light or stop sign.

 

Buddy has it on his F150 super duper Lariat. He tried plugging something in the trailer hitch electrical hook-up to defeat it, then we tried stuffing a tiny wedge of plastic in the button crease to keep the button depressed, look for any type of fuse solution .. Nope He's stuck with it.
When he stops and it's hot outside it really sucks. The vented seats and AC drop off significantly and the air gets warmer.
We'll see how his battery and starter hold up. We ran for lunch in big T and he got cold.
Its a ridiculous concept. We'll see his long term perspective once he's done with the recalls.

 

Yep...by the way look where Toyota genious's placed our starter.....

 

Some years ago I rode with a neighbor who had some GM SUV Hybrid Thing, and I remember him pulling out of the driveway under battery power and me glancing over at the dash. It gave me a brief startle when I didn't see anything indicated on the oil pressure gauge!