Ok so I'm fairly new to driving standards and I was wondering what was better - down shifting and rev matching to use the engine to slow down vs just throwing it in neutral and using the foot brake, going down a hill or just a stop light.

 

Brakes are a lot easier to replace than a clutch so ideally you want to use the brakes to slow down however when turning you are going to need to use the clutch anyhow so that's really the only time I use the clutch to slow down because I'm changing gears anyhow.

 

So when slowing down either on a hill or just coming to a stop at a light you go from 3rd or ,4 th to neutral and just use the foot brake?

 

When going down a hill I just hit the bakes no need to go into neutral.
When coming to a stop I just hit the brake and stay in the gear I'm in until about 2000 rpm or so then pop it into neutral.

 

OK thanks

 

I engine break until it lugs, you can also let off the gas and coast so no to slam on the brakes at the last second.

 

So how exactly do you do it? Go from like forth then clutch then hit the gas to get the rpms up real quick and down shift then let off the clutch so it doesnt jump back hard

 

That's what I've been doing and was just seeing if that was better then just braking

 

It is more natural, drop gears and let the engine idle down but not too low. Maybe a 1-2k rpm at most. By the time you go from 5th to 3rd or even second you should be stopped.

Lugging means the engine is struggling to stay on, if you go that far it is to low just enough to let the engine slow you down and aid the brakes at the same time.