Is it bad to "Down Shift" a lot?

+1

 

Ok.. add snow and off roading to my list.

But normal day to day driving..

 

There's just no good reason. At best it burns more gas, and brake pads are pretty cheap. At worst it puts wear on the tranny, which is far more costly to fix than brakes, and still burns more gas. All it buys you is less wear on the brakes. In either case, it's not worth it.

 

normal day to day driving includes hills and snow in winter for me

but I guess I just " can't work a clutch "

 

It doesn't wear the tranny to select anothef gear other than D

 

That may be, it's debatable. But it doesn't matter- you'll still burn more gas than brake pads are worth.

 

Or just have no brakes at the bottom of some long hills

I'm not super concerned about a microscopic reduction in mpg in my truck , I just drive it and use it like a truck and its not all that debatable , it does no damage to select gears in the auto in the Tacoma

 

I'm curious to know how it burns more gas.

 

I'm assuming he's referring to higher rpm's

 

Oh, long hills is definitely a different story. I was referring to OP's original situation- braking when coming to a fast stop, or in everyday traffic. Yeah, no question on hills- I tow a 5,000 lb trailer up and down the Rocky Mountains regularly and always downshift for descents, and ascents too when needed to maintain speed.

EDIT- Yeah, regarding burning more gas I'm referring to RPM's.

 

Perhaps you should circulate and forward a petition to Lexus, Porsche, General Motors, FoMoCo, Fiat etc etc informing them that they are wasting their money manufacturing autos with "paddle shifters", allowing the driver to manually select which gear on the automatic transmission they prefer because "there's just no good reason" and "it's not worth it". I'm sure they will appreciate your unqualified expert opinion on their engineering, marketing and performance options for their automatic transmissions.

 

The truck won't allow a downshift if the rpms would be such that damage is possible

 

I only downshift my auto after I drive my sisters wrx and loath Toyota for not making a manual DCLB . And then promptly view threads about manual swapping, and then remember I get paid 10.50 an hour

 

I downshift to slow down every time I slow down. I've done this with every man tranny vehicle since I started driving in 1990, never had any issue

 

It's really not that big of a deal, and it totally depends on what you want to do. Want better mileage and less clutch wear? Put it in neutral and coast up to stops. Want more control? Downshift. That's the whole reason I've driven manuals for 30 years- you can vary depending on conditions.

 

You guys know this thread is about shifting an auto right ?

and v

 

I've been driving well over 40 years, about 50/50 split between autos and manuals. I don't always downshift when stopping, but do when it will help with either transmission. Which is actually quite often. I have no idea how many miles I've driven, well over 1,000,000 and have never damaged a transmission in any way. You can't be stupid and try to go to 3rd gear at 65 mph, but anyone with any sense can, and should take advantage of what the transmission was designed for. In fact mine will downshift automatically at times in order to slow me down. Don't try to tell me they weren't designed to do this. Brake pads are cheap, but rotors aren't and with labor at $120/hour as well as my time I want to make my brakes last a very LOOOONG time. I usually get 60,000 -70,000 on front and 150,000 on rear brakes.

 

Asking myself the same question, but, this is TW - LOL

 

I'll bite. It is a well known fact that heat kills transmissions over time (there is actually an active thread on it right now). In order to slow/stop your vehicle from rolling, friction is required, whether it is in the transmission or the brakes. Friction creates heat. Therefore I agree that it is "best not to do it". Don't get me wrong, I would put it in a lower gear going down a slick hill, but I would personally avoid downshifting regularly.

 

So thats somehow not an issue if the truck does it's "engine braking" downshits on it's own when you apply the brakes going down an incline ?