[mosc]

well, hopefully NN will post a better explanation. My understanding isn't as good as his but basically you're right about the neutral gas. Maintaining idle takes more gas when you don't have the car's inertia turning the engine.

You're not following me though on the tranny. If I'm going 45mph in 4th gear, the tranny is spinning pretty quick. If I put it in neutral and coast all the way to zero, the tranny is still spinning pretty much as fast as it was when I was still going 45mph. By taking it out of gear, I removed the connection between the tranny and the engine. Now when I want to put it in first (keep in mind I'm at a complete stop), the tranny has to RAPIDLY slow down. This is shock loading.