When you are at 40-50 MPH and in 4 or 5th gear what do you do when there is a near by stop sign or a redlight? Do you just put it in nutreul and let it roll or downshift one by one

 

I usually down shift with rev matches down to 4th then just cruise down to about 10-15 MPH in gear, then pop it into neutral and come to a full stop. The proper way I believe is to constantly downshift into the appropriate gear so that incase of an emergancy you can react without having to shift.

 

so like you mean if you are in 4th in 40-50mph and slow down to 30-35 downshift to 3rd and 25-30 down to 2nd and incase you have to you can just go at 2nd gear?

 

Never be in neutral,when you're rolling;it's like sleeping on the switch.!!!

 

I'm not so sure that coming to the internet to learn how to drive stick is such a good idea. You never know if the information and advice you are getting is correct. You should really get lessons from a driving school that has manual cars to teach you on.

 

I've always tended to advocate downshifting to the appropriate gear as you decelerate. That way, if you need to accelerate for some unexpected reason, you'll be in the right gear to do it.

In practice, however, and I'm talking driving the normal traffic any of us who live near a big city (Houston, in my case) normally deal with, I just decelerate in whatever gear I happen to be in. I don't usually bother to downshift as I go but I don't put the transmission in neutral and coast down with the brakes either. I can be in 6th gear at 45 to 50 mph and will simply let off the gas and let it slow down naturally. By the time I get down to around 1500 rpm or so, I'll push in the clutch and go to neutral which, by that time, I'm very close to a stop anyway and will select 2nd, or if I'm on the brakes and continuing to slow, 1st gear to be ready to go again. If things clear up (the light changes, etc.) before I get to that point, I'll downshift to the appropriate gear (you'll get a feel for that with time and experience in the car) and continue on my way.

I know this probably isn't the ideal way to do things but, in the real world, it works for me.

Drive Safe,
Steve R.

 

would this work also.
If there is redlight
1. 45-50mph-5th gear. Complete stop. And switch to 1st
2. As i slow down, keep on downshifting one by one

If the light turns green from red
1. 40-50 mph 5th gear. slowed down to about 20. Gear to 2 and go.

 

When I downshift I usually just push clutch in (while braking) switch to gear, then pop the clutch. My car does slow down but it kind of jerks is this because I'm not rev matching? I'm new to driving stick.

Rev matching is just reving the gas a little in between switching to a lower gear(while in neutral) correct?

 

Come on.... is this S2000nubi??? Seem to sound alot like him.

 

Generally correct but to do it properly, it needs to be a fluid motion. When you're shifting gears, you don't, or shouldn't, spend any significant time in neutral. The shift lever just travels through the neutral gate while on it's way to the next gear, whichever way you happen to be going.

One of the problems I had when I first got my S2000, is that I was not accustomed to how fast the engine would rev when I blipped the throttle in an attempt to rev match on a down shift. That, coupled with the fact that the transmission gear ratios are a lot closer than any other manual transmission I had ever driven made it "very" hard to properly rev match. If I pushed the throttle, any at all, during the downshift, I'd overdo it and get a jump when I let off the clutch.

What I do now is, leave the throttle in what should be a steady pace position. That is, have it in a position that it would be in if you were simply holding speed on a level road. Then, when it's time to downshift, just hold the throttle where it is (don't push any extra), push in the clutch, make the gear change and let off the clutch. If you time it right, and it does take practice, you'll be letting off the clutch about the time the rpms get up to where they need to be for the next lower gear and the car won't lurch at all as the clutch engages. The technique is easy enough to practice. Just get it up to 50 mph or so in 6th on a level road. Hold just enough throttle to maintain speed and hold that position with your right foot. Then do a 1, 2, 3, push in the clutch, shift from 6th to 5th, let out the clutch, and see if you can time it so that the engine speed is just coming up to where it needs to be for 5th gear at the 50 mph. The deal is, if you're holding enough throttle to maintain speed, the engine will naturally speed up when you push down on the clutch and take the load off the engine. The key is to not move your throttle while you're doing it. You can also do a 4th to 3rd downshift in the 30 to 35 mph range. It works the same. As you get more used to it, you should be able to do the same thing at just about any speed you want so long as it's within the range of the gear you're downshifting to. It's worked for me anyway!

Drive Safe,
Steve R.