Engine braking - any negatives?

[kayubassist]

I rode in my friend's car a couple days ago (A4 manual)
he downshifted through every gear at every light. ie. 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 and then neutral.

I thought it was kinda pointless, just more wear to the clutch.... but what do i know i'm a noob.
but anyway, downshifting just one gear only on downhills for me...

[tankinbeans]

I rode in my friend's car a couple days ago (A4 manual)
he downshifted through every gear at every light. ie. 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 and then neutral.

I thought it was kinda pointless, just more wear to the clutch.... but what do i know i'm a noob.
but anyway, downshifting just one gear only on downhills for me...

I do pretty much the same thing, especially when the light is unpredictable. This way I don't have to worry about not being in gear when the light changes. The only difference is that I'll go 6-4 4-2 depending on speed of course. If it's a stop sign I'll just ride up in gear and then drop in N or 2, depending on if cars are in front or not, at about 1200.

I'm paranoid about being out of gear; the other day I was exiting the freeway onto a surface street on red. I'd stopped to check traffic and had space to squeak out. As soon as I got out into traffic my hands had a conniption and I missed all of the forward gears after 1. For a second I panicked and finally dropped it in 2 and started shifting normally. Talk about scary. I almost dyed my shorts brown.

[Shadow]

For the most part, I only downshift when I'm in the mood. Otherwise I'll just stay in gear and coast to stop, popping the transmission into neutral only when the revs fall to about 1000 rpm. I don't usually look at the tach, I just do it by feel/sound.

If I'm braking and I know that I'll have to accelerate instead of coming to a complete stop, then I'll definitely downshift into the best gear for the situation.