On Wed, May 10 2006 10:09 pm, Jim Warman wrote:

I don't get that whole argument, unless you're talking about heavy trucks with a lot of weight and the need to double-clutch.

In a car or light truck it only takes an instant to get back into gear unless your clutch or transmission is shot. In almost 30 years of driving I've never felt vulnerable while coasting to a stop on a fairly level road. I watch everything that's going on around me and the few times I've had to shift back into gear have been easy.

It only takes a second or less to shift into gear from neutral. When you're already in neutral you can more quickly choose whatever gear best suits the emergency situation (it may not be the gear you were using to slow down).

When coming to a stop on a relatively level road, I see no safety advantage to rowing through the gears. It just burns out the clutch prematurely and could cause you to stall in the more common scenario of needing to brake suddenly. If you're always wanting to accelerate your way out of situations, especially when you know there's a stop ahead, you're probably a reckless speediot.

I don't know how far you downshift, but taking it all the way to 2nd or 1st gear is ridiculous. I downshift to 3rd at most, unless there's a steep hill before a stop. Then, I coast the rest of the way so I'm in neutral, ready to get back into 1st. It's all a matter of balancing what the brakes can do vs. engine compression. Brakes are much cheaper to replace than a clutch.

There are obviously situations where you need to downshift, like long grades or when you clearly need to re-accelerate. But you can plan for all that. Downshifting routinely as the converse of up-shifting is a waste of time and drivetrain life.

People keep saying it's illegal to coast in neutral but I've yet to see such a law. It may have applied to older cars with clunkier clutches and transmissions. Large trucks definitely should avoid coasting for all but the briefest distances, but cars are much more controllable.

If you're lame enough to select 1st at 60 you're just a bad driver. I've been coasting for decades below ~40 MPH while coming to a stop and I've never had the need to hold down the clutch and wear out the pilot bearing. "Coasting in" is a much more relaxing way to drive than constantly working the gears. You can save thousands of shifts per year.

I think people who downshift all the time are trying to act like race car drivers. It's unnecessary in typical traffic when you _know_ you'll have to stop in 100 yards or so. The time it takes to shift into gear from neutral is very brief and well within safety limits when you're approaching a stop and slowing down anyway. If you can anticipate that the light is going to turn green soon, you plan accordingly and stay in gear.

F.W.