On that last point: If it's steep/long enough to need the brake pedal, that's likely the perfect situation to choose DFCO instead.
Is he doing Pulse & Glide? That's a strategy that works by using the engine to produce energy most efficiently for a short time and then allowing the car to coast efficiently, preferably timed to take advantage of rolling terrain, wind, etc. Part-throttle cruising and excess engine revolutions cost energy; P&G is a technique to avoid those types of waste.Teamwork wrote:He has a modern day Acura with a 6 speed manual and on long stints on the highway he basically coasts in neutral and re-engaged a gear if needby for the said claims of "fuel economy". Maybe I'm mistaken on my views of hyper miling but this seems like he would be using more gas idling,
That may be a choice he has made for the sake of hypermiling. I'd rather spend a very small amount of fuel, which is far more easily replaced, than trade it off for (a minuscule amount of) increased normal wear...but it is understandable.He openly admits he doesn't rev match on down shifts at all, so naturally some instances he's pretty jerky.
I know that using the tools at your disposal is sometimes treated as verboten here on StandardShift, but your gauges aren't there for the sake of the plastics company that supplied the materials for them...they're there for you to look at so you can gather data about your car and your driving. Go ahead and eyeball that tachometer, if it is safe to do so, sometimes when you expect the "pop". See if it's dipping and jumping back up, or if it's holding too high and then diving down. I look at the tach in automatics and I look at it in manuals, I'm a data junkie.I can't really say for sure what direction I'm being jerked because it does feel minor in the movement sense. It could be the brain overload but this is by no means a "movement" jerk where I'm going through the windshield or into the back of my seat. The best way I could describe it is- it "pops" and lets me know that I'm into 2nd gear. If I had to make an educated assumption based on what I know- I think, its related to the revs dropping to idle and shooting back up when I go into the lower gear- relative to speed.
Good. Keep your priorities in mind, and keep your priorities adjusted reasonably for the context...if you're driving on public roads then safety, legality, and courtesy are important.After all, I'm not trying to set a time attack record going around 90 degree turns.
Heel-toe might come more easily than you think. VW designers expect drivers to HT; they even published advice for it on their website at one point. They place the pedals pretty reasonably well for HT. The key is to avoid pigeonholing your technique by whatever illustration or example you've seen, and to remember that it's generally done during extreme situations when you're braking hard and need a huge roaring-engine blip. The most popular way seems to be heel on accelerator, toe on brake, but my ankle doesn't turn that way. I can do heel (or arch, really) on brake, toe on accelerator pedal (the top of the pedal, perfect with VW's bottom-hinged pedal), but most of all I use my wide foot to just straddle both pedals with the ball of my foot. Over time I got better at modulating it for more moderate braking and blips. (Then when I built my Buick I placed the pedals perfectly for it...)If I were to blip I would need to either brake harder and slow down to the point where I don't need it anymore, earlier.. or heel and toe which is something I can't do.
If I understand correctly, and if you'd like to do exactly that, then you can revisit the idea of shifting ahead of time... a big loud VROOM as you double-clutch into your target gear at too-high speed before braking for the turn. However, part of the fun of driving manual is learning to multitask a million things all at once. It's incredibly satisfying to perfectly execute a big double clutch heel toe downshift in the middle of a turn and then blast out of it.with the automatic I could modulate the brake only even while in the turn.
I too get antsy about people riding up on my rear bumper. I don't like people standing too close to me and I don't like them driving too close to me either. Over time it has gotten worse, I think. I've taken to reducing my rearward visibility (with a heavily tinted mirror) so that I have to choose to look.If someone is following me into a turn they are typically right on my rear bumper so efficiency and swiftness is almost always required- same goes to when I'm waiting on rev hang to 2nd from 1st. I know I'm in motion but I can see that rear view mirror an object is getting closer.
It won't stall. You could force it down to 100RPM and it will struggle and chug and judder and as soon as you step on that clutch it will stumble and then roar back to life.Yeah the only ratio that I find kind of odd is 2nd since I can't drop below double digits with juddering and possibly stalling.
That is exceedingly rare among import and compact cars. The only manual vehicles I've heard of with that kind of long stride are GM V8 cars (Corvette, Camaro/FIrebird, etc), though I'm sure there are other examples. Manufacturers dread the magazine review that says the car is gutless on the highway so they make sure there's no need to downshift. I'd bet those GM examples were a necessary nod to fuel economy to avoid CAFE fines.I like where I'm at with 6th... even at 60 mph I have to be around 1800 rpms. On the top end (on a closed course of course) at 85-86 mph I was just under 3k. I don't have much manual car experience to know if this is decent or average
If you wanted to be as boring as an automatic, you could just drive an automatic. One of the things I like about manual is getting to feel my shifts more. One of the things I'd plan to modify in my next automatic would be increased line pressure so I can get a little kick from each shift.What I'm unsure of is how much of a jerk is acceptable and good on the vehicle versus being "automatic" like smooth.
Keep dodging it. Avoid it until you feel more confident. When it's all second-nature to you, you'll be able to do it without thinking; you'll shift like an automatic when necessary. That's probably a few years off yet.I've been dodging this entrance apron at one of my jobs for months now.