My bad. I was just referring to the gas savings part of the Top Gear test.

I don't sequentially downshift coming to a light but i do shift to a lower gear and brake then throw it in neutral. If you are breaking in 6th gear after 30-25 mph your engine begins to act funky, so i always am in a lower gear going into breaking

+1^

I think the better question is do you rev-match when you downshift, and if you don't, can this cause problems?

I've always been under the impression that NOT rev-matching causes unnecessary wear and tear on the synchromesh. Furthermore, there is something that seems unnatural about operating a motor in such a way that causes it to lurch forward (over-revving a downshift) or bog down (not rev-matching at all when downshifting).

I always rev-match when downshifting.

And as far as the debate about saving brakes vs. clutch/tranny, I don't think anyone can argue that the cost of downshifting to save your brakes (blown or more quickly worn clutch, increased stress on the transmission) far outweighs the benefit (saving your brake pads a few hundred miles more).

I rev-match every once in a while. Sometimes its extremely difficult to determine where your rpms will hit causing you to over rev or jolt the car if you under rev. My ex used to say that when I down shifted, it seemed like I was purposely reving the car to "show-off" even though my purpose was to rev-match. I can see why she said it though. Also, in some scenarios, its quite time consuming to let off the gas, depress the clutch and rev match when you could just brake. I personally don't do it as much as some of you. I just drive my car and enjoy it.

Yeah with an exhaust and HFCs people next to me always give me crazy looks like I'm trying to race them if I downshift coming to a light... I'm definitely not the flashy ricer type, so I hate it when downshifting is misinterpreted.

After owning the car for a while I don't even look at the tach to match revs on downshift - it's more of a feel for the car than anything.

depends on your revmatch technique, if you double clutch, then no, you are not putting additional unnecessary wear on your clutch/transmission/syncros but you are revmatching while in gear with the clutch disengaged, then you are still putting wear and tear on your syncros even without the lurch after reengagement. Go to howstuffworks and see how syncros and a tranny works to understand why the syncros are still being worn

I bought a 93 honda civic with 130k on it back in 1998 when I started High school. I drove that car for 9 years putting another 140K on it. I drove it harder then most and I down shifted at Every red light and stop sign. I did not have to replace the clutch or the tranny or any drive train components. I replaced the breaks onces, and the CV joints when needed.

what caused the car to fail was the lower ball joint on the driver side front tire snapped and the tire fell off at 40 mph one day. I was out of college by then so I went out and got the G.

Point of the story is I down shifted at every stop for 140k miles and the clutch and the tranny and the engine never need to be replaced and were still running strong.

People that kill trannys and clutches in 30 to 40k can't drive a stick. they think they can but its very apparent that they really have no clue because the clutch and tranny are suppose to last the life of the car if driven properly.

And for the comments of ”you must of drove like a granny to get a clutch to last that long”
I went through 5 sets all season tires on that **** box.

First, please forgive me for trolling around in such an old thread. Count it up to being bored I guess.

OMG!!! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, then when you're sleeping let's just say your heart stops beating too while we're at it. If the engine is on, it's burning fuel. Otherwise it would be OFF! Which is saying the ONLY way not to burn any fuel while moving in the car is to have the car loaded on a truck or to turn off the engine and put her in neutral.

Using compression to slow the vehicle 'can' (and most likely does) use more fuel than just coasting in neutral at idle, depending on engine management how the ECU handles each situation of course.

It's really easy on models with the NAV system as you have a complete oil life, trip meter, mpg avg, mpg instant, and a host of other items available to show the data. My 6MT doesn't have NAV so I can't tell you what all it (the G) has. However, my Cadillac, wifes Denali, and daughters G6 GTP will tell you instant MPG and average MPG. Just sitting at a redlight idling the mileage goes down. Sit for 5 minutes and you'll lose 3 tenths! Pull into the sub division and drive down the long slight hill to the house for a mile from the front and you get one mileage figure. Put it in neutral and coast and you'll get .1 to .2 tenths more depending on which vehicle. The Denali has displacement on demand even, yet the Caddy with the Northstar BLOWS it away on fuel mileage. We're lucky to get 15 with the Denali, whilst the Caddy that I just put around in picking the kid up from school, running to the store etc, is sitting outside now at 21.5 (I think) and that's LOW for it. Normally I'm getting over 22, just hit a few more red lights lately.

So yeah... you can rev match and downshift if you like, no harm-no foul. Or... you can slow in whatever gear you were driving in, then when stopping or turning, clutch it and slip it into the proper gear for that speed. Third works pretty good for pulling in from a 55 zone to the sub-division doing 40-ish. Might want to go to 2nd if you're below 30. Anyone that has been driving these things long enough has a good feel for what gear works where. What I miss is not using a clutch except for starting from a dead stop. I used to have medium duty tow-trucks, big ol' GMC's with Caterpillar power. Fantastic trannys there, mine were only 215HP but with 605ft/lbs of torque. The only time I used the clutch was to start from a stop, go in reverse, or engage the PTO. The rest of the time it'd slide like butta' into all the rest of the 6 gears. Try that on the G tranny and you'll grind up the syncronizers in a day.

Price shipped to 30252? Also check you PM

Thanks!

my last two cars i would always downshift... So used to it that I downshift my auto...

I down shift my auto too!!! I actually rev match it sometimes too. Bet you didn't know you could do that in an auto....

^+1

The simple answer here is take a HPDE course or two.