Anyone else out there make regular use of N?

[pete c]

I don't get why Ford insists on some level of regen in all drive modes.

Regen is great.....when braking is required. It is a loss of efficiency if all you want to do is coast.

Yeah, you can modulate the throttle in an attempt to find the spot between CHARGE and ELECTRIC following the EV COACH, but that is annoying and over long coasting stretches is tiring to your leg.

My solution is one click CCW on the much hated, it seems, shift knob. Then one click CW to get back "in gear". BTW, there is no "getting in gear" with this awesome eCVT. It is always in gear. It is just turning off power to the motors.

On that topic, what is everyone's opinion of the knob?

It seems that it is universally despised. "Why can't Ford just use a shifter? Its been done that way for ever?"

Well, yes it has, and for good reason.

All trannies for over a century have had shift levers because you needed to physically move mechanical parts inside. This requires a degree of force not practical for a knob.

When auto trannies became electronic, they just stuck with a lever because, well, because thats how you shift a tranny, by gum!!!!

Then someone at Ford said, ya know, a knob is a more ergonomic device. They are the implement of choice for adjusting things like radio volume. Why not just give it indents to make each position easy to find without looking at anything?

I have been driving my Trucklet for close to 2 months now, and am starting to develop the muscle memory which makes the knob feel normal. If there is one glitch I haven't totally ironed out yet, it is the occasional habit of shift to P rather than D after backing up. I think my nervous system will have this occasional program bug ironed out soon though.

Being one who likes to click into neutral for coasting, I have occasionally overshot to R. I am happy to say that this does not cause the tranny to blow up. It is smart enough to just beep at you. I kinda wish it could say something like "hey dumbass, WTF are you trying to do, get us killed?".

If there is one criticism I have regarding my now beloved knob is I wish it was about 3 inches higher so I wouldn't have to move my arm that is peacefully resting on the arm rest.

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[Cherokee]

It’s a different century ya know ~

“ Being one who likes to click into neutral for coasting,”
Really ? To each his own.

You can change with the tech ya know.
Don’t fight it, accept it.

Contemplate this on,
‘The Tree Of Woe”

:’P

 

[Ryom]

Audi has a rocker shifter (R/N/D) with a park button. Pretty intuitive, up is reverse, down is drive/drive mode and press the P button for park. Parking brake is the same finger lever as the Maverick. Honestly prefer it to the Mav dial shifter, but I don't dislike the dial shifter either.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

I don't get why Ford insists on some level of regen in all drive modes.

Regen is great.....when braking is required. It is a loss of efficiency if all you want to do is coast.

Yeah, you can modulate the throttle in an attempt to find the spot between CHARGE and ELECTRIC following the EV COACH, but that is annoying and over long coasting stretches is tiring to your leg.

My solution is one click CCW on the much hated, it seems, shift knob. Then one click CW to get back "in gear". BTW, there is no "getting in gear" with this awesome eCVT. It is always in gear. It is just turning off power to the motors.

On that topic, what is everyone's opinion of the knob?

It seems that it is universally despised. "Why can't Ford just use a shifter? Its been done that way for ever?"

Well, yes it has, and for good reason.

All trannies for over a century have had shift levers because you needed to physically move mechanical parts inside. This requires a degree of force not practical for a knob.

When auto trannies became electronic, they just stuck with a lever because, well, because thats how you shift a tranny, by gum!!!!

Then someone at Ford said, ya know, a knob is a more ergonomic device. They are the implement of choice for adjusting things like radio volume. Why not just give it indents to make each position easy to find without looking at anything?

I have been driving my Trucklet for close to 2 months now, and am starting to develop the muscle memory which makes the knob feel normal. If there is one glitch I haven't totally ironed out yet, it is the occasional habit of shift to P rather than D after backing up. I think my nervous system will have this occasional program bug ironed out soon though.

