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Anyone here driven Lewiston Hill on US 95 in Idaho? It's probably the steepest highway I've driven. When I did I was driving a 16ft U-Haul in the rain. I was very glad I could downshift the auto trans, otherwise I would have worn out the brakes going down that hill.
Although all roads in Florida are flat, my old Honda with 1.6L engine [manual trans] labors trying to get to the crest of the Skyway Bridge in 5th gear. About half way up, down shift to 4th is needed.
Many vehicles with auto trans don't downshift on their own and you can see them in the right lane with the engine lugging, revs [speed] dropping. Many drivers don't know to shift to a lower gear. If there are optional D's, a lower one should be selected. If only one D, mash the pedal for a lower gear.
Automatic transmissions by their basic design "downshift on their own". There's a reason they are called automatics. The issue you are seeing is people that don't understand what the "go" pedal is for.
Downshifting "manually" is only for manuals and again some vehicles only have R for reverse, N for neutral, P for park, and D for drive. Those vehicles that have that do not have D1, 2, 3, etc. I don't believe you necessarily need to "downshift manually" an automatic transmission like you would for a manual transmission because automatic transmissions downshift for you.
My '66 Plymouth Fury VIP (383-4 bbl) had a Torqueflite automatic transmission. It had "P," "R," "N," "D," "2" and "1."
I would frequently downshift and upshift (liked to get rubber in 2nd gear; car guys would know what that means). Would also shift into "2" going up or down hills. Or "1" with very steep inclines.
Here is a video demonstrating... I was going about 25 mph, Drive, shifted into 1st then accelerated through the gears.
Anyone here driven Lewiston Hill on US 95 in Idaho? It's probably the steepest highway I've driven. When I did I was driving a 16ft U-Haul in the rain. I was very glad I could downshift the auto trans, otherwise I would have worn out the brakes going down that hill.
Another beautiful stretch of highway. I believe it is a max 7 percent grade. But another great example of why you might (need) to downshift an auto trans for safety.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We live at 600' elevation, going anywhere involves going down hills. We would go through brakes every 10-15,000 miles without being able to downshift. In addition to that, cars like my Challenger with a slapstick, or those with paddle shifters allow us to have more fun driving by shifting ourselves without using a clutch pedal, rather than letting the automatic do it, which is boring.
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