What is your preferred downshift method?

[Gotch]

The only time I rev match is during spirited driving. Found no way to smoothly heel-toe with my size 13 EEE feet...

Not rev matching on downshifting adds very minimal wear on the clutch. This can be a good thing actually, if most of your driving is highway like mine. It keeps the clutch surfaces clean.

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[Vrruumm]

I slip the clutch when downshifting while braking. While not braking, I rev match. Can't heel-toe, so I don't even try.

 

[xcivicx]

no rev match, no heel toe either, never been a reason to, at least not for me

 

[SDAlexander8]

RIP your synchronizers

Auto rev match becoming prevalent should tell you that it's a good thing that you should do to make your gearbox last longer instead of just crunching it into gear

There’s no crunching/grinding gears. They are just using their clutch to force the engine to rev higher to match.

 

[REBELXSi]

RIP your synchronizers

Auto rev match becoming prevalent should tell you that it's a good thing that you should do to make your gearbox last longer instead of just crunching it into gear

There’s no crunching/grinding gears. They are just using their clutch to force the engine to rev higher to match.

Yup, the "damage" or wear is just the clutch and the pressure plate hitting each other while spinning at different speeds.

 

[xcivicx]

I gets no grinding only smooth downshifts, just as smooth as upshifts no extra force needed. If there was, maybe I'd think about it

 

[Drake]

I gets no grinding only smooth downshifts, just as smooth as upshifts no extra force needed. If there was, maybe I'd think about it

Your car must jerk like crazy though if you downshift but don't blip the throttle, no?

 

[redcivic19x]

I gets no grinding only smooth downshifts, just as smooth as upshifts no extra force needed. If there was, maybe I'd think about it

Yea it seems like you should get the jerk back and forth motion unless your already in a high RPM band when you go to downshift which would make it smooth for sure.

 

[redcivic19x]

Single clutch rev-match in day to day driving. I rarely heal toe as it is a bitch to do while doing street levels of braking.

I have also noticed this car likes the throttle stab (to the floor) more than a traditional throttle bip when rev-matching.

Interesting. I’m going to have to try this throttle stab and see how it works out.
Actually I just realized something - are you guys running a tune at all? I usually run the TSP stage 1 tune on map 2 or map 3 if I want a little more spirited driving which increases throttle response pretty significantly compared to stock

 

[xcivicx]

Yea it seems like you should get the jerk back and forth motion unless your already in a high RPM band when you go to downshift which would make it smooth for sure.

i don't do agressive downshifts and never hardly more than 1 gear or 1000ish rpm so even from 4th to 2nd would be only 2000 rpm, down shifting 2 gears at 4ooo rpm would not be too nasty but it would take you to 6000ish and might push me forward a tad. going one gear down is no biggie unless your already at red line. i also release the clutch a lil bit slower.
i live on a steep hill and downshifting is in my blood. i dont mind rowing down the gears one by one and with a exhaust it will only be better. going up is good too.

 

[Sprinqer]

Agreed! You're a trooper for doing it on the OEM setup haha. But I guess it depends on how you do it as well. I know some people use the side of their foot where their pinky toes is to do the quick blip and then I've seen others do it where they legit have the heel/ball of their foot on the bottom of the gas pedal while angling their foot to the brake pedal. So blip with their heel, break with their toes. That one is a bit more uncomfortable for me, but i've heard that is technically "the way to do it". Maybe one day I'll try and master that.

I usually go for having my big toe/ edge of the shoe on the brake pedal, then the edge of the ball of my foot and respective bit of the shoe is what blips the throttle.
I learned to drive in an 8th gen EX, so the Civic pedal orientation is a refreshing bit of nostalgia

 

[wintercast]

First, thank you for this post. This has been something on my mind. I am very new to manual and have been working on learning. I also posted a while back concerning my fears/anxiety and i had a lot of great responses. With COVID going on, i have been lucky enough to be able to telework. So the new civic SI is not getting driven nearly as much as i expected. But, the times i do drive, are good because i can take my time and dont feel pressured as there are way less people on the roads (i live in the country, but daily commuted to the Baltimore area).