Being one who likes to click into neutral for coasting, I have occasionally overshot to R. I am happy to say that this does not cause the tranny to blow up. It is smart enough to just beep at you. I kinda wish it could say something like "hey dumbass, WTF are you trying to do, get us killed?".

If there is one criticism I have regarding my now beloved knob is I wish it was about 3 inches higher so I wouldn't have to move my arm that is peacefully resting on the arm rest.

I have heard many mention needing 3", knob, etc......
Yes occasionally I will neutral coast but habitually clutch the knob to twist it immediately. Am reluctant due to fear of what programmer has planned if regen fills battery while braking in N going downhill at 60 and needs to engine brake. Hopefully he just goes to hydraulic.....

 

[pete c]

My son in law just picked up a '13 Prius with a similar arrangement.

As with the Ford dial-a-gear, my initial reaction is WTF kinda nonsense, but after acclimating to it, I kinda like it.

 

[Wahjahbvious]

This feels like a moderately wackadoo solution in search of a problem to me, but I doubt you're doing any actual *harm,* so go nuts.

 

[icegradner]

Looking for a solution for a non issue to me.

 

[Exranger]

In an emergency a few weeks ago, I had to drive my friend’s girlfriend’s car to the hospital. It was a 23 Nissan rogue, it had the worst shifter to use. It was a tiny handle with button to press for reverse… very non intuitive, made me like the Mav dial much more before!

 

[Backin15]

The dial could be better if it had hard detents for the different positions instead of just spinning endlessly in both directions. I also wish it could lock in position somehow, my wife likes to toss her purse on the center console and knocked me into reverse once.

 

[MaverickDragon]

There is a related forum discussion about this ==> link.
Coasting downhill is a bad idea for several reasons that are explained in the above noted forum thread. Coasting is also illegal in CT as well as many other states.

Automatic transmission equipped vehicles are not designed to coast, and besides potential damage, you are also likely to reduce your mpgs, so there is no point in doing it anyway.
If you set the cruise, it will handle the downhill for you.

The hybrid can be flat towed, which is essentially a free wheeling exercise, but it requires that the vehicle be set up for that purpose to prevent damage. Shifting into neutral is not the same.

As far as the shift knob, it takes some getting used to, but I have come to like it.
There is nothing you can do to change it, except to get a different vehicle.

There are long threads about the shifter topic already, and apparently none of these comments
influenced Ford to make any changes, even though there used to be a Ford rep on the site.

 

[ARC]

Agree with the use of N for coasting 100%, provided the battery doesn’t need charging, which is a situation I haven’t yet encountered with my Mav, but I have in my son’s Prius. Ford trannies have dealt with the occasional accidental shift to R for decades (as I learned with my 2002 E450 RV). Then again… I think energy conservation intuitively (aerospace engr), and letting the machine switch between charge and electric isn’t much of a hassle. As others have said, to each his own.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

I don't get why Ford insists on some level of regen in all drive modes.

Regen is great.....when braking is required. It is a loss of efficiency if all you want to do is coast.

Yeah, you can modulate the throttle in an attempt to find the spot between CHARGE and ELECTRIC following the EV COACH, but that is annoying and over long coasting stretches is tiring to your leg.

My solution is one click CCW on the much hated, it seems, shift knob. Then one click CW to get back "in gear". BTW, there is no "getting in gear" with this awesome eCVT. It is always in gear. It is just turning off power to the motors.

On that topic, what is everyone's opinion of the knob?

It seems that it is universally despised. "Why can't Ford just use a shifter? Its been done that way for ever?"

Well, yes it has, and for good reason.

All trannies for over a century have had shift levers because you needed to physically move mechanical parts inside. This requires a degree of force not practical for a knob.

When auto trannies became electronic, they just stuck with a lever because, well, because thats how you shift a tranny, by gum!!!!

Then someone at Ford said, ya know, a knob is a more ergonomic device. They are the implement of choice for adjusting things like radio volume. Why not just give it indents to make each position easy to find without looking at anything?

