[fazzone]

>gear-shift indicator in the dash.

My VW has this. It's useless, I never look at it. It is very simple and clearly intended only to give the best results on the controlled gas mileage testing - I believe that if a manual car has a gear-change indicator, the EPA test drivers are supposed to follow it. The advantage of a human selecting gears is that they can use more information than just the speed and engine rpm; for instance there is no point shifting into 6th gear if you see a big hill right in front of you. It also never indicates for the driver to skip a gear. Maybe you will save a few bucks on gas if you follow the indicator religiously but you'll probably break even after you have to replace your clutch early.

[Tempest1981]

You say it's useless, but then say "maybe you will save a few bucks on gas if you follow the indicator". Isn't that the point? To teach/remind you how to save gas?

I agree that it is imperfect, and imo annoying/distracting. But it may work for a large number of drivers, most of the time.

[fazzone]

My point is that they far over-prioritized fuel economy. If you actually drive like that you will be spending a lot more time changing gears than necessary, and that almost any acceleration will require a downshift. I wouldn't recommend trying to stretch the gas mileage in the snow, for example, since you might need power to recover if you start to slide.

[blub]

Completely agree. Those indicators ignore that we can't accelerate as fast as a double-clutch automatic in case of emergency.

[rini17]

Overusing clutch is not such a big problem, but that it leads the driver to keep low rpm. Especially diesel engine is sensitive to that and can be damaged.

[vetinari]

It is a trade off - you can trade a some of engine lifetime for a slightly better consumption by keeping the engine in low rpms, where it is stressed more than it should. That's exactly what the indicator suggests.

[gcb0]

it's not useless if you're deaf.