what gear to start in?

[Diesel_Dave]

The question of what gear to run in depends completely on your particular vehicle. Upload your vehicle info if you can.

As far as city FE goes, I think that vast majority of it comes down to how much/little you use your brakes. I've found the key is to think ahead and look ahead so that you have to stop as few times as possible and when you do, you've already coasted to a fairly slow speed without braking. This means timing the red lights, not following closely, and learning how to coast up to stop signs. Of course if you have the choice of several different routes, that can help to (routes with fewer stop signs & red lights or less traffic)