[QUOTE=Jason Bourne]Rev matching will not improve synchro wear. That just improves clutch wear. Your synchros will still need to synchronize your intermediate shaft to engine speed (to mesh the gears properly). Then what you're doing by rev-matching is matching the engine (and gear) speed to road speed but that's downstream of the synchro's work.

Well said. I don't know about the rev matching not affecting the life of the sychros though. I've put 317,000 hard miles on my '93 pathfinder and I still have the original clutch(barely) and the sychros are fine. Could be a coincidence. I downshift all the time and have only had brakes done twice. BTW I never even thought of ever double clutching it.

I suspect these "shifting" threads are popular as there are many new Z owners driving their first manual transmission. A good recomendation is always downshift to save your brakes and have more control, rev match to save clutch wear and not jerk the car, and downshift to 1st only in the rare cases it makes any sense. Never reduce your control by letting the car roll in neutral except maybe going downhill and almost out of gas. Also leave manual transmissions parked in 1st gear. It will all come natural with practice. Relax and enjoy your Z.

 

there's nothing in the manual regarding downshifting into 1st other than basically saying don't force it if it's difficult to do, rather, release the clutch with the shifter in neutral then try again. of course there's stuff about not over-revving the engine during a downshift but that's obvious.

there isn't anything saying it's not recommended to downshift in general. i still do it all the time. something about coasting in neutral bothers me. you do sacrifice a little control when you do it.