Manual Shifting

Someone told me it's better to shift from 2nd to 4th and skip 3rd gear. Does this make sense? Thanks for any advice.

 

I had a Mustang that had a bad 3rd gear syncro. That's the way I shifted it till 1 day it got stuck in 4th. LOL

 

Been driving a manual since 1970 - nope, makes no sense to me.

 

There is no reason to use all of the gears just because you have them. It depends on the driving conditions, you just need to experiment and see what works best for you. If you're starting off on a down hill run there is certainly no need to use all of them. Often starting in 2nd is just fine and skip a few to get into high gear sooner. Or if you're not loaded heavy and not accelerating hard there is no reason to use them all.

Look at it this way. Years ago cars/trucks only had 3 speeds. 1st and 3rd years ago are geared the same as 1st and whatever the highest non OD gear is in your truck. They only used one gear between them. Today's 5 and 6 speeds can be useful, but all of those gears aren't needed all the time. Truck drivers skip gears they don't need all the time and so have I.

 

The only gear I skip regularly is from 4th to 6th gear. This is because 5th and 6th gearing are just so close it's almost trivial to have both. But it's totally subjective to the situation.

 

ohh i remember that feature on the 2000' Z28, of course that LS1 had all that torque where it didn't matter. Its true reason to do so was "gas savings".... like whatever...

 

I use every gear nearly all of the time. I don't raise the revs over 22-2300 before shifting and normally run around 2000 for driving. I rarely drive highway with over 60 mph speed limits. I obviously exceed 2000 rpms on faster roads.

 

The gears are there if you need them.. once you get some experience driving a manual youll be able to feel whats going on without even looking at the tach. Youll be able to feel when it's lugging, revved too hi, etc..

Keep driving, keep experimenting, keep learning! Properly driving a manual trans car is quickly becoming a lost art

 

Beneficial? No. Detreimetal? No.

I generally find myself shifting from 1 to 2 to 4 to 6. The gearing in our transmissions is so close that skipping 3 and 5 isn’t noticeable when up shifting. Plus I’m super lazy.


Down shifting is another story though.

 

I skip 5th gear a lot if I'm just tooling along and not in a hurry. It won't really hurt or help anything to do it either way. Just let the shift lever ease into the next gear though. Don't force it if you don't have to.

 

I regularly skip gears, and regularly omit using the clutch on many shifts.

The only gear I can’t get with a clutchless shift is 5th.

Edit wayyy after initial post. If I’m in no hurry, I’ll shift with no clutch from first all the way through sixth. No gear skipping if that’s the case.

 

Its ok to skip gears when you don't need them, but only when you don't need them. Its not "better" to skip 3rd just because its 3rd. In fact, 3rd is an incredibly useful gear, since it is the gear from which you get the highest torque at or near highway speed.

Example; Lets say you're merging onto a highway. Short ramp, fast and tight traffic. You come into the merge lane in 2nd, floor it until you are near redline, shift to 3rd, keep it floored until your speed matches the traffic you're merging with. At this point, you don't need to accelerate any more, and you're on a flat, so 5th will do the job (or 6th if its a 6-speed), so what would be the point of sticking it in 4th for a moment? Just stick it straight from 3rd into 5th (or 6th, if applicable).

Same idea when you're going to pass someone using oncoming traffic lane. You don't want to dwell in that lane, you want to get in and get out as quickly as possible so that you don't die. You drop straight from 5th (or 6th) into 3rd, floor it, pass, and back to 5th (or 6th).

 

I'll skip 3rd downshifting to 2nd......lights or stop signs

 

Good info. Thanks to all of you.