braking and downshifting

[XRedJar]

What is "extreme" about engine braking when going down a mountain? It's not doing anything bad to your engine...

Again, it's more just a personal preference. It may not be harmful, but I try to run the middle ground with engine breaking, and regular brakes.

Just seems like a lot of back torque for an extended period would not do an engine any favors. I could be wrong on that, and I have been wrong before.

[anpato]

Size 16??!? Holy crap. I should point out that I haven't yet been able to comfortably heel-toe in this car. Where the pedals have felt perfectly placed for me to do that in other cars, it feels totally wrong to me in the WRX. But everybody's different, so I need to practice more in this car. Anyway, I see your point about just blipping the throttle for smoothness in day to day driving. But I don't understand sequentially down changing. If you need 2nd for the approaching corner, why not just change from 4th to 2nd and blip the throttle there? Modern brakes are quite capable of slowing a car down without the need of the engine. Or is it just because racecar?

It took me a week of hard practice before I got it, just have at it and find a way comfortable for you.