Use For The Normally Usless Auto/Stick

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Bill B
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Use For The Normally Usless Auto/Stick

Post by Bill B »

Finally found a use for the normally useless Auto/Stick feature on my old
automatic Sonata. It has the now antiquated 4 speed automatic, mated with the
2.7 liter 6 cyl. engine. It is annoying when you want to speed up just a little
and the auto trans kicks it down to a lower gear. Now when I want to speed up,
I move the shifter to the Auto/Stick mode and that keeps it from downshifting
when I don't want it to. When done I flip if back over to regular auto mode.
Even the V6 motor is getting obsolete with all the 4 cyl. turbo cars coming out
to meet fuel economy standards.
Bill Berckman
West Chester, Ohio
2007 Honda Element EX AWD 5 Speed MT
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theholycow
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Re: Use For The Normally Usless Auto/Stick

Post by theholycow »

That's great. I've tried that with a few and their obedience is a little iffy, some will hold the gear and some will disregard your gear request in favor of your right foot's request.

I looked up the owners manual for a 2012 Impala recently for someone who was asking about it and that one says your choice is merely the highest gear it will use (unless it decides that you're going too fast for that gear), but that it will shift through lower gears normally until it reaches that gear...presumably including downshifts.
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Stelcom66
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Re: Use For The Normally Usless Auto/Stick

Post by Stelcom66 »

My 2002 Subaru Outback didn't have the Auto/Stick feature, and it made me crazy when it would downshift when it didn't need to. I wasn't sure if the Auto/Stick would in fact help preventing those downshifts, good to know they do, at least in some vehicles. I don't know why Subaru designed the automatic accordingly, the engine is certainly capable of holding lower gears on slight inclines. The same year/engine 5MT Forester I have now substantiates that.
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Re: Use For The Normally Usless Auto/Stick

Post by theholycow »

Unwanted downshifts are probably my biggest complaint about automatics. Other than that I generally find them competent, if boring.
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Stelcom66
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Re: Use For The Normally Usless Auto/Stick

Post by Stelcom66 »

It seems lately a common complaint by reviewers is automatics not downshifting when desired. I'd take that instead, to force a downshift you could just move the selector from D to 2 or whatever would be below D. I always wondered if that could be harmful. Didn't ever seem to be. I read an article on the first GM dual range Hydramatics where drivers would shift from low to high range after up to speed, that caused damage. But we're talking apples-oranges, 65+ year old technology.
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Re: Use For The Normally Usless Auto/Stick

Post by theholycow »

Stelcom66 wrote:It seems lately a common complaint by reviewers is automatics not downshifting when desired. I'd take that instead, to force a downshift you could just move the selector from D to 2 or whatever would be below D. I always wondered if that could be harmful. Didn't ever seem to be. I read an article on the first GM dual range Hydramatics where drivers would shift from low to high range after up to speed, that caused damage. But we're talking apples-oranges, 65+ year old technology.
Image

It is harmless to manually downshift any automatic you'll find on the road today, and ones from the past decade almost all have paddles or +/- buttons/positons or other stuff like that -- and you are expected to use that feature.

I've done it plenty. If you do it ahead of time during steady throttle, you are probably reducing wear vs. letting it downshift itself under heavy throttle. One situation where I'll downshift ahead of time (regardless of manual or auto) is preparing for a difficult passing maneuver.

The complaints I've seen about automatics not downshifting have been about 1990s Hondas and Toyotas.
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AHTOXA
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Re: Use For The Normally Usless Auto/Stick

Post by AHTOXA »

Modern autos are much more competent than the older 3 and 4 speed autos. They shift both smarter and faster. They aren't as horrible to drive as the autos of a decade ago, just boring.
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