I usually do. I shift back into drive when I see the other direction's light turning yellow so I can go the second mine goes green.

I'm just asking this because I learned to drive on a manual gearbox and it seems like it would make sense to take the load off the idling engine when you're just stopped for a while. Also, I've heard it's better for the car.

Anybody else?

The torque converter takes care of this for you (disengaging the drivetrain), and you're likely increasing wear with 2 unnecessary shifts at each light (into/out of neutral). If it were "better" for the car, that note would be in the manual.

I don't AT's were designed with that type of shifting in mind. But if you must rest your right foot ....

plus your wasting fuel. the car idles higher in N and P. even tho after its warm its only a few hundred RPM difference, itll make a differnce in the long run

Ah, good points. I always figured it idled higher since it was disengaged from the trans but I did wonder about the wear of shifting. I guess everybody who told me this was either living in the 1950s or smoking crack. Nice.

you should be leaving it in drive or sport shift.

there's also the (minor) problem of getting rear ended by a distracted driver while you are at the light. If you're sitting in neutral, even a low mph fender bender will fling you out into the intersection where you could get sideswiped pretty badly.

depends how long the light is. For a 3 minute light, which we seem to have alot of,

He means vs. being able to speed away from teh impending crash. If you're sitting in neutral with someone speeding toward your bumper you have to wait for the car to shift before gassing it.

You overstate the accuracy and completeness of the manual.

The drivetrain doesn't disengage completely. Load is minimized, but there is definitely load on the engine, which is why it idles slower when in Drive than when in neutral.

It's not clearly necessary, but at some longer lights can be convenient.

I sometimes do it.

I don't see anything convincing me why I should so

the only thing i do is when on a hill and im bored ill switch to 2nd gear and try n hold the hill. but yeah i know thats even worse for the transmission. just sit at the light and look for chicks. thats what i do

heh oh well drive safe

i always put side brake on. i dont know why but i am used to it now..

See, this is what I was thinking. When you move the tranny into neutral you can feel the engine speed up a bit as the load is removed.

Anyway I mostly do it at longer stops because I'm paralyzed, so I drive with hand controls and holding the brake down can get tiring. But aside from that, if it removes a needless load from the engine, that seems like it would be a good idea to do as it would decrease wear. My amateur opinion.

For the purpose of answering his question I think I gave enough detail. The torque converter effective acts as the clutch in an auto transmission, and the drivetrain is for all purposes disengaged (i.e. not producing signficant forward thrust) at idle, which is why the tranny isn't burned up by remaining stopped in traffic or a long light. I don't think he was asking me to go into stall speed, lockup, etc. The t/c is why an auto does not need a clutch pedal because the fluid does the clutching for you. Same with my go-kart at idle the reason it doesn't move is that the torque converter doesn't "engage" until a particular RPM, like cars do.