I was finding that during rush hour around here (or 11AM on a tuesday like today) The 1-3-5 shift pattern is perfect for tooling along in 35mph traffic around town. The car really never lugs, and the missed gears don't seem to really matter if you are going from 0 to 35 over and over.

PS. All the gas I save gets used up as soon as I see daylight.

 

Yes but I perter 2-4-6. And it really depends on traffic. But it is a great gas saving tecnique.

 

I skip gears all the time. As long as you're not over revving or lugging the engine, it's perfectly OK. No big deal.

 

I used to skip gears too when I had previous manual car but some people swear against it.. messes up the synchros etc.

 

I don't like to have to think about following a gear shifting sequence, I just use whatever gear is needed. I generally find using the gears in the normal sequence going up is best, going down to whatever the end result speed is going to be.

 

I do all my accelerating in 1st and 2nd and rarely go above 4th in the city. I keep rpms between 3,000 and 4,000. Generally closer to 4,000. I think I hit redline at least 5 times a day.

 

mmm -- yep

1,2 - 5,6 (entering freeway, and shifting out of 2nd at 60 -- grin)

1,2 - 5 (back road tooling, shifting into 5th at 40 in order to putt along)

and of course the other way

6,5 - 2 (leaving freeway on a 30 mph off ramp, braking from 70 to 40)
6 - 4, and 5 - 3 (always skip a gear if braking moderate to hard)

I do double clutch the downshifts if skipping gears, just to keep the heel/toe practiced and smooth.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Heel-toe is not double clutching it, though.

 

lots of fun to do!!
Same here!!

 

I do the same pattern on the up-shifting (Minus of course the shifting out of 2nd at 60, I try not to get beyond the beginning of the redline without a REALLY good reason). I usually hit all the gears in the down-shift (unless I miss a shift which still happens in SJ). I'm still sort of torn between starting out in 1st or 2nd with the MC. With my Mustang GT I would always start in 2nd (or 3rd if it was really slippy) since it was much smoother than trying to start out in 1st and the GT had more than enough torque to get away with it. I even managed to start out in 4th once or twice by mistake. I do miss the ability to use engine compression braking with the MC but I sure do love the way it handles!!!!!! I'm still not used to a 6 speed, I still find myself cruising along in 5th without realizing it until I touch the gear shift of glance down and notice it. I sure do love the gas mileage and handling compared to the GT (as well as the convertible top!), but sometimes I do miss the ability to hit 55 MPH in third gear when trying to merge around the idiot drivers on Interstate 95. Unfortunately I've been without my MC for the last few days since I had to take Sarah Jane it for A/C repairs (apparently the compressor died and they had to order the part from Germany) and I've been driving the loaner car provided by the dealership. They were nice enough to give me another MCS convertible but unfortunately it is a automatic. I don't like the shift points for the transmission and even using the steering wheel paddles doesn't help much since it apparently times out and reverts to normal operations after about 20 seconds without operator intervention. I also put the thing in sport mode (just to test mind you) and it felt like the car kept fighting me over what gear to be in. I would select the one I wanted and the car would change it again as soon as I would leave up on the gas. Anyone else have similar experiences with MC automatics? I sure can't wait to get my Sarah Jane back .

 

1,2,3,4,5,6 - I rarely use above 2.5k if I'm driving in traffic but I like to keep it above 1.5k. At DC speeds that means I'm almost exclusivly in second and third.

If I'm really feeling lazy then 6-4-3-2 or 6-5-3-2 but mostly I go down through the gearbox the same way.

Now... on some fun roads... I never get above 4th and use the full heel-toe banana. And I wonder why I'm going to have to rotate my tires every 3k miles...

Also - you can double clutch and heel-toe at the same time. They're complimentary (sp?) techniques.