The owners manual list the shift points to be used for "normal acceleration in low altitude areas". I would not consider a busy intersection as a place where normal should be applied. Just use the common sense approach where you go by feel of the engine and what's required given the surrounding traffic etc.

To conserve fuel get into the highest gear where the engine does not respond well if you try accelerating. Use techniques like short shifting. Often when entering the interstate I will accelerate first through fourth, about that time I have just merged into the lane. At that point I shift directly from 4th to 6th and drop the level of acceleration. Another point in my daily commute I reach the apex of a 40mph hill and shift from 3rd directly to 6th and coast down in gear to keep my speed from exceeding the limit.

I still have loads of fun driving hard in some cases but still get 19.5 to 20 mph on average with 50/50 city/highway on my 12 mile commute.

 

12 miles? Lucky! I have to go about 80 miles a day :/ Though, before that I was only a mile from work for 3 1/2 years!

 

When sitting idle at a red light is it better to have your foot off the clutch with the shifter in neutral? or clutch in with the shifter in 1st? or is there no difference?

 

To prevent premature wear of your throw-out bearing, you should not have your foot on the clutch pedal for longer than ten seconds, ever.

This pretty much means that you will sit in neutral at a light unless the light is less than 10s long

 

Ok, what about going over a speed bump, that's less than 10 seconds but does it make any difference with the jostling of the car to be in neutral or clutch in? i don't usually go over a speed bump while giving it gas...

 

Has anyone been either in third or fourth gear at around 1000 to 1200 rpms and give it some gas? When I do this The car seems to vibrate and makes a weird noise. Is this bad for the clutch or motor? I usually keep the rpms above 1500rpms to prevent this from happening. I guess I am really wondering would this contribute problems to the clutch, throw out bearing, etc

To be related to the post, I was in third gear at 1200rpms making a turn, and was applying gas to get back up to speed.

 

your car will start to vibrate / lose power if if your rpms are too low. but 1000-1200 rpms seem alrite. it could be that you were at the point where u were near that treshhold.

 

would it cause any problems though?

 

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i dont want to answer you with my limited knowledge of driving MT
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bump to you MT gurus out here. !!!
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i would think its bad for the clutch, anything that makes weird noise is bad. i thought being around 2k rpm in 4th gear is bad. 1-1.5k is even worst, you pick up verry slow huh? shouldnt you be out of gear when you can heading into a turn? i do not know but i was taught to just let the clutch out in a turn.

 

I was taught to be in gear before the turn to be able to give power when need to get through the turn. Yeh I have slow pick up because I am in a lower gear but I am conserving gas when doing so. I don't think being around 2k rpm is bad I still have decent power at that speed.

 

oh, just do not quote my words. i have no clue how to drive a 6mt correctly. i just leave it out of gear when heading into a turn.

 

i dont believe there is any justification to this comment in my opinion, i say that because your engien is capable of reving to 6k, so regardless of what gear it is matted to, as long as its within its rev range, it should be okay.

 

well first gear you can go to 1k and it sounds fun... but 1k in 4th does not sound right because the ratios are all different... make sense?

 

i understand.