Engine Braking. Good or Bad?

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Grumpyjohn1957
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Engine Braking. Good or Bad?

Post by Grumpyjohn1957 » Sun Jul 24, 2022 10:41 pm

Got into a debate with an advanced driving instructor and wonder what thoughts others have about engine braking.

When driving “spiritedly” I like to keep the rev’s around 3-4K as it gives instant oomph (no turbo lag) and also provides immediate deceleration when lifting off. - (You can also balance the car with the throttle in long sweeping bends).
The instructor’s preferred method is to always use the brakes and let the box do its own thing.

Again, if slowing rapidly from speed I like to toggle down the gears to benefit from engine braking in addition to the brakes proper. This assists in preventing dive and helping the balance before chucking it into a corner. Another plus is full turbos available when exiting said bend.

When lectured/hectored that this is bad practice and stresses the drive train, I couldn’t help but think “rubbish” and said so.
Sure, it will load up the clutches, gearbox, and prop shaft assembly but nowhere near as much as flooring the loud pedal and ramming 800 torques through it. (Which presumably it’s built to withstand)

My method of changing down puts the rev’s up to 4.0/4,5K before running down to 3k then shifting again. The car automatically “blips the throttle” to match the revs before throwing the clutch back in so I don’t subscribe to the instructor’s theory.
(The exhaust sounds lovely this way)

Am I right or wrong? Or is there no definitive answer?
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Re: Engine Braking. Good or Bad?

Post by ScooBeeFive » Mon Jul 25, 2022 10:38 pm

I'm 100% with you John. It's why I drive in manual mode a lot of the time - the gearbox does a decent job going up the box but never shifts early enough for me coming back down.

I've heard the argument before about extra stress on the drivetrain, but for me it feels more sympathetic than leaning much harder on the brakes. As you say, the cars are built to be driven and that's driving!
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Re: Engine Braking. Good or Bad?

Post by ali » Sun Aug 14, 2022 4:46 pm

Modern driving instructors teach that way and it is an utter load of bollox.
Using engine braking is far better for the car and transmision IMVHO
I love heel and toeing in my E30 Blipping the throttle on the down changes while braking
2 feet and using 3 pedals at the same time
People can't drive like this anymore It is a dying art.
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Re: Engine Braking. Good or Bad?

Post by MikeR » Thu Sep 08, 2022 7:59 pm

Assuming a manual gearbox. On the braking, I'd imagine the main IAD rationale (and a bit from memory!) is that it is safer to keep both hands on the wheel while decelerating quickly. If "ABS assisted change of direction" then also had to be used during the braking, then I believe a larger wheel movement than normal is needed, so maybe unsafe to rely on one hand to do that?

Just thoughts.
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Re: Engine Braking. Good or Bad?

Post by nealpina » Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:43 pm

Duplicate post - admin please feel free to delete this one. As I had no option to delete

I went to edit but pressed quote instead of edit

Removed quotes from the post below and edited that one with the corrections
Last edited by nealpina on Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:49 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Engine Braking. Good or Bad?

Post by nealpina » Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:43 pm

It all depends on their experience of driving other cars with paddle shifts as some are not that great. They may have based it on that

A few weeks ago I drove a VW Arteon great car to drive but compared to my B3 which is 25 years old the gearing on manual shifts was no comparison to mine, yet your switch-tronic is newer and superior to mine. On some, if not all Toyota models, as well as M cars, Mercedes, and Porsche etc. The paddle shift is great and just like switch-tronic.

Feels like a long time ago now, I passed my IAM, ROSPA (three times and class gold on all occasions). I believe the ROSPA and its levels have changed now - not sure

This is my view:

If someone is downshifting to maintain engine speed to drive into a bend/corner which requires a lower gear then it's fine to downshift without the brakes.

If someone needs to downshift to take a corner slower, they should apply the brakes first to the correct speed, and then downshift to the correct gear

Going uphill and maintaining engine speed, downshift is fine.

Going downhill, downshift is also fine to maintain engine speed

The correct speed and then gear changes should be completed before entering the corner, hill, and downdip for downhill
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