Automatic Shift Pleasure

[captainm27]

I don't know about you, but I get a pleasure from shifting between 3rd and 4th gear on my automatic. For those who drive the auto, do you enjoy keeping the car on 3rd when climbing hills and when descending them? Do you fool around with the different gears, playing around just to see what effects you get?

I never had an auto transmission that just felt so good shifting. Maybe it's also partly due to the design of the shifter, with all the twists and turns, as opposed to the straight up and down movement.

[YarisSedan]

Its also a fun way to wear out your transmission faster.

[captainm27]

Is it really? I notice the car shifts automatically between 3rd and 4th while keeping it on D when ascending and descending hills. Would it damage it if I kept it longer at those gears?

[R2D2]

Captain,

I shift mine all the time. It is one of the most intelligent autos I've driven. I drop to 3rd and second almost every time I stop on slopes-and if I brake much at all it down shifts itself anyway, so any extra wear is minimal. The wear is offset anyway in my opinion when I lock out 4th on hills so it doesn't shift as much. The owners manual describes scenarios such as these, so evidently Toyota isn't too worried about it. IMO the biggest threat to the automatic transmission is the "lifetime" ATF.

I had a tiptronic type manually shiftable auto in my Mitsu Outlander that was pretty good too, but not as smooth or fun as the Yaris. I shifted the Outlander all the time too, no problems. I like a torque converter in slippery conditions. The mitsu would allow you to take of in second so you could "numb it down" and prevent wheel spin.

R2

[captainm27]

That's what I was feeling, R2D2, that the transmission is made to be very shiftable. Yeah, I guess the Trans Fluid wouldn't really last forever...

[Kioshi]

a dealer said...trans fluid should be changed after 100k on the car, usually....

And i believe him, i did so on my Mitsu Mirage when it hit 103k....

[JumpmanYaris]

if u read ur manual i think it is it tells u that the 3rd gear is actually ur Drive and the D is ur over drive and i notice that when ur in 3 it starts asking for overdrive when ur about 40 to 45

[Yaris Hilton]

I like playing around with the automatic transmission, working with the throttle and speed to get it to upshift quicker or hold a higher gear longer as it climbs a hill, with the engine pulling harder at a lower speed. The control unit has some built in intelligence and can learn your preferences to an extent. Sure you have more direct control with a manual, but it's an interesting sort of negotiation.

[birdman]

Shakespeare said the highest form of sophistication is expressed simply. That's what I feel about these cars. It's a huge undertaking to develop a fine reliable seemingly simple car like this especially at this end of the automotive spectrum.

[djct_watt]

You leave it in D (OD on). The transmission can figure out the gears for itself. Overdrive isn't anything fancy or crazy. . . all it is is a fuel conserving gear that has a ratio less than 1.0. It means that it takes less than one turn of the axle to turn the wheel. If your automatic is struggling for power, it will shift OUT of OD and into 3. There is never any reason to use 3 except for engine braking and holding the gear for "racing" lol or climbing a hill to prevent gear hunting. Re-read your manual.

[SilverGlow]

Its also a fun way to wear out your transmission faster.

This is completely false!

[captainm27]

You leave it in D (OD on). The transmission can figure out the gears for itself. Overdrive isn't anything fancy or crazy. . . all it is is a fuel conserving gear that has a ratio less than 1.0. It means that it takes less than one turn of the axle to turn the wheel. If your automatic is struggling for power, it will shift OUT of OD and into 3. There is never any reason to use 3 except for engine braking and holding the gear for "racing" lol or climbing a hill to prevent gear hunting. Re-read your manual.

This is exactly what I meant. Even though the Automatic is smart and efficient, sometimes you just want temporary control of it, and that is where the enjoyment of it comes in.

[supmet]

You leave it in D (OD on).

Its kind of weird to put 3 more selections on the shifter if you aren't supposed to use them.. Especially in a bottom line car.....

The transmission can figure out the gears for itself.

Most of the time, but at certain angles it absolutely can not.


There is never any reason to use 3 except for engine braking and holding the gear for "racing" lol or climbing a hill to prevent gear hunting. Re-read your manual.

Engine braking and avoiding gear hunting accounts for most of my city driving. Holding gears for cornering(not racing) is another reason.

I live in a really hilly area. I'm hardly ever in D. My transmission works just fine at 76k miles now. I guarantee if you live in hills, you'll burn brakes 10x as fast, and your tranny 2x as fast without gear limiting.

Final conclusion - done properly, limiting to L, 2, or 3, does no more damage to your transmission than not limiting, and can in fact reduce wear(from gear hunting as you put it) and definitely reduces wear on brakes.

[RUFFSTUFF]

Its also a fun way to wear out your transmission faster.


False. A shift is a shift (hello! no clutch!), besides the computer won't let it shift into an out-of-range gear.


Do what you want.

[MadMax]

Yeah, that's BS! The auto wouldn't have the option to shift gears if it was detrimental to the transmission. People have to realize it is the 21st century, and a Toyota we are talking about here!

I shift my auto all the time, mainly downshifts but occasionally to get up a steep hill. I do enjoy it, and as I have said before, you can always shift your automatic but you can't get your manual to shift on its own!

Cheers! M2

[SLIK4]

i love shifting my auto. do it all the time "racing" my best bud at stop lights.:burnrubber:

[SailDesign]

I don't know about you, but I get a pleasure from shifting between 3rd and 4th gear on my automatic. For those who drive the auto, do you enjoy keeping the car on 3rd when climbing hills and when descending them? Do you fool around with the different gears, playing around just to see what effects you get?

