Yaris and mountain grades

[YarisOwnersDad]

Hey, Peeps, I hope to be taking a trip across KY, WV, and VA the week after next, and I wonder how my little 2009 Yaris sedan with auto tranny is going to handle those steep mountain grades in WV. I only bought the car back in April, and I have not yet had any mountain driving experience with it.

Am I going to have to spend a lot of time in third gear instead of "Drive?" If the transmission is going to be constantly downshifting and upshifting, I will just leave it in third gear.

Tom

[supmet]

I don't know just how steep the hills are around there, but my auto transmission handles hills just fine. Certain combinations of speed and angles will be better with it locked in 3, to prevent constant up/downshifting. Coming up the cajon pass I'm usually passing people with ease.

[Altitude]

I don't have an automatic, but I drive hills and mountains all the time and yes you will most likely need to use third gear as I have to use it quite often on the manual tranny.

[nemelek]

In Colorado there is a 10 mile stretch of 7% grade highway on I-70 Between Silverthorne and the top of the Continental Divide. My auto HB will do 70+ mph climbing. The car will up and downshift a dozen times during the climb. On a 5% grade the car doesn’t need to downshift. If the grade isn’t too steep and length of the climb isn’t too long I would leave it in 4th and let the car pick the gear it needs.

[jambo101]

Am I going to have to spend a lot of time in third gear instead of "Drive?" If the transmission is going to be constantly downshifting and upshifting, I will just leave it in third gear.

Tom

If you are going up steep hills the car will need to down shift whether its automatic or standard.Whats wrong with letting your auto pick the gear? isnt that why you bought the automatic?:confused:

[YarisOwnersDad]

If you are going up steep hills the car will need to down shift whether its automatic or standard.Whats wrong with letting your auto pick the gear? isnt that why you bought the automatic?:confused:


In most cases, Jambo, it would be best to let the auto shift itself, but there are times when the tranny would be constantly shifting back and forth, not knowing which gear it needs to be in. In those situations, I would prefer to just leave it in third gear.

Tom

P.S.

Don't misunderstand me; I'm not talking about driving 30 miles in third gear. I'm just talking about staying in third gear going up a long grade. There are also going to be times when I need to leave it in third gear going down long grades for engine braking. DFCO should kick-in in those situations and save me some fuel.

[supmet]

If you are going up steep hills the car will need to down shift whether its automatic or standard.Whats wrong with letting your auto pick the gear? isnt that why you bought the automatic?:confused:

The car will up and downshift a dozen times during the climb.

If the grade isn’t too steep and length of the climb isn’t too long I would leave it in 4th and let the car pick the gear it needs.

wrong and wrong.

I bought an automatic for traffic. For hills keep it in 3.