Quote:
Originally Posted by ECONORAM
For those blessed with a stick, remember smoothness is the key to shifting. The passengers should not feel much when you change gears.
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I am not sure if that is the key to clutch wear, if I rev higher and clutch extra carefully and ride a bit I am ultra smooth, but I doubt that saves any wear on anything.
I usually shift early, allow the RPMs to match up, clutch out relatively slowly and slowly and gradually accelerate without lugging when I can get away with it. I can also clutch only accellerate up to about 3rd gear without any notable lugging, this is somewhat usefull when I am in a situation where I can't or shouldn't accelerate much, like in a parking lot or when stuck in slow traffic. I also don't have to ride the clutch to accomplish this, in traffic with a slight downward hill I got up to 4th idling along at about the same GPH as idling stationary, Then to neutral. I imagine traffic wreaks massive havok on my clutch, I assume applying as little force as possible would keep it happier longer, though I may well be very wrong. Clutching every 5 seconds so I don't overrun somebody can't be good. Although I have gotten short term 67mpg runs in traffic if I can get fast enough and coast EOC long enough.