If I was cruising in 4th, I just leave it in gear, use the brakes to slow until it's about to stall, then shift it into neutral. That way I'm engine breaking, but still using the brakes so everybody knows I'm slowing down. I'm a fan of car talk and this was the safest way to stop for the car and people around you.

 

Lugging the engine must be worse than downshifting and even revmatching as an amateur.

 

It seems like this is a huge debate no matter what forums or website you go to, so I doubt theres any noticeable wear and tear after so many thousands of miles. I like to stay in gear until last minute, some people I know will downshift to second then put it to neutral, so I'll conclude with personal preference

 

I actually find that if you through the car into reverse you will slow down a lot faster and not even have to use the brakes!

 

For me, in gear until the revs drop to an engine bogging speed, then neutral or to the appropriate gear to get back on the gas if the reason to slow/stop clears.

 

I downshift, mainly from all of my time spent riding a motorcycle. You always want to give yourself every avenue of escape possible because who knows what some of the idiots on the road are going to do.

 

I leave it in gear down to about 5 MPH straight pipes sound great on deceleration in gear.

 

I usually just do it the lazy way, shift to neutral and brake.

At times I also downshift gear by gear until the 2nd, for two reasons. One, to practise heel-toe shifting; two, it sounds nice like a twin-clutch car.

 

Downshift , i like the pop and crackles it does lol. When i had my exhaust leak (now fixed lol) it would make huge backfires lol