[quote=spdrun]See my response above. If you’re driving a stick correctly, downshifting doesn’t have to make you slow down hard, since the engine is already spooled up before you re-engage the clutch. Once you’re running at 4000 rpm or so, you can basically control speed with the gas pedal alone.[/quote]
Again, it might be different in a diesel, but with a gas engine, at 70MPH, down shifting to 3rd or 4th gear will put you at near red line. Which will slow you down hard. At least with my car, it would slow me down hard. There’s no way my RPM would be at 4k in 4th gear going 70MPH. It would probably be around 5k+. That would force the car to slow down 10-20MPH in a very short period of time, unless I’m stepping on the gas. What’s the point of down shifting 2 gears if you’re going to keep your foot on the gas? Why not just leave it in the same gear and just let go of the gas? Unless you’re trying to piss someone off?