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the computer doesn't shift the car into 4th until about 40MPH I think. If your driving around town at lower speeds then its perfectly fine to leave the shifter in D.
Why don't we just use 4th gear all the time and save mad fuel? several reasons. 1 it would take a half hour to accelerate to any highway speed.
2 going any slower than 35 in 4th gear would require the engine to run below idle speed. If you have seen the power curve of any combustion engine, you'd know they tend to make zero power below idle. Our engine would probably stall just from the viscosity of the torque converter fluid.
3 The overdrive gear tends to put extra mechanical strain on the drive train and should really only be used for cruising. Thats why the computer automatically downshifts the car into 3rd gear whan you stomp on the gas while on the highway.
Hopefully I have all that right.
later
carldev
Why don't we just use 4th gear all the time and save mad fuel? several reasons. 1 it would take a half hour to accelerate to any highway speed.
2 going any slower than 35 in 4th gear would require the engine to run below idle speed. If you have seen the power curve of any combustion engine, you'd know they tend to make zero power below idle. Our engine would probably stall just from the viscosity of the torque converter fluid.
3 The overdrive gear tends to put extra mechanical strain on the drive train and should really only be used for cruising. Thats why the computer automatically downshifts the car into 3rd gear whan you stomp on the gas while on the highway.
Hopefully I have all that right.
later
carldev
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