Tips on saving gas?

Yes, always shift down to a proper gear.

The other thing you can check is the engines power graph. This can help you find the sweet spots for best fuel economy/performance.

The best things to do are: treat the accelerator like an egg; imagine you have a glass of water sitting in the vehicle; imagine that your vehicle has really crappy brakes..

My wife follows the above and normally achieves well over the rated MPG for the vehicle, which includes mountain driving.

Thought I’d mention this also: In your statement you mention holding the clutch in while maintaining a higher gear when you ascend a hill. This is a really, really terrible idea. Besides the obvious wear on the clutch, the engine will still be burning lots of gas since the rpms will go up. (in order to maintain speed and still slip the clutch.) Better to think of it this way: When the engine is running and the clutch is not fully engaged, you’re wasting fuel.

it’s not so much the shifting but the engine RPMs that eat your gas. If you accelerate quickly and leave it in first longer wrapping the engine up you’ll use more gas say than if you accelerate slowly and use don’t stay in a gear as long as you speed up.

General gas saving thumb rules: Aviod quick takeoffs and stops. Maintain the speed. Don’t speed up and slow down. At highway speeds-get up to speed and keep the transmission in the highest gear available.

Other related things could be: Making sure your tire pressure is good at least once a week. Keep your engine intake air filter clean and replaced regularly Make sure your brakes are asjusted correctly to prevent needless drag

so in other words I need to shift down?? instead of keeping the clutch in?