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Is it bad to hold the clutch down and leave the shifter in 2nd gear while coasting to a red light? That way if the light turns green you could slowly release the clutch and apply gas. Also, does it save gas to put it in neutral to coast to a red light because the engine only runs at ~700rpm as opposed to 3500rpm and slowly going down as you come to a stop? Thanks.

 
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That doesn't make any sense. If you are shifting from a higer gear to a lower one, it's going to require more revolutions from the engine to keep the wheels spinning at close to the same speed. The only way it wouldn't is if you waited long enough in between the shift so that the car slowed down. Also I'd like to see how you can downshift without giving the engine any gas, and without the revs jumping up from the engine being forced to speed by the momentum of the car. If you did wait to the right speed at the car's idle pointe point, you risk stalling the car as it further slows, or at least bogging heavily and damaging parts.

I also kinda question the need to apply more speed in order to get out of a dangerous situation. 99% of the time I think you'll end up getting yourself into more trouble doing something like this. It is possible, and probably a good reason to not just throw it in neutral, but keeping the clutch depressed and the car in 2nd should be sufficient. Just pop it and floor the gas if the situation requires.

 
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If you knew how to drive a manual you would very much be able to do so. When you downshift you are not supose to pop the clutch. The point of downshifting is to slow the car down using the gears. Therefore when down shifting and breaking at the same time if you slowly let thr clutch out you will find that your gears are very helpful. Yeah if you pop the clutch then you will make the car jerk. Basically what I am saying is LEARN HOW TO DRIVE A MANUAL!!!!!!

 
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This of course nullifies all your posts about how downshifting saves brakes and doesn't wear the clutch. If you read closely you'll see that I made this exception: by not gassing the engine and releasing the clutch, the car's momentum will bring the engine up to speed. But, and this is the key, that requires the clutch to bear the inital resistance of the engine. You essentially used the clutch as a brake. The engine will quickly come up to speed so the wear is minimal, but you just torqued your entire engine and wore your clutch for what point exactly? The engine break force is so minimal compared to what the actual brakes can do, it seems pointless.

You would have a point about engine braking if you match the speed PERFECTLY before releasing the clutch (but this is impossible), as this would result in no clutch-slip wear on the shift. However, your post shows that you aren't even trying this. Keep wearing that clutch, I'll replace my brake pads.

 
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THIS IS WUT I DO for downshifting..

I wait for the rev to reach 1500 and then I clutch and shift gear and then I slowly release the clutch..

Is this good?

Wut's a goood rev to downshift????

 
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No that is what down shifting is. You are fine.


I'm just curious what you all consider down shifting to be. I'm not asking how to or what is a good point to but what do you all think downshifting is?

 
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Downshifting is shifting from a higher gear to a lower gear. Or more scientifically - performing an action that will bring your input shaft from a state of lower RPM's to a state of higher RPM's, without using the throttle. This definition is kind of **** and I had to add the "without using the throttle" part because sitting in neutral and revving the engine will raise the RPM's but that is certainly not downshifting.

In order to downshift without having the car jerk suddenly or having the synchromesh work really hard, you must blip the throttle to raise the input shaft RPM's to match the new higher RPM's brought about by the downshift. Cruising in neutral and then suddenly shifting the car into 2nd or 3rd gear is a form of downshifting as well, and you will need to rev-match accordingly to make it a smooth downshift.