I personally don't downshift to help slow down (using the engine as a brake) anymore since I got this car, because it is much harder on the syncros to downshift as it is for upshifting. Also, to me, brakes are much cheaper and easier to replace than the clutch, so I only downshift when I need to bring the rpm up for acceleration or do low-speed downshift (where the rpms won't climb to high stessing on the syncros). And when I am downshifting to accelerate, I usually rise the rpms with the throttle at the same time as I'm finding the lower gear I seek. And I got 130,000 miles on my clutch AND syncros and my trans and clutch still work like new, and I drive my car hard everywhere.
