Overdrive Lockout

[skibo]

Despite my recent few years in the manual transmission desert, I am an auto tranny man to the core. I've owned a series of 3 automatic cars, all with 3 speeds, and each had the ability to limit the tranny to 1 or 1-2.

When 4 speed AT's came out in the 80's, they always had the ability to limit to 1, 1-2 or 1-2-3. The 1-2-3 limit was either on the shifter with the others, or by means of a little button on the shifter handle, and the 1-2-3 position was promoted for 'around town' use.

Now I have this marvelous 5 speed AT (with the geartronic), but after 2 months I find myself frequently wishing that I could keep it out of 5th. Most my my driving is <45 mph, and all I have to do is take my foot off the gas and I'm instantly in 5th doing 1500 rpm, until I touch the gas again when it instantly downshifts. I know this is the nature of automatics, but it hurts drivability and drives unnessesary shifting.

So, short of using the geartronic, (or whatever they call it) is there some way to limit the tranny to 1-4 around town? Is there some little button I've missed?

[Prepo]

No, you haven't missed any button. It is an attempt to keep the fuel economy down. You have two choices: accelerate more aggressively in which case the auto shifting will adapt and keep the gear in 4th for longer. (Unfortunately, the adaptive feature does not have much of a memory and as soon as you resume less "aggressive" driving it will revert to the less sporty shift into 5th. The alternative is to use the geartronic which is pretty good for your purpose if you can be bothered.

[skibo]

thanks prepo - that's what I expected to hear, but not the answer i wanted.

[hd70]

Before driving the Volvo I had the Passat with the 5 speed "tiptronic". It had the capability, in automatic mode, not to shift any further if you put it in any of the lower gears, i.e. 4th, 3rd, or 2nd gear. Comparing both, I must say I miss this feature also. Especially in hilly terrains you could leave it for example in 3rd gear automatic mode and it used the engine to help you brake but still was shifting on its on in lower gears around turns. It also was nice in the city. I could put it in a lower automatic gear and the car responded quicker, especially during lane changes. Now I have to use the manual mode for those situations.

[skibo]

The system on the Passat sounds like a nice one - wish ours was the same.

I looked at a coworker's V70 last week and I see it has the old D-4-3-2-1 pattern.

Does anyone out there use the gear-tronic on a regular basis? I use it only in one spot where i drive every few weeks - a small but steep valley, where without intervention, the tranny goes to 5 on the way down, and then when I hit the steep upslope, it struggles a bit to downshift quickly enough to 2nd.

[birddog]

I use it just about every afternoon returning home from work. The road is a 45 mph windy, uphill & downhill road, and I like the throttle feel better with the car remaining in 4th gear. Not that it happens often, but the only pisser is when I pull from a stopsign and I forget I am no longer in automatic :rolleyes:........and she winds way out before I remember " doh!;I need to upshift." :o

[skibo]

I did the same thing this weekend - forgot I had it in 'stick' mode and at the next light i had it up to 5000 before I realized.

i find that when i've actually tried to use the geartronic like a manual, it takes a long time to engage - it seems to take the +/- input as more of a suggestion than a command.

[Palisandr]

I use it only when driving in the mountains on steep hills and usually in the 3rd. Other than that automatic does just fine. But I miss a little overdrive on the stick. Since I don't use the semi-manual too often - I keep forgetting to switch back to automatic.