Quote:
Originally Posted by Neusser
They've beefed up most of the relevant components. I wouldn't worry much about it unless you are in constant stop-and-go traffic, where it is ofc annoying and pointless.
For everything else, it does the job well.
|
It's all about tradeoffs
Whether it is worth it is something that you decide on an independent case by case basis
The benefits are fuel and carbon savings (actually same thing), the magnitude of which depends on your driving conditions.
The costs are all the potential /actual wear and bla bla bla. Extra complication/weight in the system (obviously this isn't remedied by turning it off, we're talking about design stage tradeoffs for this point).
Personally I don't think the tradeoffs are worth it and I think these systems, especially earlier iterations (though somewhat true for all of them) were kinda half assed to meet regulatory targets. A PHEV or the older type hybrid(prius) really truly were designed with this in mind so you know EVERY component was designed with this user case in mind.
On a normal ICE car especially one who's engine was not a clean sheet design probably didn't have as much of it designed with this use case. Sure they can do simple changes like upgrading the starter or changing the bearings for something of a different spec. But fundamental things can't be changed. How efficient is the cooling/oiling system operating@0 rpms? How long does it take to build up oil pressure? This one might sound stupid but start stop operation is such that you go from engine@0rpm to IMMEDIATELY on load in less than a second (even more so if you have a heavy foot)... That's like 10 turns of the crank...
To me the tradeoff is characterised by at best minor gains and costs which are either also equally minor... Or really really bad. It's a lobsided cost/benefit.