8 Speed Downshifting

[kg4pto]

Sorry for all of the n00b questions, but when manually downshifting, is it necessary to "rev-match" by giving it a bit of gas so it doesn't do a zero-throttle downshift?

I'm not sure of the architecture of the 8-speed but the fact that it does not rev-match automatically makes me think that manually downshifting does more harm than good.

Is that the case? What is the correct way to do it for longest life?

 

[daviderle]

To answer your question for the longest life I would keep it in Drive...

Having said that the 8sp is very versatile, I have upgraded my 2013 R-Spec with a low latency wireless steering wheel shifter and constantly use it to slow down and make sure I stay in the right gear during sprinted cornering, without any ill effects so far, plus the 8sp is covered for 100k miles if you are the first owner.

8sp problems are few and far between, I have both the ZF on my 4.6 and 8sp and both have been a model of reliability, so personally I drive both cars like I stole them since day one, without worrying too much about transmission reliability.... But that is just me.