Manual Drivers - Do you skip gears downshifting?

[Alan l.]

First off let me say that i've been driving manuals half my life. Always loved it and I've had 3 manual trans BMW to date. 2 were 5spds and now my F80's 6spd. Although its considered slower than DCT I still prefer it due to it making the driving experience much more fun and engaging for me.

In my previous 5spd manual cars on the highway i would only use 5th gear if I am cruising along like a grandma (sub 300hp cars) or otherwise I would be in 4th gear because it has more passing power. If i needed more power all i would need is to do one downshift from 4th to 3rd and this was all the car had to offer in terms of full throttle acceleration. Blip the throttle to match the revs and slide it from 4th to 3rd.

Now in my current F80 6spd its a different experience because 1) it has one extra gear and 2) the higher gears are much more usable due to the turbos.
I find myself cruising around in 6th gear quite often because it still offers decent passing power. My question is now when I want full acceleration I would need to be in 3rd or 4th gear and i can either go from 6-5-4-3 change or go from 6-3 / 6-4 all in one shot. I find the movement very un-natural to go from 6th to 4th and you can mistakenly go into 2nd instead because the gates are right next to each other. Out of habit i still go from 6-5-4 for downshifts but just curious to know what other here typically do and what is considered "best practice"...

Alan

[jzhu625]

my M4 is DCT, i have an S2000 which my fun car. i downshift from 6 to 4 no issue. if i'm on 4th and need power i'll put it in 2nd. just don't put it into wrong gear!

there were once i was on 5th wanted down shift to 4th, i put it in 2nd by accident.

[minn19]

I skip gears all the time. In the situation you are talking about I usually go 6th to 3rd. I'll do 4th sometimes, but I do it carefully for the obvious reasons. I also find myself doing 5th to 3rd a decent amount.

[Alan l.]

I've done 6th to 3rd before and its more natural because you are still doing a vertical movement just slightly more over to the left. I believe mishifting into 1st is hard to do because of the syncros (not that i've tried).

6th to 4th is the one that seems most dangerous and when i've done it i've always done it slowly to make sure. Its almost quicker for me to do the 6-5-4 downshift and seems safer

[minn19]

Originally Posted by Alan l.

I've done 6th to 3rd before and its more natural because you are still doing a vertical movement just slightly more over to the left. I believe mishifting into 1st is hard to do because of the syncros not that i've tried.

6th to 4th is the one that seems most dangerous and when i've done it i've always done it slowly to make sure. Its almost quicker for me to do the 6-5-4 downshift and seems safer

I seem to do 6th to 3rd more often on the freeway because I was in 6th cruising on the freeway and something slowed everybody down to 40-45. So I go into 3rd for passing and some fun.

[ljzimm]

Hi, I'm Laura, and I'm a gear skipper.

It sounds like I might be in the minority here but I personally find the 6-4 skip a much more natural feeling then the 6-3 skip but there's nothing wrong with either as long as you're confident you're going into the right gear. Ultimately it comes down to what power band you're dropping down to versus how hard you're putting it to the floor when you get there

[pokerface]

+1 on 6th to 3rd. Just be careful when you're above the speed limit since 3rd gear will put you at pretty high rpms.

[gabriel.psd]

Yes. 6th to 1st is hilarious.

[boss2k]

Yes 6th to 3rd or 6th to 4th is often , even 5th to 3rd, keep a watch on the HUD to avoid money shifting

[Zara]

Yep, I downshift from 4th to 2nd or 5th to 3rd pretty often.

[KZEVO]

yes - but not that often. most times when i heel toe (or should i say i used to :-( ) or now even with auto-rev match i plow thru each gear...

[///M///]

6 to 4 or 3 is very normal. But I often up shift 1 to 3 as well when redlining in 1. It's like doing a launch in 1st to posted speed and then shifting to 3rd to normalize

[JamesGames]

Been driving manuals for over a decade now so I stick with my old method when I used to drive shitty synchro transmission 350z / g35s that wouldn't let you downshift multiple gears when car wasn't warmed up well...

I double clutch and revmatch whenever I downshift and skip a gear (6 to 4, 5 to 3, 4 to 2) and do not double clutch when it is single gear and just revmatch (6 to 5, 5 to 4 etc). Obviously don't double clutch to shift up. Double clutching means synchros aren't taking up the damage. YMMV... I've seen people never revmatch never double clutch and their transmission / clutch lasted well past 100k. I've also seen transmission synchros / clutches gone before 50k. double clutching isn't hard to do and is second nature by now so it's the method I stick with.

I never shift up more than one gear, unless accidentally.. it feels awkward. I think it feels awkward because a lot of driving a 6MT car is in the way it feels (sound / vibration) cueing you when to shift without looking.

[trey100]

I go 6 to 3 and 3 to 6 so yes skipping no issue.

[SherM4n]

I used to skip gears going down all the time, but now most often row through them all because shifting and blipping the gas and whatnot still makes me smile because racecar.

[gunsmoker]

I don't use 5th gear on my f80 and i didn't on my previous audi. No double clutching or anything. I use the rev match except on autocross where. It doesn't matter since 95% of the course is driven in 2nd. I'm afraid to heel and tow on the track where going from 130mph into a sharp corner can be risky or burn some time for my slow heel and toe.

[Ian1973]

yes I will skip gears up and down if needed.

[gatorfast]

I go from 6th to 4th virtually every day on the highway and it feels very natural. Never had the fear of money shifting into 2nd as that won't happen in a casual driving situation on the highway (unlike "racing" where it's easier to miss 4th and hit 2nd).

Going from 6th to 3rd though feels a little unnatural to me and I usually just do 6-4-3 in that instance.

[katit]

I skip downshifting and upshifting whenever I feel needed. That's why any paddle shifters don't work for me

[eonflux]

I also skip gears shifting, up or down.
Sometimes even do a 1-6 shift if the situation calls for it.

[Alan l.]

Interesting responses. I personally never skip gears upshifting. I can see why some people do it but for me the act of shifting is why I got this car to begin with so I don't mind rowing through the gears...

I guess for me this is my first 6spd car and also a car where the upper gears are also so useable which calls for this change where there is a need to skip gears down shifting. Frankly driving around in a 200hp 5spd manual i'm never in 5th and there isn't much gears to use if you are on the highway so its pretty much 4-3 all day long. I still prefer the old school way of downshifting through all the gears but I will also practice the 6 to 4th shift more so I become more use to it when I need to do it.

[drroc]

I go 6-2nd (don't push too hard or you get stuck in the reverse gate). This is useful if you are doing 40mph in 6th, and you need to make an orange light. When upshifting, I skip gears quite a bit as well. 1,2nd, 4th, 6th. or 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th. Granted, this is very lazy acceleration in rush hour traffic. This car has so much torque that rowing through all the gears just because of principle, causes more wear on the clutch.