5-10 mph ok in 2nd?
 

is it ok for the car to do these speeds in 2nd? the car makes a rough sound when using 2nd around these speeds, but it won't easily go into 1st untill under 5mph, so i won't force it.

am i lugging the engine? it sounds like it doesn't like it, but theres not much other choice at that speed.

are you accelerating or just coasting?

that is fine at those speeds. Sometimes you should start in 2nd if you are on snow for extra traction. As long as you don't burn the clutch everything should be fine.

I've been struggling with this same situation myself...

Many times I need to slow down and prepare to stop when a light turns green or something and I get caught in this 5-10mph no man's land... hill = bad situation..

What to do? Clutch in, go into second, rev high and go?

If you're at a slight roll, 2nd is fine. The car has enough power and torque probably to take off in second as well though I haven't tried it. I go through my apartment complex at that speed in second so it's fine. First gear is so short so I see no problems at all with that. You'll know when it's too slow when you kill it!

well yes, i'll be accelerating in 2nd to get back up to speed. but when it's that slow i give it as little gas as possible till it stops sounding like it's struggling.

you can double clutch and rev match back into first if you don't like bogging it in 2nd.

pretty sure there's no synchro on 1st so that explains why it's hard to shift back into it

Just rev it into 1st :D.

+1 i just find those situations an excuse to rev high then switch to 3rd or 4th to coast.

The car sounds like its struggling because it is. If it doesn't have enough air/fuel to make the power it needs for the gear that it is in. Either shift into 1st like others have said so it doesnt require more power, or give it some gas so it isn't starving for power to pull the car forward

When I get a UEL header and my Nameless system in, I'll purposely keep it in first at that speed to make tons of noise!

It's tough to judge what gear to be in if you use speed as a reference. There's a ton of variables.

But in general, at least for me, my car is pretty happy from about 1.3k RPM and up. If it sounds like it's struggling, drop a gear and see if it sounds better. To answer your question about getting into 1st gear, 2nd gear should be fine at low speeds.

In traffic I leave it in 2nd at those speeds.

If I'm facing your situation, I try to be very delicate and smooth while downshifting into 1st... However, before I do so, I make sure my engine speed slows / matches with the speed of the car itself. I try my level best to get as close to 5 miles (if not lesser) as possible by braking a tad more if needed, then I blip the gas for a smoother transition to 1st.

As others have mentioned, you don't HAVE to downshift into 1st if 2nd is already adequate.

Remember to downshift only if you need to build up speed, don't downshift to slow your car down... That's what the brakes are for. (Just felt like adding this extra point since it can become a common mistake - I picked this knowledge up from the book called 'ULTIMATE SPEED SECRETS by Ross Bentley... Highly recommend reading it!) :)