> I think that this is not correct. From the vim help file:
>
> :q[uit]                 Quit the current window.  Quit Vim if this is the last
>                       window.  This fails when changes have been made and
>                       Vim refuses to |abandon| the current buffer, and when
>                       the last file in the argument list has not been
>                       edited.
>                       If there are other tab pages and quitting the last
>                       window in the current tab page the current tab page is
>                       closed |tab-page|.

I do think I over simplified the answer the first time around. However, all the details of vim documentation for the different types of quits, closing/hiding windows, closing/hiding/unloading buffers is a bit overwhelming and probably unnecessary for this specific problem. As noted in the documentation :q targets a Vim window (view)  in a tab-page - if you only have one, Vim quits. An easy example of the behavior within vim is when you use :h - in that case :q closes the help but not Vim). How that related to Vimpulse & the different states of emacs I am not sure.


Anyhow I really would like to be able to :wq without loosing emacs. I
don't think one can thing that this can only be achieved by :w
followed by :bd

So please advise about how to setup so that :q quits the current
buffer, preferably without changing my window configuration.

While others have already made other suggestions, to write & close a buffer, :w | bd suffices, though it uses more keystrokes than :wq.