Coasting trucks, what's the point??

I went online and tried “building” myself a new F150 just for the fun of it, and was shocked to see that you can’t even get one without the stop start now. No thanks... I thought it was bad enough when they completely did away with the manual trans.

 

The early ones you could disable it by pushing a button on the dash. Not sure if they still have that. I was never a Ford guy until the aluminum trucks came out. They seem to get nicer with every redesign while GM and Ram go the other way.

 

The theory is it saves fuel.
My company truck does it on cruise, which is mostly why our drivers have horrible mpg according to management...
They put their foot into it to make it go and gain the downhill speed to roll up the next hill...
I tested the theory one night...
Wasn't worth the hassle imho... put your foot into it and roll...
That said, we get paid per load, so something gotta give in there.

 

so our company has the "roll" feature. But it only does it for about 2 mph. So say you have cruise set at 60. At 62 to 64 it goes into neutral. If the hill bumps you to 65 it drops back into gear. I'll be honest. Governed at 64 I'll roll down a hill at 68. But no higher. Granted. At 69 the nanny system sends a message to safety that you went "over speed." LOL

 

It's great on fuel mileage, because it was great on fuel mileage to begin with. The three tablespoons of fuel saved at the stop light isn't what's causing it to get great fuel mileage. My 2018 Duramax gets 22.9mpg, and it doesn't have to wear out the starter at every stop light to get it.

 

well the MPG "display" on the dash does max when in neutral. I think it is a wash. Because it coasts =/- 2 MPH so it has to accelerate to get back to the "cruise speed." But if you are on a nice long gentle down slope. Yeah it can bump it up. But not a ton. Probably .1-.2 MPG

 

Hence one of the reasons you never buy an old fleet truck. Unless you personally know the truck

 

Must be a Volvo. They have a hard limiter the dealer can’t override

 

You didn’t go to the right dealer.
I know a couple mechanics that’ll turn them up, fuel rail pressure and all.