I do the same. But, it's easy with 4.77 gears. Just letting the gas off in 3rd gear will nearly drag you to a stop.

 

For the lazy people that skip-shift: why don't you just get an automatic if shifting is too much trouble?

 

Alright, I'm not resting my hands on the shifter ever again.
Thanks for the advice, guys.

Dan

 

this is kind of like the practical explanation of the jibberish i posted earlier

 

You don't need to downshift every single gear when you are coming to a stop. You could slow down the car to pretty slow without lugging the engine in, say, 4th gear. Then you just clutch in when you are close to a stop. So might have to go from 5th to 4th ... but that's about it?

Anyway, I don't skip gears. Shifting itself is fun on the S! Why waste the chance

 

My gas mileage is crap hehehe

 

I rev-match the downshifts till 4th or 3rd and go to neutral when the load comes off the trans. By then you are doing 12-15mph. Unless I know I won't be stopping then I leave it in 3rd or go to 2nd. I don't leave my hand on the stick, I don't leave my foot on the clutch and I don't skip gears up or down.

 

WHERE'S MAH TIPS???

 

downshifting from 6-5-4-3-2-1-neutral when coming to a red light is completely ridiculous. generally, as my speed is decreasing from 50mph to 30 or so, i will downshift from 6-5-4 maybe, and if i know the light is going to stay red, i will just decelerate in 3rd or 4th gear until ~10mph when i clutch-in and shift to neutral.

the only time i will downshift further is if i know certain lights around DC are on timers or if i see the cross-street light changing from yellow to red and i know that my light is soon changing from red to green.

even if you are a master rev-matcher on your downshifts, you're still creating unnecessary wear on every part of your transmission by downshifting through each gate. and like someone else said, it's far cheaper to replace brake pads than to replace a transmission.

if you have to move out of the way suddenly, you can shift into gear in less than a second and get your car moving to where it needs to be. if you have to accelerate on shorter notice than that, chances are you're probably going to get hit or whatever anyway. if you hear a siren or something, sure, downshift to whatever gear is appropriate and pull over to the side of the road. otherwise, save your tranny on routine stops. downshifting through each gear is overkill.

 

having drivensinc 1966, had almost all my cars in manual i know a few things. i have replaced an odd clutch here and there, over 70,000 miles use on older cars as well.

i skip shift every day in all my cars, not going uphill and not when the car is under load. i do not force it into gear either or shift really fast or really slow. i also downshit, with rev matching,sometimes rev matching when upshifting, i don't think about it much, it is habit.

i have replaced a trans once, in my 1972 celica at 110,000miles, it just gave it up.

mechanicals take a certain finese to make work properly, i usually get a whole lotta use out of brakes as well, my 04 tl has 50,000 miles on it and original brakes, my 99 volvo S70 t5 brake replacement ususally is at about 45,000 miles, the tl is a 6 sp and the volvo is an auto.

i have been more than lucky, but i don't think casual shit skipping is a bad thing with the car is not under load, like going down hill or on flat land at speed, like 1-3 or 3-5.

downshifting is an art as well, rev matching is a good thing, i can do 6-4 or 4-2 again if there is no load or excessive speed.

i drive my cars, i do not baby them, i treat them with respect and listen to their noises all the time with joy. the S2000 gearbox driven on a daily basis is the best i have ever owned, ever driven.