Over Drive in my car.....wtf is it?

Question

I am going ot be 17 in 8 days, and I just bought my first car...an 01 Nissan Altima! I love it, but I have no idea how to use over drive in it (but I know where the button is and stuff), or even what it is! Can someone help me out!!!? What is over dirve? When do you use it?

Answer 1

Everyone who says anything about "passing gear" or "downshifting" is not just wrong, they have it completely backwards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdrive_%28mechanics%29

Overdrive is just any gear where the ratio is greater than 1 to 1. The highest gear on many cars is an overdrive gear. By allowing the engine to turn at a slower speed than the output shaft of the transmission (this speed is usually changed AGAIN at the differential) it lets you use less fuel while cruising at a constant, high speed. This is why they're often called "cruising gears" or "highway gears."

You use it every time you drive on the highway, so long as you have it on. If you turn it off on the highway, you end up running the engine harder to keep at highway speed, wasting fuel, and wearing out your engine faster.

You should leave it on all the time unless you're climbing hills, or in some other odd traffic situation where your transmission keeps shifting back and forth between the highest gear (overdrive is 4th gear on most recent automatics) and the one below it. That shifting back and forth is bad for the transmission and wastes fuel.

Also, this same rule applies to lower gears. If you turn overdrive off and it's STILL shifting back and forth, shift down into an even lower gear (the next one down would either be D3 or D2 on most cars). The transmission "seeking" (that's what it's called when it won't settle on a gear) is not the only way to know when you're in the right gear on a hill. You can also tell by whether it feels like the car has power, or if it's bogging down.

Answer 2

overdrive is mostly for highway driving,if the car has a owners manual,it will tell you when not to use overdrive.if you have ever had a ten or 18 speed bike ,the lower gears are kind of like overdrive,you cannot use these gears to take off from a dead stop,but when you are moving,you can go faster with less effort.overdrive lets the car go faster using the overdrive gears in your transmission,and less effort from the engine,resulting in better fuel economy and less wear on moving parts in engine because they are working less.

Answer 3

Overdrive simply means that the input speed is lower than the output speed ie. the transmission is being overdriven. Depending on how many speeds you have 3rd or 4th gear is usually 1:1 and the next "highway gear" is for cruising at low engine speed to save fuel. Always drive with overdrive on unless you are towing, engine braking or the roads are slippery and you dont want it to shift up on the highway. Its a waste of gas otherwise.

Answer 4

It gives you extra power for things like hills. On the most part, don't use it because it's bad to turn an automatic car into a stick shift. Only use it when it sounds like it's about to die from lack of power.

Wow, I think a couple people have this backwards. Overdrive gives more power so use it for driving. For everyday use keep it normal for fuel efficiency. Since you are getting different information on this, drive it around with it on and find out what your miles per gallon (MPG) is. Then do it with it off and find out. You'll see that overdrive uses more power and more gas.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

You use it all the time essentially. Overdrive should only be turned off if you're descending a long, down-slope and don't want to ride the brakes. In overdrive, I believe that car does not shift over third gear. You'll notice you engine revving higher if you drive in overdrive. For normal driving, put the car in overdrive and leave it there.
Congrats on the car by the way.

Answer 7

its kind of like down shifting to increase power. Like if your going up a hill and you're having trouble keeping your pace, click it off and its like gearing down to 4th to up the RPMs. The same coming downhill, when you want to control engine speed better and not use your brakes so much, you can click it off and it will down shift and help maintain an even downhill speed.

Here, Tom & Ray from Car Talk:

Ray: There are a few rare situations -- normally hilly roads -- when you might want to be out of overdrive. One is when you're going 35-45 mph -- when the transmission will be right on the edge between third gear and overdrive. In that situation, the transmission might "hunt," going back and forth between those gears trying to find the right one. So in a situation such as that, it's fine to shift down into drive temporarily to stop it from hunting.

Tom: And when you're going down a long, steep grade, it's good to downshift to a lower gear -- third, second or even first -- so that engine braking keeps your speed under control, and you don't overheat your brakes.

Im right and everyone that disagreed is wrong so pppfffffttttth! ha!

Answer 8

jbpopem and Ian have got you covered.
Blue Bee didn't read her own quotes. She's got it backwards.
So does everyone else that said anything about downshifting or passing gears.
Overdrive is basically when the output shaft turns faster than the input shaft.

Answer 9

its also called "passing gear". when pushed, it will shift the transmission into a lower gear for more power and speed, like when you pass another car. passing gear isn't used too much anymore on the hiway because of the extra passing lanes. mostly used on old 2 lane highways or for running yellow traffic lights before they turn red

Answer 10

its like a down shift if you want to stay in control better. and it is for carrying a heavy load to make sure you have a steady pace and not goin up and down and up and down