Question: Coasting in neutral

1. Learn to rev-match. Easier on the synchro's. I cringe whenever I see someone rolling along at around 10mph and then he drops it into gear w/o revving, all of a sudden the car jolts and you hear that studdering-engine sound as the car's suspension is trying to stabilize.

2. It's actually easier if you don't keep your hand on the stick. Try it and get use to it...you'll see.

Question: Coasting in neutral

I had a quick question for you guys. Sometimes when I see traffic slowing down or picking up speed while I am still far away from the traffic, I press the clutch, put the car in neutral and keep my right hand on the stick while slowly start braking till I finally see the traffic moving or at a complete deadstop etc. That helps me determine which gear should I select to adjust to the changes rather than running down gears and then finding the traffic started moving fast so I need to upshift again. Saves me a whole bunch of shifting. Is it harmful in anyway to the engine or tranny to coast in neutral with the clutch depressed and slowly braking???

Ive herd its harder on your brakes to stop in neutral. Ive noticed that i have to press harder on the brakes if im in neutral. Try to engine brake...that slows u down alot b4 u'll need to brake but i only do it wen im by myself cuz some ppl trip if the car jerks too much.

Hmmm...yeah I will check it out today and see if it changes the brake performance. It does make sense since if you brake while you are in gear the engine automatically starts to reduce speed, which does not happen if you are in neutral so the brakes tend to work harder. Thanks for the prompt reply, Lekz.

1st - u dont wanna coast in neutral.
2nd - if u wanna coast, stick in neutral and foot off your clutch.

you don't want to coast in neutral coz in the event you need to accelerate for whatever reason, u cant do it in time. not a good practice when u drive stickshift. i never coast in neutral. i usually just leave it in gear and slow down and brake.

Why do u say never? There are alot of times when its "safe" to coast in neutral(ex. down a hill) If your a rookie driver then dont coast in neutral in rush hour...keep it in the lowest gear possible so ull have power to dodge those bitches drivin them damn suv/trucks.

why? look at the answer of hookedup96rolla.

never coast down the hill in neutral! coasting down a hill in neutral is a big no-no. cars nowadays have really good manual transmissions but sometimes when u are rolling down the hill in neutral and you try to stick it in gear - it may not go in for u. if this happens and you are rolling downhill at 60mph and you need to slow down for curves, you are screwed! you don't see big ass trucks coasting down a hill in neutral. you ever hear those big trucks shifting gears and grind them... thats what happen sometimes when you coast in neutral (downhill) and then u wanna stick it into gear. sometimes it goes in, sometimes it wont. if you can't get it in gear then you are screwed.
majority of people i know who drive stick don't coast in neutral or coast in neutral going downhill - not a good practice at all. you can ask any driving instructor but everyone's got their own driving style/preferences. personally, i dont do coasting in neutral unless i'm going super slow. other than that, coasting in neutral is dangerous.

thats true ^, i coast all the time and never had problem with it, people who cant drive 5 speeds very well shouldnt do it if your afraid it wont go in gear, every car i have ever owned ( besides my mustang i just got ) has been a 5 speed, its second nature for me to try to press the clutch when ever i get into an auto, if you feel comfortable in nuetral use it, thats why its there

That is why I keep my right hand on the stick so that if I have to quickly accelerate, I will put it in the proper gear and gun the gas. I think I feel comfortable with this approach as long as it does not strain the engine ( I think rev matching kind of puts unnecessary strain on the engine???)

Well if you leave it in gear but hold the clutch down the wheels are still linked to the transmission, just not the engine. So the tranny's still spinning as the car's coasting along. So dropping it into neutral is the best way to go.

yeh rev match will save your synchros if your gonna engine brake.

Ive heard someone say just holding the clutch down and not putting it into nuetral wears down parts quicker too. Dunno if thats true or not though.

Revmatchin' is apart of driving stick...if u cant do it then get an auto. I see no problem wit coasting in N if u have the "skills" to shift to the rite gear wen u need to.

I always put my Civic into neutral too when I am slowing, never have a problem putting it into gear afterwards, its second nature to me. Even in rush hour, when slowing down I usually go into neutral, I can shift into gear quick enough to get out of the way of someone if I have to.

Yeah, I agree that both approaches have their upside. A lot of people use rev match and James has a good point there and it has got me thinking so I might give rev matching a shot in next little while. I have been practicing quick shifting and I think I have become quite good at it. Although, I have not been hitting lift because my odo still reads 1150 KM.

DAMN, guys, i read the post and it look like half of you are 17years old and drive stick for first time.

Driving in neutral it safe..it wont damage your tranny or engine or clutch...here in quebec there some place where you can't engine brake..because of the sound that make....

what you call "rev match" in fact we call it "heel and toe", when you need to downshift you use you feet to press in same time brake and gas to rev higher so when you leave clutch the reving is a good speed to match the speed.
Like that you have a better answer of you engine when you need to accelerate or a smoothier downshift..when you are good at it, ppl dont even know when you downshift since you dont feel anything in the car.

Oh by the way if you cost neutral and you c'at put the gear you want, that because you got to fast to put this gear..try an higher one...you feel that when you want to go in gear 1 before completly stoped the car when you brake.

(sorry for mistake...english if not my natural language)

It'll wear your throwout bearing faster..

Coasting down a hill in neutral is a moving violation and you can be ticketed for it.

Just an FYI..though I doubt anybody really enforces it.

man hit lift already

i luv the feeling of vtec and im sure lift is the shit.

I have hit lift about 13 times or so in the first 1200 KM that I have on the odo ( 4 of them were for racing). VVTL-i is more schizophrenic, crazy and insane than the i-VTEC or VTEC. The transition in VVTL-i is shocking for a new person who experiences lift for the first time( it was for me). This insanity is what is so addictive about it. The engine goes nuts and you hear all of these honey bees buzzing and humming under the hood....LOL.

I typically double clutch downshifts -- you can definitely tell when it's not matched right..if you match properly, it'll slip into gear without any hesitation at all.

Synchros are meant to be used anyways, right? They'll live...lol

man you newbs! i drove my brother's manual camry for a week (corolla was auto) and I taught myself double-clutching (really easy), and heel-toe (successful about half the time) hahaha.

I think real rev matching that does the least amt. of wear is double-clutching. Clutch in, shift to N, clutch out, rev about 1000rpm past the point of rev-match for the appropriate gear, clutch in, gently push shifter - shifter will automatically slide into place as the layshaft slows down, quickly but smoothly let out clutch, and go! all this can be done in about a second and almost no wear to any parts!

the only problem is you can't do this while braking at the same time so then you'd have to use heel-toe. heel-toe doesn't rev-match the layshaft, only the engine, so you're still wearing the synchros, but i guess on modern cars it's not too bad.

i can't believe i just read all this senseless garbage...who cares if you coast in neutral or not...thats 10 minutes of my life that i will never get back...

Man i drive my ae86 with heel-and-toe at each downshift i do! Ive been running my car since 2 years and there no probleme with my tranny and i can tell you it more easier to put the correct gear in place !!

Dont forget, Toyota are family car with a race spirit inside, it up to you to wake this demon inside your car or not