I’ve been driving my stick for 2 years now. When coming to a stop, I usually just shift into neutral, coasting and breaking to come to a stop. I know this is using up my break-pads faster than it would if I downshifted. But doesn’t frequent shifting also wear down the clutch faster?
What is better? Downshifting or breaking? Does it even matter?
You aren’t doing any harm to your car with your current driving style. Do you have a tachometer in the Yaris, and do you know what the tachometer shows?
Downshifting without any harm to the car involves using the tach to match motor speed with wheel speed for the lower gear you are shifting into. If you experience jerking and lurching of the car when you downshift then you can do damage to the car, clutch and transmission until you learn how to downshift smoothly.
I drive a manual Yaris and I try my best to do neither of these things. You’ll be surprised how much of the braking we normally do is completely unnecessary if you get in the habit of looking far far ahead for red lights and stale greens.
If the need for a stop comes up, I either leave it in fifth and use the brake if needed, if the red light is so far ahead that engine braking will prevent me from reaching it, then I’ll coast in neutral. I do my best to have some speed when the light does turn green, even rolling at a walking pace means I can just dump the clutch on an idling engine and give it gas without any clutch wear.
I average about 41-45 mpg in this car.
Downshifting wears the clutch and transmission – expensive things to repair. Brakes are cheaper. As you are coming to a stop, shift to neutral at about 10 - 15 MPH. Don’t coast at high speeds.
Use your brakes to come to a complete stop. Keep the transmission in neutral with your foot off the clutch. Down shifting is better used when you need to be in a lower gear so your engine is in its power band.
Twotone
In my Yaris, when coasting down in fifth gear, the engine shifts out of the deceleration fuel cutoff (DFCO) mode at around 20 mph, 25 mph if the AC is on. The engine telegraphs this rpm point by an abrupt and substantial reduction in engine braking, it feels like a gear shift in an automatic.
I shift into neutral when I detect the switchoff of DFCO, around 20 mph in fifth.
Be gone evil spammer!
The best technique is to anticipate the traffic and signals severals blocks ahead and attempt to keep abrupt acceleration and deceleration to a minimum. And it is best to just drop to neutral and coast down early when approaching an intersection in an effort to not come to a complete stop, then shift into the appropriate gear for the speed and proceed. Rolls Royce had a training film for chauffers that I saw many, many years ago. And Rolls Royce still had manual transmissions at the time. It was very enlightening. A good driver should operate the car in such a smooth manner as to never disturb the passengers when accelerating, shifting or stopping according to Rolls Royce. The car will appreciate proper driving as well as the passengers.
Spammer?!?!? What are you talking about?
Sorry, I rechecked your link and found you were simply making fun of the OP’s misspelling of manual.
I get the joke now.