How in the name of all that is decent is one supposed to operate a manual car at speeds under 25 mph? 1st gear isn't enough, 2nd gear is too much. If I leave it in first all the old people in the parking lot going for Sunday strolls look at me like I'm evil, if I switch to 2nd the car shutters due to lack of power and its hard to maintain the speedlimit.
Wierd car
All the manuals I've driven in my short motoring career so far (quite a few, thanks to my Fox being at the dealer all the time... I've pretty much had the entire VW range to test...) will happily do 15kph in 2nd gear.
Thirdly, how resistant are engines to high revs? While I understand running around town in 2nd gear and 8000rpm will do major damage, would running it at 4000 or 5000 for 25-30 seconds do any real damage?
Nah, no damage as long as it's not freezing cold.
Fourthly, I try to downshift as much as possible especially to assist in slowing down. However, sometimes I'll just pop it in neutral and just use the breaks. Explain to me why this is wrong, and how awful of a driver I am for doing this.
Well, there are two types of slowing down (emergency stops excepted of course, screw shifting then
). Red light a looooooong way ago? Keeping it in gear will stop too quickly, better to go to neutral. Red light coming soon, real braking required? Best to keep it in the current gear until the overrun fuel cutoff stops (depending on the car somewhere between 1000 and 1500rpm), then neutral. Keeping it in gear longer with fuel going in will work against the brakes and waste fuel, changing gears to take load off the brakes won't really reduce their wear noticeably, but it will increase clutch wear or fuel consumption when matching revs.
I have some very similar questions having driven a manual all of 5 minutes in my life. In general, is it bad to skip gears?
Yes.
Want fuel economy by shifting into the more economical gear quickly, for example 2->4? Well, consider this: You've been in 2nd for too long, could have saved fuel in 3rd and shift to 4th at the same time as you would when skipping.
Want to reduce clutch wear by reducing number of shifts? When shifting regularly, the engine will rev down by itself to roughly the correct revs during the shifting. If you skip a gear and shift as quickly as usual, your flywheel will be going too fast.
One exception: Accelerating onto the Autobahn/similar highways in heavy but quick traffic. You'll want the acceleration from 3rd, but don't need 4th/5th if you don't want to go any faster.
Oh yeah, concerning low-end torque: My 3cyl 1.2l Fox will easily set off without any throttle. All you need is a careful left foot, tip: try setting off in 2nd without gas whenever you're not on a hill, in a hurry or in traffic. As soon as you're able to do that, getting a move on in 1st is a doddle.
Your clutch will hug you for it. If there's throttle before it's fully engaged, there is a higher difference in rpm resulting in more wear. If you have no throttle there is less difference, and it will fully engage sooner. As soon as it's fully engaged, you can give it a hoof full with no trouble.