Lone Ranger

Coasting down a hill, if its in "I", my 1LT w/ 2.2 will downshift into 2nd at exactly 40mph indicated on the speedo. I've not tested it much otherwise, because I mainly just use "I" for downhill coasting on this one road on the way out of our suburban "ville" where we live. For example, coasting in 3rd down the hill, 45mph... brake a little..43...41.... then 40 and the downshift happens, then I can lay off the brake.

Old Ray

Hey Ranger I see what is happening, I’m going slow enough to catch 2nd at the top of the hill and then the car accelerates up to 4000 rpm in seconded and then up-shifts. STILL SCARY!

Please try it backwards (not reverse, sorry) for me and see if it up-shifts in "I" ? Thanks.

marklo

at highway speeds the I gear hold transmission in 3rd,MAIN POINT for using ,it prevents the governor, from coming on , and as in another post is necessary to lose PT losers and 10 year old neons and civics, using I mode as needed wont mess tranny up, still should last 150K

Lone Ranger

What is this about a governor? Are you referring to an electronically limited top speed?

mikep01

what i have noticed is sometimes in d it feels like it starts off in 2d gear.

Lone Ranger

The 1-2 shift in "I" is much firmer than when in "D". 2-3 shift I don't notice it as much.

lichevy

Could you say it gives more torque to the wheels or something as if it's in a lower gear?

And if it shifts at lower RPMs doesnt that lower you MPG?

Also, what is the L gear for? Is L even lower than I?

When coming to a red light i tried going from Drive to I to L instead of using my brakes but I wasnt positive if I was going to kill my transmission so I havent done it again since a few weeks ago. Was it ok for me to do that?

skyline26

"L" is your Low gear..your in first gear ..not sure about the HHR, but some newer cars will shift out of first gear (while in L) if you reach certain rpms so you dont blow your tranny..mainly used for driving in snow

GTxHHR

L is 1st and 2nd gear only and it turns off traction control if you have it
you will have to shift into I or you will hit a limiter pretty quick unless you are tuned and changed shift points
if i want really hard fast starts i use Low

IgottaWoody

I is not second gear....these trans are weird...low will shift to second gear albeit at a high rpm, if you want to run second and hold it, upshift to I to catch second then shift 'back' to L to hold second gear, otherwise 'I' will shift on its own into 3rd gear at a preset rpm...if your cruzin it will shift around 40,,if your in it, it wont upshift until your in the higher rpm band, Shifting from D to I knocks out 4th gear and it may unlock the converter( not sure on that)..if left in I it will downshift to second under 40,,,,the shifter does NOT lock you into a single gear unless you lock in second as explained above...hope that helps...and until your vehicle warms up to about 165 deg, lock up will not occur in the converter and you will run at a slightly higher rpm, which is ONE of the reasons cold weather driving drops fuel milage...