I never had an auto transmission that just felt so good shifting. Maybe it's also partly due to the design of the shifter, with all the twists and turns, as opposed to the straight up and down movement.

Someone is going to say t sooner or later - so I may as well do it nicely (I hope).
If you enjoy shifting so much, why not just buy the manual tranny? :biggrin:

[Sir A.Y. Atoyot]

I like the automatic because (duh) it's automatic!

If I wanted to shift gears, I'd have bought a manual.

I find it more interesting to not shift gears on a hill - the transmission is partly controlled by the usual hydraulics and partly by the computer. It's interesting how it will climb a rather steep hill without downshifting or slowing down, and without lugging.

However, it's your car - if you want to shift the automatic, be my guest.

[yaris-me]

Sometimes it's a pleasure to shift the automatic. Live a little and shift your automatic.:thumbup:

[firemachine69]

I typically only downshift to hit DFCO.

[Yaris Hilton]

I only downshift to reduce braking on long downhill stretches.

[Vang]

its pretty fun to floor it going uphill and hear the engine go nuts although im scared it'll break lol

[Yaris Hilton]

I don't expect it will. :biggrin:

[specialeducator]

If I wanted to shift I'd have bought a standard

[YarisSedan]

I think if the car was designed that way it would have a tiptronic transmission where you could upshift and downshift at will or a paddle shift design.

Primarly those type of transmissions have a builtin failsafe that wont let you downshift a car accidentally beyond what the rev limiter would allow and would also upshift the transmission should you forget to do so to prevent damage to the motor or transmission.

I am not sure if the yaris transmission has something like that it could but i havent tried to find out.

Also depending on what speed you are in if you dont know what you are doing downshifting at high speed constantly is going to put premature wear on the transmission as well as its hard on the engine mounts. I would only reccomend shifting down such as going or downhill driving to utilize engine braking.

Which is primarly WHY they have those numbers there. Thats the what the engineers who put those options there had in mind. Thats why the shifter has that staircase design shifter. So you have to pause for a second between each gear shift and usually have to look down before you go into the gear that you want. Not a typical forward or backward motion.

If you enjoy shifting through the gears then purchase a manual transmission yaris or if you dont like using the clutch purchase a vehicle that has a tiptronic style transmission/shifter.

[captainm27]

Someone is going to say t sooner or later - so I may as well do it nicely (I hope).
If you enjoy shifting so much, why not just buy the manual tranny? :biggrin:

lol, cause I only want to shift when I want.....then let the car do the rest :biggrin:

[PHXDEMON]

I feel sorry for all of you guys that are missing a pedal.

[MadMax]

I feel sorry for all of you guys that are missing a pedal.

I feel the same way when I see someone stuck in heavy stop-and-go traffic with a manual transmission...

[bronsin]

Why would shifting the automatic tranny manually wear it out faster? BTW I shift my auto into neutral coming to a stop. My feet are screwed up and its very painfull holding the car at a stop with the brakes. Also, the car makes groaning/clacking noises sometimes doing that. (holding at a light) Can this neutralizing hurt anything? (IYHO)

[127.0.0.1]

I typically only downshift to hit DFCO.

often....downshifting reduces the chance the car will go into DFCO

it -will- run some gas through the injectors to prevent too much deceleration
in many circumstances.

[127.0.0.1]

its like a neutered dog, lost all his joie de vivre and just lays in his bed licking his butt.:biggrin: sorry had to do it

as for stuck in heavy traffic if you drive smart its not that tiring

but how then, can I drink a beer, talk on cell phone, and smoke a hookah
and steer with my knee with a standard ?:iono:

[bronsin]

Driving in traffic with a manual is a bitch and will wear those components rapidly.

[SailDesign]

Driving in traffic with a manual is a bitch and will wear those components rapidly.

Those components will wear in an auto car as well - don't think you don't have a clutch just because you have no control over it... :biggrin:

[djct_watt]

I think if the car was designed that way it would have a tiptronic transmission where you could upshift and downshift at will or a paddle shift design.

Primarly those type of transmissions have a builtin failsafe that wont let you downshift a car accidentally beyond what the rev limiter would allow and would also upshift the transmission should you forget to do so to prevent damage to the motor or transmission.

I am not sure if the yaris transmission has something like that it could but i havent tried to find out.

Also depending on what speed you are in if you dont know what you are doing downshifting at high speed constantly is going to put premature wear on the transmission as well as its hard on the engine mounts. I would only reccomend shifting down such as going or downhill driving to utilize engine braking.

Which is primarly WHY they have those numbers there. Thats the what the engineers who put those options there had in mind. Thats why the shifter has that staircase design shifter. So you have to pause for a second between each gear shift and usually have to look down before you go into the gear that you want. Not a typical forward or backward motion.

If you enjoy shifting through the gears then purchase a manual transmission yaris or if you dont like using the clutch purchase a vehicle that has a tiptronic style transmission/shifter.

There is absolutely nothing mechanically different between a conventional automatic and "sport shift" auto with shift buttons, paddles, or a gear +/- selector.

Now if you are talking about a DSG, SMG, or any other type of automated manual transmission (which are far more rare and much more expensive to produce), then that's different. But 99% of the cars out there with a "manual" mode are just regular autos moving through the gears as you would a yaris. If you don't believe me do some research. The auto-manual you find in a Ferrari, Audi, or BMW has nothing in common with a Dodge Caravan "Autostick."

Oh yeah, almost forgot. . . there usually still is a fail safe, but I wouldn't test that theory. My friend's kid accidentally shifted his camry's gear selector from D (5spd) to L. . . on the highway. Nothing happened.