Quote:
Originally Posted by telekinetic
Yeah, you're doing it wrong, for the reasons Martian stated. If you're in 4th or 5th, slowing down for a light, and suddenly it turns green, what do you do? Just randomly pick a gear to pop back into? Or worse, you see a car flying out of a driveway If the driveway was ahead of me, whether in gear or not, I'd probably hit the brake pedal. The only situation where I would need to go forward would be if the driveway was right beside me and I was stopped. Which would probably mean that there was a stopped car in the space ahead of me. and you need to go forward NOW to get out of the way...hunting for a gear then is going to be the difference between a near miss and a t-bone.
The correct way is to always be in gear unless you're sitting at a light, you only hit the clutch for as long as it takes you to downshift. You should really be blipping the gas while the clutch is in and rev matching, if you're slowing down aggressively, to save wear on your synchros, and also clutch, depending on how much you feather it.
1st gear is an exception, never shift into 1st unless you are stopped. Go from 2nd gear to stopped, and don't get in first until you're ready to go. It's way too easy to misjudge and mechanically overrev if you drop all the way into 1st.
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I basically agree with what you say here. This is pretty much the way I drive my 5-speed SAAB 9-5 Turbo. On the freeway or open road I'm usually in 5th gear. If it is getting congested and average speed of traffic is dropping, especially if the terrain is a little rolling, I may drop into 4th. Occasionally, I'll use 3rd on a twisty or hilly two-lane where I might be driving ~45-60 mph, and my car is OK in 3rd up to 80 or more, probably higher, but I've never seen the need to do that.
I rarely downshift below third when slowing to a stop unless, like others have said, I expect the light to change, and even then 3rd is usually OK, even if not ideal. The turbo gives plenty of torque, and third is a great all around (non cruising) gear. I clutch as I stop, and shift to 1st when it's time to move off.
My dad, who has always driven stickshifts, Alfas to Freightliners, specifically taught me NOT to downshift sequentially through the gears when slowing down to "save the brakes." He said that downshifting was harder on the transmission, syncros, and clutch than upshifting, and that "brake pads are much cheaper than clutches."
Lindy
My sister has a manual Chevy Aveo. I'd drive it differently.