Is It Okay To Skip Gears When Shifting A Manual Transmission? An Engineer Explains

Learning to drive a stick shift is a skill that’s slowly dying out in America. My first car a 5-speed manual transmission and despite the fact that I loved that car, it was a pain in the ass that none of my friends knew how to drive stick so anytime I brought my car on a road trip I was the one who got stuck driving….I’m ranting, time to stop.

This video above, it’s from the Engineer Explained YouTube channel and he’s discussing whether or not it’s safe to skip gears when shifting. To make a long story short, it is, but you need to adjust the clutch and gas accordingly when doing this. Skipping gears while shifting can cause your engine to lurch or nearly stall out, so it’s always good to adjust your clutch/gas accordingly when you’re skipping gears whether it’s downshifting or upshifting. FWIW, I’ve always been a big proponent of skipping gears when downshifting to slow my car down and save my brakes over time, and I know I’m not the only one out there who does this.

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Cass Anderson is the Editor-in-Chief of BroBible. Based out of Florida, he covers an array of topics including NFL, Pop Culture, Fishing News, and the Outdoors.