More cost effective: Braking or downshifting?

[KenO]

For a manual transmission car - braking. Lift off throttle and let the engine braking do it's thing, as it shuts off the injectors. But when you need to slow down - just use the brakes. They're cheaper than a clutch for those of you that don't heal-toe rev-match, and cheaper than the fuel spent while heal-toeing.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Originally Posted By: CurtisB
Rev matching on a synchronized transmission is laughable. If you manually rev your engine what are the chances you will pinpoint the perfect RPM every time, especially with a gasoline engine. If you over rev when downshifting which you will, you're going to make your synchronisers work harder and you may cause shock load damage. Just use one single smooth clutch depression to shift and let the synchronisers do what they are designed to do.


Here's some of that bad advice that people are talking about. Once I learned to do rev-matching downshifts in 1986, I have driven all my vehicles that way. Once you've learned the skill, under-blips and over-blips are not a problem.


+1. Proper throttle blip insures smooth as silk downshifts. I was never great at it, but I had a friend who was so good people didn't know the car was a manual.