Is it okay to skip gears in a manual car

I have a Mahindra Scorpio N Z2 MT petrol and I have tried skipping gears and it looks like that we can easily run on 3 gears only.

BHPian JoseTheScorpion recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Is skipping gears good or bad?

I have a Scorpio-N Z2 MT Petrol variant and I have always had this question lingering in my mind, on whether it is a good idea to skip gears.

Drive style I

So I normally, drive through the gears as mentioned in the manual

1st gear - to start momentum
2nd gear - @15kmph
3rd gear - @30kmph
4th gear - @40kmph
5th gear - @50kmph
6th gear - @60kmph

Drive style II - skipping gears

But, I have tried skipping gears and it looks like we can easily run on 3 gears

1st gear - to start momentum
3rd gear - @20kmph
6th gear - @60kmph

I like the 3rd gear, as it has good torque to pull the car from as low as 20kmph to triple digits.

Anyway, I feel that since the gears are still inside their power band, it should be ok to drive like this regularly.

What do you guys say? Please share your feedback, ideas.

Here's what BHPian sunikkat replied:

I don’t think skipping gears can do any harm. Having owned an Octavia MT for 9 years, the least used gear was 5th. I always skip that and go directly from 4th to 6th.

Here's what BHPian shankar.balan replied:

Nothing wrong. As long as you match your revs properly and don't crunch through the gears.

I go first to third quite often and have been doing so for years and years especially when on a slight or mid level downhill gradient when the car has just begun to pick up momentum. I wouldn't do it on a steep gradient though.

In the city and on highways when the momentum is right and the revs match, I do 2nd to 4th and 3rd to 5th too, quite often, especially if there is a clear stretch ahead.

Here's what BHPian Jeroen replied:

As long as you don’t lug the engine it doesn’t matter. In theory, especially when downshifting you will put some additional wear on the respective synchromesh rings.

I have a six speed gear box on my Mini. And it has one of these shift indicators as well.

When I accelerate moderately I will often go 1st, 3rd, 6th. I prefer to pull just a bit longer in each gear and shift less.

Remember it wasn’t all that long ago, most cars, be it petrol or diesel only had four gears. Nowadays we get 5 or even 6 as standard. All those gears are good for getting the optimum fuel efficiency at any cruising speed. But you don’t necessarily need all of them to accelerate smoothly. Although on most cars to accelerate really fast you might have to use all gears.

My Jaguar, with an autobox will always pull away in 2nd gear. Only when you put it in sport mode will it start using first gear as well.

Here's what BHPian PrasannaDhana replied:

I never skipped gears while upshifting. Mostly because I rev them fully and enjoy the torque rush of the next gear.

All of us would have skipped gears while downshifting though.

Doing 60 kmph at 6th would lug the engine in a Scorpio N, wouldn't it?

My Safari Storme Varicor 400 stays comfortable only when the speed is above 80 kmph to upshift to 6th.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.