It's On and It's Off

I sat in my sweet silver Panda and adjusted the seat, looking far too briefly at the various controls. I dropped the hand brake, went into Drive, and hit the gas.

The car is one of those 'half automatics' -- by that I mean it's like my Smart in that you can switch gears yourself for greater gas economy and to control the power (I say with the little to no irony) without needing a clutch, using a lever on the transmission stick. Or, you can allow the car to switch gears himself.

Another surprise in store from my fine ride is that when you come to a full stop (with your foot on the brake or the car in Neutral), the engine shuts off for fuel economy. The car is still ON, it's just off, if you see my point.

Take your foot off the brake or hit the gas and it cranks itself and moves.

[I have read in several different places that cranking the car uses much more gas than driving the car, so I'm not sure how the Panda turning off and cranking saves fuel. Perhaps this is something I need to research.]