lets say your on the highway and you think there is going to be bumper to bumper traffic... you put it in neutral and just brake, then suddenly the traffic starts up again, is it "bad" if you put it into 3rd gear so you can continue w/ traffic?

 

You mean as opposed to putting it in 1st gear? No, that's completely fine, but personally I wouldn't put it into neutral unless the traffic came to a stop. By your example, I'd still be in gear, maybe need to downshift from 5th to 3rd as you're picking back up speed.

Dave

 

what you describe is perfectly normal...assuming you are not at 90mph wanting to put it back in 3rd

personally i use the engine to slow me down in situations like that, so that if i need to pick speed back up..or extend a certain slower speed longer...i am in gear. less clutch/stick work.

if you are in neutral...it wouldn't hurt to rev match a bit. with the clutch in, give it a bit of gas to get the rpms up to what they will be at aproximately when you engage the clutch in whichever gear you select

 

thank you for the replies, eventually i will downshift always but now im takin the easy way out b/c i am still learning, but i guess i shoulda just switched to 3rd instead of waitin til i hit 20mph on the highway wen this happened lol... oh well, and when you say put the clutch in and rev it up, i thought you're never supposed to accelerate when the clutch is in?