[SaberX]

Well it may seem like a simple quesiton, but no one I know seems to have any idea what exactly the "1" and "2" for is on the auto transmission. I chuck it on Drive, and so does everyone i've ever sat in their car Lolz. I've gone down to 1 before by skipping past the D accidentally, didnt seem to notice too much of a difference. Chucked it back into the normal since I coudn't be bothered testing it out for more than one or two secs

[aznfishyfart]

basically ur setting the highest gear ur car can go into
so 1/L would leave ur car in first gear, 2 would limit ur car to second gear and so on

[SaberX]

hmm why would you limit it O_o

mum said something about towing? Somethign to do with that perhaps?

[taoh]

If you know how to ride a bicycle with several gear settings, trying climbing a hill in the higher gears and then try it again in the lower gears.

That will give you an idea why you want to limit how far up you want the transmission to shift, but for a car, it doesn't always apply to climbing hills.

[SaberX]

haha you'd have to explain that one to me. I lived a deprived biking life LOl, i never reached the stage of getting a mountain bike/bike with gears hehe my stock standard bike without a gear did it for me.

[v8subie]

ever consider reading the manual...rtfm

[SaberX]

ever consider reading the manual...rtfm

haha doubt we even have the manual. Actually on second thoughts i doubt any of our cars ever came with a manual(since as long as i've been able to remember the cars were all second hand bought).

[OMGHIyori2U]

1st and 2nd is used for uphill or downhill. If you're going on a steep uphill, shifting down to 2 will prevent the car from shifting to 3rd. If you're going down a steep hill, the lower the gear helps u slow down so your brakes don't have to do all the work trying to slow down the car. Keep in mind u don't want to put it in 1 when you're going faster than 30+ mph (depending on how tall or spaced out your 1st gear is at, but typically 30-35 mph max).

[SaberX]

Ahh so thats why the transmission goes down from D to 2 then 1 Lolz(i think older cars have a 3 even?). Hmm well at least i think the 2 comes first, Lolz i cant even remember now. Gonna be taking the car out for a spin later so i guess i'll check.

Haha guess the shifting from Drive while your going up/down hills can be sorta bad for the car if you aren't timing it properly eg: going into 1 at 45 km/hr Lolz. Will have to test it out and see the ranges for your own car i guess

cheers for the replies. Guess i should just go back to manual transmission

[youre sexy <3]

uphill/downhill stuff.
i rarely use it and forget it's even there when i should be using it. bahh.

[kelvin6]

In most situations, its prefered that we use our brakes to keep us from going to fast down hill... I rather not switch it to first or low gear, as it does heat up the transmission fluid... I rather change my brakes than change my transmission because it overheated...

I live in a hilly city environment (San Francisco) and I drive in D with no problems... up or down hill.

[azn akira]

In most situations, its prefered that we use our brakes to keep us from going to fast down hill... I rather not switch it to first or low gear, as it does heat up the transmission fluid... I rather change my brakes than change my transmission because it overheated...

I live in a hilly city environment (San Francisco) and I drive in D with no problems... up or down hill.

its for going up/down long steep hills with a full load, not for normal driving on smaller hills. a lot of times the car will hunt for a gear, often shifting between say 2nd and 3rd. the governer will make the car upshift then you will loose your gearing advantage and be lower in the powerband so you will have to apply a bit more throttle which will kick it back down a gear. like i said this will pretty much happen under full load on really steep hills. as far as going downhill on steep hills, if you use your brakes too much you will overheat and then loose your brakes. you will not damage your tranny by using engine braking (if used normally), they are built to take it and thats why you have a transmission cooler. like someone else said this mostly applys to towing stuff. so its especially useful to use the gears if you have a truck and actually use it to haul stuff. though 99% of people with autos will never have to use anything other than D. manual transmission FTMFW

[DaRkViEt73]

It's also great for emergency braking as well. Like you're driving fast and all of a sudden the cars in front of you suddenly come to a dead stop. You can stop pretty fast when you downshift and use the normal brakes at the same time.

[azn akira]

It's also great for emergency braking as well. Like you're driving fast and all of a sudden the cars in front of you suddenly come to a dead stop. You can stop pretty fast when you downshift and use the normal brakes at the same time.

your normal brakes should be more than adequate to stop the vehicle. if you can lock the brakes (or activate abs) you are stopping at your vehicles maximum ability to stop with the current tires

[jphase]

since this is transmission related.. what does Overdrive do on the car? I've never really found out what it does..

[OMGHIyori2U]

since this is transmission related.. what does Overdrive do on the car? I've never really found out what it does..

overdrive is just another higher gear so that u save gas on the freeway. Think of it like a 4th gear for automatics (or 5th gear in some newer automatics). Most automaticss are 4 speed. If u have overdrive off the car will stay in 3rd gear.