Automatic cars have the Drive, 1st and 2nd gear?

Question

What do you use the 2nd and 1st gear for? Does anyone ever use it?

Answer 1

First, putting the transmission in 1 or 2 has no effect on the power output of the engine.

Putting the transmission in 1 will look out any gear above 1. This is good if don't want the transmission to shift out of first gear. You would do this in situations where you want to go slowly down a hill without using your brakes.

The same is true for 2, except 2nd gear isn't as "short" as first gear. This means that the car will not slow itself down as much while going down a hill in second. Most automatic transmissions see the "2" position on the lever to mean use only 1st and 2nd gear only. There are a few though that also lock out first gear while in the "2" position.

To sum up, use the "2" position to slow yourself down while going down a hill. In extreme situations, try "1" if you are going slow enough to slow yourself down.

Answer 2

Not to judge your driving ability but if you use D which means the use of all the forward gears and R for reverse you will make out fine. 1 & 2 means first and second gears When the gear shift selector is in D (drive) the transmission will shift through all the forward speed gears automatically, with the best efficiency. As you become familiar with the gear shift selector first (1) and second (2) gears are only used under special driving conditions such as pulling a trailer out of a field or up a very steep hill.

Answer 3

Most people that drive an automatic transmission car will never use 1st and 2nd gear. They are designed to manually give the car more power for towing a trailer or to drive in the mountains. Many others use the low "manual" gears to slow their car when driving on hills/mt. This is a practice for those that wish to not use up/heat up their brakes. Just remember that the car engine will not automatically shift to the next gear if you choose to engage the manual gears.
I personally only used them in my 4 cyl. car for extra horsepower to pull into cross traffic and not impede the flow of traffic

Answer 4

You can use the gears to have some control over when the vehicle shifts. If you pull out to overtake or are going up a hill you can drop it into 2nd. All it does is like dropping a manual into 4th - it will increase the revs & stop the engine from laboring. You'll get more power & will find it easier to hold speed. Definately worth trying if you've never tried it before.

Answer 5

You can actually shift the car through the gears like a manual transmission if you like. However, an,automatic will do it for you at preset shift points. The lower gears can also be used for towing or slowing down on hills.

Answer 6

Neither answer above is exactly right and one is dead wrong. They are useful for slowing the auto going down long hills. They are also useful for going slowly (as in a parade) or while you gawk at things along side the road. For MOST purposes, they are there because the transmission uses those to get from stopped to drive and it's inexpensive to provide you with the option.

Answer 7

You can use the lower gears to slow you down when going down hill. It's easier on the brakes to use the transmission/engine to slow the car. This situation would apply coming down long mountain passes in places like Colorado.

Answer 8

thoe are used for power, if you go too fast the automatic will shift by its self to drive once your rolling, if you want steady power at lower speed use 1 or 2 gears manually, for highway use some cars have overdrive

Answer 9

yes, I actually have 1 2 3 and Drive on my car and I use gear 1 to go up very very steep hills and I use 2 and 3 when driving in traffic depending on my speed. Also, to save on breaks I down shift to 3rd and 2nd to slow my car engine down, mostly on ice and very rainny weather. It helps you stop without having to slam on the breaks and such.

Answer 10

1st gear - more horsepower 2 get the car moving
2nd gear - cruising only