Seems like I can go down to very low speeds in gears 3-5 without any noticeable lugging. Is there any real need to downshift except when coming to a full stop or going down long steep hills?

 

You'll get better gas mileage if you use the gear appropreate for your speed. Remember that it's how much throttle you give, not engine speed that effects your MPG. If you're lugging 5th and want to accelerate you're going to have to floor it and the ECU will dump more fuel than needed than if you were to use the gear ratio to your advantage. By staying in a higher gear you're making the motor do all the work and you're probably way below the power band if you're cruising in high gear.

You don't NEED to, but it's better that you do.

You don't really need to downshift when coming to a stop. Unless you're trying to get + hardcore street rep from your crew

 

Thanks. I listen to the guys on "Car Talk" who favor minimizing downshifting. For example, when approaching a red light, they say to leave the car in whatever gear it's in and brake (only) to the light then when the speed is down to about 15mph, shift to neutral and stop or (if the light changes) shift to 2nd and proceed. Since these guys are mechanics, I assume they have done the fuel savings/clutch wear math.

 

Haha, I think that's the best how-to i've seen for coming to a stop and coincidentally exactly what I do myself.

Yes, like I said:

Coming to stoplight, no need to downshift

At cruising speed, downshift if accelerating.

 

I always downshift, although if driving on a B road and go through a town where the speed limit is 25, I'll shift from 5th to 4th about 1/2 mile before town and coast to the speed limit, then downshift to third to get back to 55.

 

no real need but i like to use engine braking vs my brakes whenever appropriate. some folks who dont know how to drive MT will argue that engine braking will cause premature wear on the clutch, but that's because they dont know how to rev match.


i usually coast in 3rd gear down a hill or coming to a stop (unless i know im going to accelerate i will use 2nd gear).

 

Bra you got a 370z. That bish'll rev match for you One of the reasons I was looking at one lol. But I do the Engine braking too. Sounds better with a good exhaust and +streetcred

 

^^^ya I saw that on the BBC top gear! Tripped me out! Man when Are there gonna be cars that fly?! Lol I never downshift I do the whole leave I in the gear while slowing down and at 15-20 pop it to neutral. I keep my rpms at 2k-2.5k first gear is the only one I rev up to 2600-3000 seems to work for me I get 37-40 mpg

 

Isn't the argument actually that engine braking increases the wear on the engine, transmission and the clutch? While it may be minimal even if done precisely, and if done semi-decently, the wear isn't much, its still something to keep in mind.

I've attempted engine braking all of three times in the 34k miles with my Fit... and so I rely solely on my brakes to stop (though I neutral coast when i can). I figure, replacing brakes is easier to deal with than "extra" wear on any of the previously mentioned components. On the flip side, my brakes are lasting much longer than I expected.

 

If you're rev matching correctly there's no added stress. And you save wear on the brakes.

 

I'd argue that there is (compared to neutral braking).

The stress is the force of the ground acting upon the transmission, clutch and finally engine. The clutch is only really affected during shifting, but the engine and transmission will see increased wear in the form of forces of all the moving parts (gears, pistions, etc), as opposed to neutral shifting, where they see less of it.

In neutral braking, the transmission is no longer trying to transfer the force through the clutch to the engine and the engine is only idle revving. If there were no additional forces (in turn additional wear), then engine braking would not work.

While engine braking can definitely aid in stopping, make no bones about it, there is wear involved as a trade off.

 

I only downshift if I'm doing a little "spirited" driving, passing, or coming to a stop from a high speed (with brakes)

 

And there are bigger trade offs to neutral braking. Enjoy being rear ended

 

That makes no sense.

And since you've decided to spout gibberish, I'm done with this topic.

 

I do believe he meant engine braking in that allowing the engine to slow the car does not give brake lights. Which is about the same as coasting to decrease speed. Idk. I'm done trying to make heads or tails of his logic.

 

When you're in neutral, how do you accelerate away if someone does not stop?

 

Ummmm steer out of the way maybe? Or just put the damn thing in gear and floor it. Don't worry about precision shifting. Dump the fuckin clutch. Takes half a second.

 

1/2 a second may be more than you have in some cases.

(This may not make sense to car drivers :shrug

 

If you have less than half a second then you're fucked anyway... The car isn't going to be able to accelerate quick enough if your within half a second of being hit. This might not make sense to people who never took physics.

 

lol don't try to insult my intelligence/education. You won't come out on top, trust me.