This morning I was at the gas station filling up. It was kind of crowded so a small suv on the other side of the pump island had to stop and wait a minute before pulling up to the pump.

When it did, I noticed it was a Saturn Hybrid. But what I'm wondering about is that when it pulled up to the pump, it's engine was running.

I thought the deal with hybrids was to shut off the engine when the vehicle is stopped or moving slowly and use the electric motors instead.

 

Low battery?! Heater ON at full blast? (maybe not in SoCal )

 

Hey it was 43° this morning. That's coooold!

 

Going by the wife's Honda Insight, there can be many operating modes. Depending on the ambient temp, if the driver has "econ" or "normal mode" selected for the HVAC control, the state of charge of the batteries, if the computer detects you are in "stop-and-go" traffic or not, and probably a few other parameters I have left out. Probably a different list for the Saturn, but still many different modes it can run in.

 

some hybrids don't shut off the gas motor, they just idle it during those low load conditions. I don't know about the system on that saturn though.

 

We just brought home a Mariner Hybrid for the wife today. On it the engine does stop at strange times like when you are driving around a parking lot or sitting at a stop light. The book says that it might stop anytime the car is below 40 mph.

You really can if you keep you foot off the pedal keep the engine off and it sounds just like an electric golf cart. And the computer already says that we are getting 29 mpg after about 50 mi.

Takes a little getting used to to drive but I think that we are going to like it. The 3K back from the gov this year will be nice to and moving from a V8 Mountanieer will help monthly with the gas I hope 15 - 34 stated in the city 20 - 30 highway. My wife wanted another SUV and this is better than most cars.

Also the engine is rated for 10K between oil changes with full synthetic so that might be a wash.

 

Actually, those are some of the times I would expect it to stop.

 

By Strange I ment that it just turns off and it takes a little getting used to. You can drive around like that for quite a while and the car makes no noise at all. Strange.

 

i think that the saturn uses the system where it just shuts off the engine when you stop, then uses the alternator as a motor to restart it when you press on the gas.