2002 Auto Tranny...3rd / Drive Gear?

in town?

In normal city driving, where you would never get above 45mph, your 4-speed automatic will probably never shift into 4th. So there would be no difference between having the shifter in "3" or "D".

But if your town is hilly, and you have a few long hills that you normally drive 45ish down, keeping it in "3" will insure you have some engine breaking. If the auto shifts into 4th going down long hills you'll put more wear on your breaks slowing it down.

I suspect Nissan wants you in "D" normally so that there will never be a case where you rev 3rd gear too high. I drive in "D", except in snow or other slick conditions. My town is hilly.

OpalBlue

D is the right gear for normal driving. Driving in 3 just reduces your gas mileage and increases wear on the engine. You want to use 3 when you need engine braking or quick acceleration, but not for normal driving.

I tend to leave my Accord V6 in D3 aroud town because it saves wear and tear on the tranny. It'll actually shift into 4th gear as low as 30 mph or something and when you're on and off the brakes a lot you end up going like this. 4-2-3-4-2-3-4-2... Lots of hunting, and that can heat up the tranny. When I leave it in 3rd it prevents hunting and downshifts and just stays in 3rd all the time. Much less wear and tear on the tranny, and that's good.

SteVTEC:

What did the insurance end up telling you bout your Accord? Im curious...

-KD

A lot of people ask so I'm going to put it in my sig

I finally have some time this week (light schedule at work) so I'm going to start setting the phone lines on fire

is it faster taking off from D or 3?

Mattman said:

is it faster taking off from D or 3?

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Whether the shifter is in D or 3, you still start off in the same 1st gear, so there shouldn't be any difference. All 3 does is prevent the tranny from upshifting to 4th. I don't believe there's any different "shift programming" depending on whether you're in 3rd or D, but I don't own an Alty so I'm not sure...