Well I love SS (stop start). In fact I put off buying a Fiesta till this engine and SS arrived on the scene, because there was no way I was going to tolerate a diesel stopping and starting on me - the noise would drive me bonkers. And anyway, this little 100PS petrol is simply light years ahead of Ford's clumpy diesel.

OK, it does mean we have to replace the battery with a 'special', but as the battery on my old Mondeo was still going very strong after 12 years and more than 100k miles, I've no doubt that this one will last the course too.

SS saves you money all the time (and especially thrust bearing costs). You can't beat it, however fast you snick the car into first. And you can over-ride it by switching off the A/C at the lights (but keep the recirc running) - that'll make the SS come into play. If you roll forward the engine starts automatically and there's a lot of clever monitoring going on all the time to stop the turbo overheating, to keep the brakes boosted, the screens heated and so on.

It's a wonderful system. The Yaris has a quieter SS but the rest of the car isn't a patch on the Fiesta, and surprisingly the Toyata is't as statistically reliable either.

tom.

Geeez , You do all that just so stop start kicks in, that is exactly why I asked if it was a waste of time in the first place, To many variables for me,

cheers Ian

I dont get why some of you say that its not working with aC on, i have it constanly on setting one and it doesnt effect the SS ...

My battery level is always low due to short trips , it's worked only once in the year i have had the car haha , and i don't care either :)

Your SS switches on and off even when you've got your A/C turned on 90150? Sounds like the dealer needs to take a look art your car.

My EATC has been set to 18 deg C since I have had the car and the start/stop works fine once the car is internally cool. I am guessing it will not work as well with manual A/C.

Ah yes, I was thinking you had manual A/C.