what worries me is that the title of the article is 'neutral does not save gas' and not 'neutral is exceptionally dangerous because you are not in full control

what worries me is that the title of the article is 'neutral does not save gas' and not 'neutral is exceptionally dangerous because you are not in full control of your car'. if something jumped out at you and you suddenly needed to gas your car, you just lost 1-2 important seconds (if you're very good at remembering what gear to hop into for a given speed/rpm). the next stupid thing you could do is "I'm coasting so I might as well turn my car off". now you lost power steering. no, neutral does not save gas. your fuel pump has a idling injection setting (lets say keeping the engine at 950rpm). when you're in neutral, the injection mechanism switches to that rate, and you slow down by friction (bearings, wheels, transmission, weight, etc). whereas if you're coasting in gear, the engine switches into engine braking, and eventually slows you down without using fuel. in gasoline engines that works by creating vacuum in the engine (which slows the movement). in diesel engines that vacuum is not created, so the exhaust is somehow blocked (again, slowing the movement). HUGELY oversimplified explanation, I realize. with apologies to actual mechanics. I'm just a nerd who hammers at his car :)