I took a driving lesson on manual which really helped me. The instructor basically had me clutch in at turns (using brake to slow down) and then find my gear once through the turn, shift, clutch out. So going from say 4/5th (the car only had 5 gears) and clutch in, brake at the turn, keeping clutch in - then switch to something like 2/3rd and then let out the clutch into gear. While it was not "correct" forever, it helped me to learn gear selection and be less likely to choose too low of a gear.

I have still be fiddling with my seat adjustment. I am short - 5'2" and it is difficult to get my legs comfortable, while not feeling like the steering wheel is in my chest. Small changes in the seat also make changes to how i handle the gas and brakes.

The other day i messed around more with just downshifting, and upshifting. Like doing 40/50 on the back roads and going from 4-5-6 and then 6-5-4. I also know i shift really slow. So, i am apt to lose some speed downshifting anyway as i am slow to shift. But, i watched a video recently that suggested on downshifts to keep the foot on the gas.. So not a blip, but keeping the foot on the gas.

I tried that, i figured i can release the gas a little, and then downshift and that seems to work for me now. Keeps things smoother.

 

[CbusHondaFan]

The only time I rev match is during spirited driving. Found no way to smoothly heel-toe with my size 13 EEE feet...

Not rev matching on downshifting adds very minimal wear on the clutch. This can be a good thing actually, if most of your driving is highway like mine. It keeps the clutch surfaces clean.

This is so true! I have never rev-matched and my 2006 Si, with 210,000 miles, still has the original clutch. I do understand the allure of rev-matching though since my Type R makes downshifting an absolute smooth affair!

 

[redcivic19x]

First, thank you for this post. This has been something on my mind. I am very new to manual and have been working on learning. I also posted a while back concerning my fears/anxiety and i had a lot of great responses. With COVID going on, i have been lucky enough to be able to telework. So the new civic SI is not getting driven nearly as much as i expected. But, the times i do drive, are good because i can take my time and dont feel pressured as there are way less people on the roads (i live in the country, but daily commuted to the Baltimore area).

I took a driving lesson on manual which really helped me. The instructor basically had me clutch in at turns (using brake to slow down) and then find my gear once through the turn, shift, clutch out. So going from say 4/5th (the car only had 5 gears) and clutch in, brake at the turn, keeping clutch in - then switch to something like 2/3rd and then let out the clutch into gear. While it was not "correct" forever, it helped me to learn gear selection and be less likely to choose too low of a gear.

I have still be fiddling with my seat adjustment. I am short - 5'2" and it is difficult to get my legs comfortable, while not feeling like the steering wheel is in my chest. Small changes in the seat also make changes to how i handle the gas and brakes.

The other day i messed around more with just downshifting, and upshifting. Like doing 40/50 on the back roads and going from 4-5-6 and then 6-5-4. I also know i shift really slow. So, i am apt to lose some speed downshifting anyway as i am slow to shift. But, i watched a video recently that suggested on downshifts to keep the foot on the gas.. So not a blip, but keeping the foot on the gas.

I tried that, i figured i can release the gas a little, and then downshift and that seems to work for me now. Keeps things smoother.

No problem! I'm glad you got so much use out of it. I have been driving a stick now for about 8 years and I am still learning new things. I never had any "official" training. My buddy at jimmy johns at the time basically taught me 2 hours before I picked up my first manual car so I kind of relied on advice & learned my driving style as I went along. I've also seen where people say they shift between 1500 rpm and 2000 rpm and that seems mind-blowing to me. I tried doing that and it sucked. I usually shift between 2800-3200 RPM because I feel like that fits me better. So I think it's all about finding the right balance.

I can't speak to the height adjustments (i'm 6'3), but I'm sure that can be a real pain. I've never heard of keeping the gas pedal mashed while downshifting. I've heard of doing that while upshifting and I believe that is called "power shifting". I'll have to look into that though.

 

[redcivic19x]

I usually go for having my big toe/ edge of the shoe on the brake pedal, then the edge of the ball of my foot and respective bit of the shoe is what blips the throttle.
I learned to drive in an 8th gen EX, so the Civic pedal orientation is a refreshing bit of nostalgia

oh ok, yea for me it actually depends on what shoes i'm wearing. I have these work shoes that are perfect for being able to have big toe on break pedal and then i'm able to perfectly blip with the pinky toe/side of my foot. Then I have others where I have to do more of my heel to blip.

Maybe I should just get a good pair of driving shoes...?‍

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