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While I like to downshift on hills, this is an absolute no with most modern cars. The engine does not have to be connected to the transmission to pump the power steering and brake fluid, it just needs to be on. Also, coasting in neutral is good if you're on a gradual slope, such that coasting in gear would stop you on said hill. Saves gas.

Um, we're talking about FULLY manual cars.

Coasting reduces braking power, it completely eliminates engine braking and soley replies about foot brake system to slow the car. The car was designed to use the engine braking and foot braking in unison, not separately.

Being in neutral reduces your ability to regain engine control, if a hazard occurs you have much less response from the cars brakes.

When I'm going down a hill, and I downshift, when the car is briefly in neutral you can feel the car become lighter and actually speeds up, it doesnt have the engine to slow it down. Which means I have to use the brakes even more.

Transmissions are technical pieces of equipment and werent designed to be put in neutral at high speeds. The gearboxs are designed to work sequentially from 1 to your highest gear, you HAVE to go to each gear you cannot skip a gear. Therefore going from neutral straight into 2/3/4/5 is unnatural for the system.

You can however, downshift and miss gears, I could even go from 5th down to 2nd, however my speed has to be right down before I change into second.

Like Xet has said, you do not save fuel at all by coasting. The engine is still running, obviously if your going down hill you arent going to use the throttle which is the real gas guzzler.

For Example: Entering my town, there is a long hill and a hairpin just as the hill evens out, heres how I tackle it. The speed limit going down is 70 mph, but I am constantly slowing down using the footbrake down the hill, I then get onto the straight section thats still on a down hill, I use the footbrake gradually to slow the car down, I get to a good speed that the top of 2nd gear will be happy with and I slowly bring up the clutch, doing so engages the engine and slows the car down even further, then all I have to do is steer around the corner and use the throttle to power through the corner, I then power out of corner and change up to 3rd when the speed is correct. - Simple!

Most important, you match the gear to your speed .