MT peeps: do you skip gears?

This has been brought up before. I do also. Sometimes I skip two at a time at the end of a passing situation.

I have recently been on a kick where I almost never use 5th. I short-shift all the time but recently thought: "Hey, this car will take much higher revs than I typically go up to; and with an at least 'perceived' notion that it is susceptible to clutch/TOB issues, I'll cut the clutch cycles by 16% by not using 5th gear."

It just means I go to 3K rpm in 4th before shifting into 6th instead of going to 2K rpm in 4th and shifting into 5th.

I've skipped a single gear, when the situation makes sense, on many of my cars, over the years, without issue.

Good video, Metal, thanks. \m/

I'm curious to hear from those who disagree with the practice...

callktulu said:

I do, but this has been a hot topic on other forums I frequent.

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Cancel your accounts and never visit those fora again. They don't sound healthy.

Thoughts?

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I used to think cirrhosis was a legal term until I discovered whiskey. You mean about skipping gears? Nobody should care. Non-issue.

i do it all the time. if im in the situation i sometimes go from 4th to 6th. i dont really do it when im downshifting just cause i like to utilize engine braking. as long as you're not toasting your clutch when you do it i dont think its bad for the car

It's funny, this has made me actually "think" about my shifting..I just kinda do it like an automatic function. I actually do skip gears, downshifting, often from 5th, where maybe I was doing a comfortable, quiet 40mph, to 3rd, to bring down the speed of the car quicker, and let me enjoy my Nameless exhaust. The rev-matching is just part of the fun and the artform.

As long as you rev match you're fine. Been doing it in every manual car I've owned. Tho then it thing for me was getting accustomed to the rev points when I went from a 6 speed to a 5 speed

Many times, especially upshifting when going down a hill, skip-shifting makes total sense. Of course the key remains to keep your revs within the right range, and to use our clutch properly (not jerking when engaging the chosen gear). Been appropriately skip-shifting for over 50 years/2,000,000 miles, without ever having a transmission or a clutch issue.

WRX John said:

Been appropriately skip-shifting for over 50 years/2,000,000 miles, without ever having a transmission or a clutch issue.

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Damn you're OLD!!

I do this all the time in my S2000 as the gears are crazy short and it does not really effect performance unless im really getting on it, ive been doing this for 10 years and never had an issue. My GF's Dodge challenger encourages this practice by going from 1 to 4th gear for economy reasons (even flashes a message on the dash that says 1--4) and it find it easy as there is so much torque from the engine. But for some reason i really never see myself doing this in the WRX, not really sure why. A lot of manufactures will encourage this for economy reasons, the Corvette is another example of this.

Long story short, as previously stated, as long as your not roasting the clutch doing so, this shouldnt be any issue.

I rarely use 5th gear.

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I can't shake the habit of rowing through all the gears up and down in order . . . unless I make a mistake and shift into the wrong gear which happens on occasion. D'oh!

Firefighterjake said:

I can't shake the habit of rowing through all the gears up and down in order . . . unless I make a mistake and shift into the wrong gear which happens on occasion. D'oh!

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Really? You go through them all on the way down also? I am the complete opposite slowing down - I just pop it into neutral and coast/brake to all stops, never down shifting.

Since 3rd takes me to 80 I'll wind 1st out until I hear it bounce on the revlimiter a few times then shift to 3rd for the duration skipping 4 and 5 all together.

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XJ I recall in the past you commenting on how you like to use the rev limiter feature. I am beginning to believe you......................

XJman said:

Since 3rd takes me to 80 I'll wind 1st out until I hear it bounce on the revlimiter a few times then shift to 3rd for the duration skipping 4 and 5 all together.

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This is excellent advice. The guys on car talk have discussed the merits of this style of driving. And it's the way rexys are meant to be driven.

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rqjoe said:

XJ I recall in the past you commenting on how you like to use the rev limiter feature. I am beginning to believe you......................

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Why would I lie. Red line dump the clutch, redline shift, abs brake. Maximum potential

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rqjoe said:

Really? You go through them all on the way down also? I am the complete opposite slowing down - I just pop it into neutral and coast/brake to all stops, never down shifting.

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Same. The only time I down-shift is in extreme braking, which is rare.