How to drive a protege, Stick.

[SocialStealth]

Is it more efficient to coast to a stop/slow down in neutral, or in gear?

For example, lets say you want to slow down for a light far ahead, Your going 45 mph in 5th gear. Should you put the car into neutral? Or leave it in 5th gear for as long as possible? (Till 1k rpms?)




Also, Lets say the speed limit on a road is 30 mph. Is it more efficient to drive in 4th gear @ 2k rpms @ about 30 mph,
or is it more efficient to speed up to 40 mph and 5th gear @ 2k rpms ???

 

[Cellerator]

Personally, if your car has ABS, just stick it in neutral and brake to a stop. If you don't have ABS, just downshift from 5th to 3rd or 2nd and coast to a speed slow enough to stop without worrying about locking up. However, if you just want practice, just engine brake/downshift. I used to do it all the time when I had my P5 w/o ABS.

And for your 2nd question, if the speed limit is 30 and you're worried about getting caught, don't even bother going up to 40 and shifting into 5th. If you're really worried about gas mileage, get a K&N air filter or cold air intake, it helped my mileage a little bit.

 

[SocialStealth]

Yeah I have abs..... but do the wheels really lock up that easily?!

And I'm not worried about getting caught, I would just like to know how I should drive to get the best mpg. I'm trying to do that hypermilage thing...

Does the car get the best gas milage in 5th gear? Or does it get comparable milage in 4th and 3rd @ the same rpms (2k)?

I basically want to know if I should try to get to 5th gear and 2k rpms all the time or if its efficient to cruise in the other gears as well

 

[Cellerator]

If you have ABS, then they won't lock up. But with my P5, if I wanted, I could lock them up pretty easily so I figured out how to not lock them up. Your mileage should be comparable in any gear at 2000 rpm it's just if you press the throttle down, you'll accelerate faster = using more gas. It's really all about feel and how fast you are going, if you are cruising along and just notice you're in 4th gear and 3000 rpm, put it into 5th. If you notice your car is in 5th gear at 1800, drop it into 4th.

 

[mazdaspeedster3]

People actually answered this thead?

 

[cwink]

People actually answered this thead?

haha

If I am not mistaken you get better gas mileage at the same RPMs of a higher gear because you are going further per rotation, no?

Also, I have ABS but downshift to brake. It probably uses more gas, but it saves the breaks, especially for long brakes, like downhill and highspeed stops. For typical lights, I will downshift and brake at the same time. And you don't need gas to shift, usually smoother ride that way though.

Also, does anyone double clutch their downshifts? I'm not very good at it, but I don't notice too big of a jerk when I don't do it. Thank you synchronizer, or whatever it is called.

 

[Rockin03mp5]

People actually answered this thead?

i was thinking the same, but this thread made my head hurt too much.

and cost of brakes < cost of transmission

and so you dont think i am a douche... here is the how to for all of you!

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123661588&highlight=how+to+drive+a+manual

actually pretty informative

 

[Kymerik]

i was thinking the same, but this thread made my head hurt too much.

and cost of brakes < cost of transmission

^^ what he said, engine breaking in a car doesnt make sense to me...makes sense for truckers since they're hauling 40000+lbs and need to stop this side of oblivion...

Throw it in neutral, coast to a redlight....

 

[SocialStealth]

If you have ABS, then they won't lock up. But with my P5, if I wanted, I could lock them up pretty easily so I figured out how to not lock them up. Your mileage should be comparable in any gear at 2000 rpm it's just if you press the throttle down, you'll accelerate faster = using more gas. It's really all about feel and how fast you are going, if you are cruising along and just notice you're in 4th gear and 3000 rpm, put it into 5th. If you notice your car is in 5th gear at 1800, drop it into 4th.

So 1800 rpms @ 5th gear is bad?
Because I don't notice the engine bogging down at all if your in cruise control @ 1800 rpms in 5th gear. You wont accellerate much if you try to push on the gas, but it gets better mpg, doesnt it?


It is better to put the car into neutral immediately after you begin to coast to a slow down/stop ? Rather than letting it sit in 5th for a while? Are you guys sure about this? As I know some cars use less gas while in gear.

