Cars.com

Dear Tom and Ray:

I'm a woman with a new Ford Ranger XLT. I have four idiotic brothers who tell me it's bad to coast down hills in Neutral. Help me prove these men WRONG!! -- Karen

Tom: They're right, Karen. They probably were wrong to make you taste frogs when you were a kid ... and to tell you that you were adopted from space aliens, but they're right about coasting down hills.

Ray: Coasting downhill is dangerous for several reasons. First of all, without the natural braking action of the engine, you can pick up a lot of speed in a hurry.

Tom: And in that situation, to keep from going too fast, you're likely to overuse and overheat your brakes.

Ray: And overheating the brakes is no small matter. When they overheat, the brake fluid can actually start to boil. And when the brake fluid boils, your pedal goes right to the floor.

Tom: You also might need to make an emergency maneuver and accelerate to get out of somebody's way. And if you're in Neutral, it'll take you longer to do that -- maybe too long.

Ray: And finally, when you're coasting, the engine could stall without your knowing it -- until you tried to stop or turn and found you had no power steering or power brakes.

Tom: And as Homer Simpson would say at that point, Karen: "Doh!"

Tom and Ray lead you step by step through the process of finding and buying a reliable used car in their pamphlet How to Buy a Used Car: Things That Detroit and Tokyo Don't Want You to Know. To order, To order, send (check or money order) to Ruin, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. You can also order online.

© 1996 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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