i been driving auto for almost 2 years...i'm 20 now and got myself an 06 a4 2.0t 6 speed and it's the first manual i've driven lol. i learned in it my dad taught me.

however i have a question...

say i am in 5th gear and there is a red light....so i start braking and put it in neutra ready for a complete stop...but then the light turns green so i dont end up stopping..i am now around 20-25 mph...i clutch all the way...put in 2nd clutch out and gas...but the car like idk how to say it..jerks i think a little?

is that considered downshifting? is it bad for my car to do this? another example..say i'm in 4th and car infront of me slows down...to about 30-35mph....and then he starts to accelerate...at this point if i start accelerating in 4th i am forcing the engine right? it vibrates idk? so dad told me to put it around 3rd gear for this speed so that is also downshifting right? and then i start going but the same thing happens...it doesn't feel smooth the car jumps/jerks a bit?

i just want to know if this is very bad for the car? o:

boy do i wish i always learned in a manual...

if i revmatch...the jerk/jump wont happen right?

i have never tried to revmatch...i'm scared lol only been driving the car for 2 weeks so far...but my commute going and comiing back is like 35 minutes so not bad lol.

i haven't tried revmatching because i'm scared when i give it some gas i might make the rpm jump too high lol...what rpm am i trying to aim for when downshifting? get the rpm to around 3k for any downshift?

thanks a lot....

 

Sounds like you just need some more experience.
Down shifting is not bad for your car unless you are doing 50 & try & down shift into 1st or 2nd gear.
Having to down shift due to slower traffic conditions is perfectly normal.

Give you self some more time for the adjustment from auto to manual.

 

happen to see this and was curious because i always downshift and when i dropped a new engine into my car a replaced the clutch, my friend that helped was telling me that downshifting is horrible and i will glaze my clutch, he was also telling me that thats probably why my clutch was so worn, i didnt know wether to believe him or not considering the clutch had 350,000 miles on it, just curious if thats true or b.s.

 

What your friend told you is B.S.; downshifting is a fact of life in the manual transmission world and will not shorten clutch life to any measurable degree. FWIW, I have over a million and a half miles under by belt with driving a manual transmission, and the last clutch I had to replace was in my 1970 Dodge Challenger (yes, I did beat on it quite a bit).

 

thanks for the replies guys but it's my first car and so worried to burn the clutch or anything

i feel so insecure with the car because it's the first manual car i drive and first car i get!

ok sosay i am going 45 on 5th gear and traffic slows to about 20mph...if i stay on 5th gear still and traffic starts to pick up again...i must accelerate but if i keep on 5th gear..i would be forcing the engine correct? cuz 20mph is too low for 5th gear? lol so my dad told me to calculate..so in that situation sinc ei slowed to 20mph ...i should get out of 5th and put car in 2nd gear i do this and then when traffic starts up again it's goood i go to 3rd 4th etc.

the thing that has me sooooooo worried is when i do the change from 5th gear to 2nd while i slowed down to 20mph..is the car jerks a bit...or jumps not a lot but it's scary...i don't want to mess anything up...i notice when i do this the rpm jumps a bit...is that ok? what would u do in this situation? is this a situation where u must rev match so car doesn't jerk a bit and rpm doesnt go up a bit?

thank you all

 

The rpm's will go up when down shifting , this is normal.
When you hit the lower gear you should be around 2000-2500 rpm. How long you hold the shift is up to you. Not a good idea to hit the red line too often.

 

i dont have much experience driving a manual but wouldnt you be able to avoid some of the jerky-ness if you went down thru the gears? (5 > 4 > 3 >2) instead of just jumping from 5 to 2?

 

by the time u do that...it's to late lol o:!!!

ok so i'm in 5th...re dlight so i slowing down n put in neutral...but then light turns green and i'm now at about 30mph...in neutral ready to start accelerating again so for this mph...i put in 3rd gear...the car jerks a bit idk how to say...but if u look at the rpm it jumps up a bit like 600rpm i guess? so this is where rev matching comes into place? so i can downshift to 3rd here..but keep clutch all the way disengaged hit the gas once to bring rpsm up then release clutch?
that will stop the jerk feel when i downshift? what rpms am i trying to get up to before i downshift anyways?

 

Let the clutch out slower. Find the friction point (the point where it starts to catch), and pause there giving it a little gas while the revs match. Just because you're downshifting, doesn't mean you can just pop the clutch out without finesse. Also, don't downshift through all the gears letting the clutch out at each one. It's a waste of time and it will wear your clutch faster. That's probably what your friend was talking about when he talked about downshifting. Think about it. If you downshift through every gear, you're effectively doubling the amount of times your clutch has to mate back up. More wear and tear. Every once in a while won't hurt it.

No offense, but it sounds like you just need more practice. The clutch is a finesse tool. It takes some time to master and even once you do, every car's clutch is different.

 

Ain't that the truth; the good news here is that late model Audi's have some of the easiest clutch systems to master of any of the cars I've driven over the last several decades.