I have been driving my Trucklet for close to 2 months now, and am starting to develop the muscle memory which makes the knob feel normal. If there is one glitch I haven't totally ironed out yet, it is the occasional habit of shift to P rather than D after backing up. I think my nervous system will have this occasional program bug ironed out soon though.

Being one who likes to click into neutral for coasting, I have occasionally overshot to R. I am happy to say that this does not cause the tranny to blow up. It is smart enough to just beep at you. I kinda wish it could say something like "hey dumbass, WTF are you trying to do, get us killed?".

If there is one criticism I have regarding my now beloved knob is I wish it was about 3 inches higher so I wouldn't have to move my arm that is peacefully resting on the arm rest.

Try Slippery Mode
You can damn near Coast forever with very little Regen.
and you won't be fiddling around with your knob while driving.
Using slippery mode will not harm your transmission

 

[Dad]

I love my knob! Er, that didn't come out right. I like the rotary knob shifter. Opens up a lot of space in the middle of the truck and it works well.
I use N for those auto car washes and when flat towing (TBH, I don't flat-tow, but that's another use for it).

 

[HeyBales]

Why some level of resistance?

Because almost any other vehicle you get in is going to have some also, with normal tranny usage.
Want a little more in those cases of steeper downhill - you downshift.

That isn't an option on the hybrid - hence automatic downhill speed control with resistance going up - and just like a normal tranny if that's not enough - into the pads.

And if you didn't like that 5 speed tranny amount of resistance going down a hill - you went to Neutral.
So nothing different here.

Normal mode is mentioned as having as much resistance as a typical tranny may have - I've found that to be the case.

And ditto to Slippery mode for ya. You'll be wasting regen and pads probably!

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

I don't get why Ford insists on some level of regen in all drive modes.

Regen is great.....when braking is required. It is a loss of efficiency if all you want to do is coast.

Yeah, you can modulate the throttle in an attempt to find the spot between CHARGE and ELECTRIC following the EV COACH, but that is annoying and over long coasting stretches is tiring to your leg.

My solution is one click CCW on the much hated, it seems, shift knob. Then one click CW to get back "in gear". BTW, there is no "getting in gear" with this awesome eCVT. It is always in gear. It is just turning off power to the motors.

On that topic, what is everyone's opinion of the knob?

It seems that it is universally despised. "Why can't Ford just use a shifter? Its been done that way for ever?"

Well, yes it has, and for good reason.

All trannies for over a century have had shift levers because you needed to physically move mechanical parts inside. This requires a degree of force not practical for a knob.

When auto trannies became electronic, they just stuck with a lever because, well, because thats how you shift a tranny, by gum!!!!

Then someone at Ford said, ya know, a knob is a more ergonomic device. They are the implement of choice for adjusting things like radio volume. Why not just give it indents to make each position easy to find without looking at anything?

I have been driving my Trucklet for close to 2 months now, and am starting to develop the muscle memory which makes the knob feel normal. If there is one glitch I haven't totally ironed out yet, it is the occasional habit of shift to P rather than D after backing up. I think my nervous system will have this occasional program bug ironed out soon though.

Being one who likes to click into neutral for coasting, I have occasionally overshot to R. I am happy to say that this does not cause the tranny to blow up. It is smart enough to just beep at you. I kinda wish it could say something like "hey dumbass, WTF are you trying to do, get us killed?".

If there is one criticism I have regarding my now beloved knob is I wish it was about 3 inches higher so I wouldn't have to move my arm that is peacefully resting on the arm rest.

Yes.

Every single day. Every single drive.
I live in hill country.
I have a section I can coast for 8.3 miles.
Wind resistance holds the truck to posted speed limit +4 or -4 with the undulations.

No brake. No gas. No regen. 8.3 miles daily.

54 to 58 MPG daily too!

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