Ok guys, if downshifting was bad for one of these cars, my father's would have been in the junkyard years ago. As I have stated before, he has a euro 300D with a five speed manual. This is the car I learned how to drive on and he taught me to use the engine to slow her down as opposed to the brakes. This car is now 21 years old and it is only on it's second clutch plate that I am aware of and it was replaced several years ago. I have a 4 speed in my daily driver and I work that clutch in stop and go I-10 traffic every day without any problems. One day I am actually going to count how many times I push that pedal in on my 10 mile drive to work. Once again, I can't see how downshifting can cause a problem. However, I wouldn't force it into first, or any other gear for that matter, at a high rate of speed. Don't know exactly what it would do, but can't imagine that it would be good.

Mike

Jen

"don't you just love a girl who insists on a manual car?"

YES I DO :D I feel fortunate that both my wife and daughter wouldnt drive anything else.

Go ahead and downshift to your heart's delight. Just don't overrev. The car's made to take it.

When we had our first electronic engine controller for the Formula one team, we kept track of time spent in different RPM bands. Whenever the driver blew an engine, he'd swear that they don't use the gearbox to help slow down into the corners (causing an overrev). We new better. The data showed it all. I think redline at the time was 12,500 and we saw peaks of 14,000+. They'd always deny it.