These may be some of the worst situations where it is the most dangerous to NOT have complete control of your car. Coasting in neutral, by most driving schools is considered lack of control. Having it in gear (even if it's the wrong gear for the road speed) is the better scenario as you maintain a direct link with that which can accelerate if need be.


As for saving fuel, when you idle in neutral, you use fuel. When you decelerate with the gas pedal all the way up, the ECU shuts down the injectors completely.

Heel/toe is more of a technique for running the car on a circuit track or road course where you need to come hard into a corner and downshift in preparation to accelerate out hard. On the street, this is really not necessary. If you think it's necessary for street driving, you're most likely driving like an idiot.

 

xviper, I heel toe just for practice. But I also do it to prolong my poor drivetrain (clutch in particular). If you aren't at least rev matching your downshifts, well, I feel sorry for your drivetrain. I've heard the argument about how it's idiotic on the streets far to many times... IMO it's a good skill to have and definitely something you can use everyday to your benefit even in normal driving conditions.

ff2skip, lol. It's not really taught unless you seek teaching (i.e. driver's school). The benefits of it are actually usable on the street, such as slowing down for a stop light that you know is about to turn green, or slowing down for a turn. Where most people would simply throw the car in neutral or a lower gear and coast through a turn with the brakes on, you can go through it with a smile on your face knowing that you're already in gear to accelerate out of said turn.

How can you learn? It's best to try it out yourself with the help of someone who knows how to do it. That or read up on it and give it a few goes. I don't recommend learning in everyday traffic, try it out in a parking lot. No need to haul ass, just try it from 3rd to 2nd at low rpms until you sort-of get the hang of it. It takes many many months to perfect if you keep at it.

BTW I am certainly not at any level of perfection.

 

- its okay.. i'll risk it

 

Rev-match downshifting alone prolongs your clutch. Whether or not you use your brakes at the same time is irrelevent to this end. Heel/toe-ing allows you to rev-match downshift while using maximal braking power at the same time. Rarely would this be needed on the street. If you are practicing this on the street at "less exuberant" levels, then fine - have fun.
I just wanted this as a clarification to your quoted statement so that un-initiated readers did not think that the heal/toe technique must be utilized to "save" your clutch as it is not.

 

weird.. i do the same thing...

im usually already braking and going about 15-20mph heading to a light or stopsign... i cant imagine getting into a catastrophic accident at that speed that i wouldnt be able to avoid if i was in gear...

 

I think some people look into leaving our cars into neutral WAY too far in normal everyday driving situations.

 

I agree with Xviper - you're actually using more fuel coasting in neutral than you would coasting in gear.

Second, I can convery a personal experience when I could have been smoked had I been in neutral coasting up to a stop light.

I was driving on a street, two lanes each way. My light was red for some time, therefore green light traffic was steadily flowing thru the intersection (80km/h road). I was approaching the red light in the far right lane, a car next to me in the left. There was a right turn lane in my direction at the light, but that turn lane wasn't available yet when this happened:

As I was slowing down in 2nd gear, I quickly caught a glimpse of headlights in my rear view.....the car was coming up behind me FAST!! I was able to accelerate forward and scoot into that turning lane ahead and to the right of me. The car flew by me and locked up, slid into the intersection - didn't get hit thankfully. Had I been coasting in neutral, I would not have been able to accerlate into that open lane, I would have been rear ended, and quite possibly thrown into an 80km/h intersection.

Unless I'm completely stopped, the car is ALWAY in gear.

Just a thought.

 

I like to rev match, but as xviper said, "it's not always necessary on the street". I sometimes rev match on the street because I moved my throttle pedal closer to my brake pedal and it is easy to do so when driving on isolated country roads. When it comes to driving on the street, most of the time I don't brake late enough to warrant having to brake, blip and downshift simultaneously. I just simply slow down early enough to allow myself to take my foot off the brake so I can get a good blip to match my engine speed with the speed of the transmission upon downshifting.

Whether I am braking deep at the end of a straightaway or driving less aggressively, I always match my engine speed with the speed of the transmission, the difference being when driving less aggressively, I don't have to brake, blip and downshift all simultaneously.

I too like to coast in neutral when approaching a stopping point from about 15-20 mph. I just don't think it is necessary to use the drivetrain when I don't have to. Been doing this for years and years.

 

bad practice to coast in neutral.....you never know what unpredictable event can occur

 

There is also another consideration. When I taught the Advanced level motorcycle training course, we had an exercise called "Emergency Acceleration". Sometimes, you come upon a circumstance where this is necessary to stay out of trouble.
Next time you are coasting along in neutral at speed, determine at what speed you can actually engage 1st gear (without revving). You will find out that if you are going too fast, 1st will not engage due to the blocker ring. How fast is too fast? This depends upon your car. Some cars where the blocker ring is still in good shape, 1st may be hard to engage at any speed above 20 mph. If you are just coasting up towards a stop light or yield, if you realize you are in an emergency acceleration scenario, what do you think you will do? Your immediate impulse will be to ram it into 1st because, after all, you're going pretty slow, right? You may find that you cannot get 1st and while you are dicking around with the gearbox ......................... WHAM!