[insaneirish]

> but I also hate the hesitation on uncontrolled left-hand turns in particular. Seems dangerous.

Bingo. This is exactly where it scares me, particularly when I'm already in an intersection.

> I've pretty much just made it a reflex to hit the turn-off button when I turn on the car. At least it's easy once a reflex.

My daily driver is old enough not to have auto stop/start. My problem is my wife's vehicle has it. She instinctively turns it off as soon as she's in the vehicle. Because I only drive her vehicle sporadically, I don't have the muscle memory to do that, so it inevitably catches me by surprise.

[ghaff]

It's pretty idiotic I can permanently turn off a bunch of the safety features on the car but not this. As you say, it's pretty reflexive to just turn it off when you start the car if you're used to it. When I do a road trip with a friend when we share driving, I always have to remember to reach over and turn it off for her because it annoys her as much as it annoys me.