JPBernoux

The friendly "Porsche Head" who helped me becoming one myself told me that he regularly skip gears when driving in/around town. After a few months getting used driving my 997.1 I started doing that and I love it. I avoid doing it during warm-up as going 1 to 3 to 5 requires revving to 4K RPM to get decent torque up-gear. If I have to go slow to almost a stop I will do 2 to 4 on restart... I love it! It reminds me the three gears cars I was driving in my youth. Let me know if you are doing it too or if you think it's bad for the engine.

Matt(inMA)

I'm not sure the reasoning for doing it but that you enjoy it is great. For me personally I enjoy working through the gears, all of them...

Do you think there is any risk of harm from lugging the engine?

Best,

Matt

JPBernoux

The main reason is that the 911 is designed for racing, i. e., accelerating hard trying to beat the ***p out the other cars. Logically the gears are spaced accordingly, allowing to get a significant torque on upshift. I contend that the torque I get @2k rpm is enough while commuting in traffic. A benefit of skipping gears is less work for the clutch... And for my left leg ☺️. As for the lugging risk I don't know which is why I posted this.

Quadcammer

Leaving stop lights in 2nd is not doing your clutch any favors. while I agree it's nice to be lazy, there ahoulsnt be any damage, and you save a bit of throw out bearing wear, I'm not quite sure why you do it

Quadcammer

Double post

JPBernoux

I never leave a full stop in 2nd but if slow enough I would use 2nd rather than 1st when accelerating, no clutch slip involved here.

rickdogg82

4th to 6th sometimes.

Ben Z

I never skip gears. When driving "in and around town" I upshift 1-2 around 1500rpm, 2-3 around 2500, 3-4 around 2200. There's no place for me to do spirited driving, all it would accomplish is waste gas between stoplights. I get 19-21mpg on the PCM routinely. I go into 5th at 50mph. I wish 6 was more longlegged. Cruising on the interstate the engine is revving needlessly. I can see why late-model manual Porsches and Corvettes are 7sp. I'd be fine with a wider spread between 5-6 rather than another gear though.

Tom Feldmann

I wouldn't worry about damage as long as the car is warmed up and you're not doing things like starting from dead stops in 3rd. "Skip Shift" is so common it's actually built into many of today's manual transmission vehicles by the manufacturer. On my 2011 Challenger SRT there is "Skip Shift" that automatically kicks in during certain city driving conditions that forces the driver into 4th gear from 1st instead of allowing the car to go into 2nd. Corvettes have a similar system as well. I personally HATE when this happens as I like being in control of the transmission (you know..hence buying a manual). Luckily there are bypasses you can install that get rid of the "automatic skip shift".

I wouldn't worry about damaging the transmission or engine because you skip a gear. Just make sure your revs are not changing over dramatically because of gear engagement or you're rev matching and enjoy

Macster

The friendly Porsche Head is no friend of yours if he convinced you to skip gears when shifting.

My understanding is when you skip gears the gear speeds are quite far apart -- more so than when progessing one gear at a time -- and this subjects the synchros to extra wear and tear.

Thus my advice is stop skipping gears.

Racetwin2

I do it as well 1:st to 3:rd to 5:th and then 6:th. When in traffic and daily driving in the city

Not lazy but if I don't need the acceleration it's just a waste IMO. I also like the sound of the exhaust on low rpm Better on top of cause but with the Gundo it gives that nice rumbling sound on lower rpm. Just around 2000. And nice when engine breaking as well.

gpjli2

The issue is not to slip the clutch unnecessarily or lug the engine (too much throttle in too high gear) Use first gear starts to avoid the former. If you are going to skip a gear don't short shift in the gear you are in but rev high enough so you enter 'skip to' gear at 2800-3000 rpm or so. Experience is the answer here. Normal driving the 3rd-5th skip is an easy one. 4th-6th is likewise because higher ratios are close. First-4th is too large a step. Keep engine revs up around 2800 or so and feed throttle slowly as mentioned and you will have a happy motor. If you need to accelerate hard you should not skip a gear. If you don't understand or can't 'feel' the difference when driving you are not ready yet.

hollywood1053

I do this from time to time.

golftime

No problem skipping gears. Rather than worry about going thru every gear, I think you should be matching the correct gear to your speed and conditions. I leave my driveway and go down a steep hill, and as a result often start in 1st and skip into 3rd since I am not trying to get up to any significant speed and gravity has helped me. That is part of the beauty of the manual in that you can know what you are trying to do and can shift accordingly.

mike cap

I've driven the same way up and down the gears since my first '62 Beetle when I was sixteen. Why row through the gears every time if the speed and load and fun factor doesn't require it? Blip the throttle like always and make the two/four (or whatever) gear change.