Vauxhall 2010 Astra, Owner'S Manual

Page: 203 / 367

199 Driving and operation
Overrun
The fuel supply is autom atically shut off
during overrun, e.g. when the vehicle is
being driven down long gradients or when
braking. To enable the overrun cut-off to
take effect, do not acc elerate during
overrun and, if in manual transm ission
mode, do not de-clutch. To prevent
dam age to the cata lytic converter, overrun
cut-off is temp orarily deactivated when the
catalytic conv erter temperature is high.
Vehicles with turbocharged engine
3
Flow -g enerated noises may be aud ible if
the a ccelerator is released quickly on
account of air flow in the turbocharger.
Eng ine sp eed
Drive in a low engine speed range for each
gear as much as possible.
Warming up
Allow the engine to warm up while driving.
Do not w arm it up by letting it run at idling
speed. Do not app ly full throttle until the
engine has reached operating
tem perature.
After a cold sta rt, the automatic
transm ission
3 or Ea sytronic 3 in
automatic mode shifts into higher g ears at
higher rpm . This a llows the catalytic
converter to quickly reach the temperature
req uired for optimum pollutant reduction.
Correct g ear selection
Engine in neutral a nd without rev ving in the
low er gears. Stop-and-go traffic and
driving a t a speed too high for the selected
gear or transmission ratio increases wear
and fuel consum ption.
Change dow n
When decreasing speed, shift down into
the next lowest gear. Do not slip the clutch
with a high-revving engine. This is
especially important when hill climb ing.
Clutch op era tion
Alw ays dep ress the clutch ped al hard to
the floor to prev ent shifting difficulties and
tra nsmission dam age.
When driving do not use the pedal as a
foot rest; this will ca use substantial clutch
wear.
Cooling fan
The cooling fan is controlled v ia a
therm oswitch and therefore only runs if
nec essary.
The cooling fan a utomatica lly switches on
when the diesel particle filter is being
cleaned 3 depending on the engine.
Pedals
Do not place any ob jects in the foot well
which could slip under the ped als and
inhibit the pedal trav el.
To ensure the pedal travel is uninhibited,
there must be no mats in the area of the
pedals.
Battery ca re
When driving slowly or when the v ehicle is
stationary, e.g. in slow urban traffic, stop-
and-go traffic or traffic jams, turn off all
unnecessary electrical load s w here
possible (e.g. heated rear window, heated
seats).
De-clutch w hen sta rting in order to relieve
the strain on the starter and the ba ttery.