My philosophy is "keep your foot off the pedal as much as possible." Every time your foot is on that pedal, some part is wearing - either the clutch or the throwout bearing.

At a light I try to wait as long as possible in neutral with foot off. But waiting until the light changes to shift into first can be a dangerous thing in a 240D because most people expect you take take off faster than you can. So I try to predict the light change by a few seconds and be ready. Some times it works, some times it doesn't.

For downshifting I always double clutch. Clutch pedal down, shift to neutral, pedal up, blip accelerator to match revs, pedal down, shift to lower gear, pedal up. It sounds a lot harder than it is.

And never downshift a 240D into first unless you're at a dead stop. First gear in those transmissions is so short you only need it for taking off from rest.

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Rick Miley
2014 Tesla Model S
2018 Tesla Model 3
2017 Nissan LEAF
Former MB: 99 E300, 86 190E 2.3, 87 300E, 80 240D, 82 204D Euro
Chain Elongation References