I read in an article that in order to get best fuel economy, they recommend, when accelerating, to shift from 1st to 3rd, and then from 3rd to 5th, thereby skipping 2nd and 4th gears.
Any opinions on whether or not this really works to improve fuel economy? In order to do this, you would have to rev the engine higher, each time you shift, whereas if you use all the gears, you wouldn't need to rev as high during each upshift. So wouldn't the higher revving result in consuming more fuel?

I would think that skipping gears would result in less wear and tear on the transmission and clutch?

 

I dont think this technique applies to the smaller engines. If you skip gears in a low HP engine you wont go anywhere. I think this techniq will benefit more in a higher HP car. When I had my civic I tried it but it was so slow and It didnt give me the results I wanted.

 

Agreed. It'd work on a bigger motor with low end torque but IMO it'd be pointless on a Fit. I only skip 4th sometimes on the freeway if i'm already going like 60 in third and plan on coasting for a minute. I rarely do that though.

 

Like Wanderer said if you plan on coasting like lets say your going down hill I see how it would benefit; on flat roads is no bueno

 

I tried using the skip-shift method with my del Sol, including keeping the throttle open fully at low RPMs. The theory being that you accelerate relatively slowly, but reduce pumping losses due to the open throttle.

However, I can tell you none of that works, at least in a small-engined car. The open throttle puts the ECU into open-loop mode which, although I have only the faintest idea what that means, apparently involves running rich (ie using more fuel than actually needed). The one advantage to shifting fewer times is that you don't interrupt your acceleration as much. I often in my CRV would start in 2nd and then go to 4th. That, I believe, made a slight difference. But not much, and it's a bit of a pain. Sometimes unsafe if you find yourself in the wrong gear. I would recommend it in larger cars with larger engines, yes (there's a reason the Corvette requires it at partial throttle!) but not for ours.

And I have an automatic now so none of that is relevant any longer :P ... try telling the Auto to skip a gear and it just ignores you like a long-suffering spouse.

 

There really is not benefit, other than shitty accelleration. My c5 corvette with the 6 speed had a thing called 1 to 4 shift. Everytime you would take off slowly, it would automatically lock out all of the gears, and make you shift into 4th gear for "better" fuel economy. The first thing I did when I got the car home was disable it lol

 

My experience has been that running it up gently in 1st to about 4k is good, then I shift through the gears, keeping the R's between 3k and 4k. The Fit really seems to like the low 3k's for good mileage; even driving our local mountain roads in 4th gave me high 30's.
--
Barry, '08 BBP Fit Sport MT

 

Today, we are learning that the optimum technique for the cars, is by shifting the gear's fuel transmission, since the engine works very hard. People find the fuel economy is not any better than other cars. The gears are excessively little, and the gas in the car is extremely poor.