Your correspondent FM asked what is the best driving technique to use with Honda's i-Shift. In my experience with a Jazz, bought last November to replace a Jazz CVT-7, there is no best way. This electronic manual box had a mind of its own and I found it impossible to anticipate the changes as you suggested. Sometimes it would change 'normally' and at others it would refuse to change. I became frustrated, for example, at travelling at 40 mph stuck in third at high revs until it finally decided to change. On one occasion it climbed a steady incline in top gear only to change down twice when it reached the level. At low speeds, for instance in a car park, the jerkiness was unnerving - my wife asked me if I had passed the driving test. The main dealer checked the car on three occasions and declared that it was 'fine to drive'. I wrote to Honda but did not receive an acknowledgement or a reply to my comments. I recently traded in my i-Shift at a significant loss and bought a two-year-old Jazz Sport with CVT which is, once again, a pleasure to drive. My advice to FM is keep your present CVT or upgrade to a later model with CVT but whatever you do don't buy the i-Shift.