 

[Cellerator]

People actually answered this thead?

sorry, not everyone is a dick about helping people...

To SocialStealth:
I think the best thing to do is just go out and drive, the more you drive, the more you'll just figure the stuff. 1800 rpm is just a rough figure... Don't worry about mileage so much in your first few months of driving, worry more about your actual driving and then the small stuff will come later.

 

[alexelie]

i didnt know engine braking was bad...im doing it all the time and i have abs. As it was said, it helps brake and you save the breaks. I dont have a lot of experience but it just what i think.

How can it be bad for transmission? Also, something i wanted to know, does it burn the cluth when engine braking. i mean its like you slip it, right?

 

[cwink]

well assuming that a car uses the same amount of gas per rev (which makes sense to me but I am not sure) then a car will use less gas in neutral than in gear because the revolutions go down when you drop to neutral.

The fact that truckers downshift to break with such huge loads makes me feel that it cannot be all that bad for the engine/transmission. However, using your brakes does for a fact wear them down, so if I am not hurting my engine/transmission when i downshift, but am hurting my brakes when i don't, it seems like the obvious choice would be to downshift (well not for MPG). However like I have implied, I am not a car expert, just stating what makes sense to me. PS I hope it isnt hurting my engine cause it is almost habit now.

 

[Cellerator]

Engine braking isn't "bad" but you don't need to really do it. If you don't have ABS, it's just to help make sure you don't lock up the brakes as easily. As long as you rev match, then you're safer.

 

[Rockin03mp5]

rev matching when you downshift will help, and it shouldnt be bad for the transmission. I used to do it to.

truckers go to a lower gear usually when going downhill. this saves their brakes because the constant load could cause them to fail! that would be worse than the wear on their transmission! your 2800 lb p5 (or sedan) will be ok.

 

[sktyrhrtout@aol]

Don't you guys know your injectors turn off when you are engine braking? It's a much better way to save gas and brakes than shifting into neutral, and safer too. Where's the autoshop class in the schools these days???

 

[SocialStealth]

sorry, not everyone is a dick about helping people...

To SocialStealth:
I think the best thing to do is just go out and drive, the more you drive, the more you'll just figure the stuff. 1800 rpm is just a rough figure... Don't worry about mileage so much in your first few months of driving, worry more about your actual driving and then the small stuff will come later.

I've been driving a stick for about a year now and I've gotten it down, just trying to get that 45 mpg i hear so much about.

And downshifting wears down your clutch
Braking wears down your brakes.
Brakes = $200
Clutch = $300
And as for the transmission, I assume any type of shifting wears it down. How much wear? i do not know.

I personally try to coast to a stop (except when braking is necessary for safety), so I dont wear down the brakes or clutch Also gets better gas milage.

 

[Kurtanius21]

I've been driving a stick for about a year now and I've gotten it down, just trying to get that 45 mpg i hear so much about.

And downshifting wears down your clutch
Braking wears down your brakes.
Brakes = $200
Clutch = $300
And as for the transmission, I assume any type of shifting wears it down. How much wear? i do not know.

I personally try to coast to a stop (except when braking is necessary for safety), so I dont wear down the brakes or clutch Also gets better gas milage.

I would agree with this. Unless you have rev matching down to nature, shifting wears the clutch. The Clutch uses friction to spin the disks. everytime the disks contact and are not synchronized perfectly, friction eats away at the clutch. Brakes are cheaper to replace than the clutch. So unless you're going downhill or got have mastered rev matching, brakes are most cost effective.

 

[Rockin03mp5]

Don't you guys know your injectors turn off when you are engine braking? It's a much better way to save gas and brakes than shifting into neutral, and safer too. Where's the autoshop class in the schools these days???

you joined just to post this?

 

[sktyrhrtout@aol]

you joined just to post this?

Yes, somebody has to educate the masses.

 

[BoostedPR5]

Yes, somebody has to educate the masses.

Man you're cool. Although I already knew that, so maybe I'm not the masses...oh noes!

Anyways as far as wearing the clutch just don't suck at downshifting lol how much faster is it REALLY going to wear out your clutch from that is the real question...