Unfortunatly i've got the gutless 4spd auto, i find when I put it in "I" it's got a lot better throttle response. I'm just wondering how bad this is on our transmissions, i'm not sure what "I" is equivalent to for the '05-'08's, i think "2".

Anyone here daily drive theres in "I" or "2", how fast can you go in this setting, is it limited to 3 gears?

 

its in the book, but the car will shift its self to save its self from damage just put in d on the highway tho.

 

pretty much. you'll burn through gas faster and make more heat (so avoid it on hot days if yu dont need it), so i wouldnt drive like that all the time, but if you're taking a cruise through the canyons, then definitely do it.

yes, it will redline at the top of 3rd gear though...but thats over 100mph

 

i have never went down below drive. in fear of ******* up the tranny.

but speaking of canyons and hills

when me and my friends took a road trip ( alabama to cali) we where in aspin going up those step ass hills i thought something had happend to my car haha. it was in drive and we where doing about 70 up the hills and i was hitting the rev limiter. i even pulled over thinking something was wrong..then i started to think * hmm higher altitude..less air going into the engine= lower power...is reason for not shifting into the next gear?*

 

L is for steep downhills to engine-brake and for launching and doing any kind of racing (turns traction control off, shifts at redline).
I is for shifting into during racing conditions when you're close to redlining second gear while in L. I also use it for minor engine braking as well at highway speeds and for merging into traffic if I need a lot of giddy-up without the car falling flat on its face when it decides to shift at 3k RPMs and falls out of the power band.
D is for everyday driving and keeping the evil oil companies from taking all my money

 

perfect!

 

why does everyone think they will screw their tranny by driving in anything other than drive??? if it could cause damage that gm might have to fix under warrenty would they give you the option of using something other than drive??? no.

L- low gear, also known as first gear. the car will not shift out of first gear unless you hit the rev limiter, this is actualy anti-abuse programming, not really good to put it in first and hit the rev limiter, more for the engine's sake.
I- intermediate, 1st 2nd and 3rd gear. car will shift automaticly through 1st 2nd and 3rd gear, from what i have heard gm uses different shift programming, sort of like a sport mode.
D- drive. it will shift through 1st 2nd 3rd 4th and lockup.

its best to just put your car in drive and go, unless you are driving spiritedly then you may want to use I.

just as a side note, nothing physically changes inside the transmission between D I or L. in older non electronic transmission you have a manual valve thats hooked to the shifter so if you put the car in low gear, it was going to low gear no matter what. with modern electronic transmissions the manual valve really is only used for park, reverse and neutral. once you put the car past neutral the pcm takes over all shifting. if you move the shifter down and your going too fast, or your doing something the pcm doesnt like, its going to do what its programmed to do.

 

So "I" will take it out of traction control? I could have sworn I did that once when it was wet out and traction control still kicked in.

 

L and I do not defeat the traction control on my 08. On my 08 I have to disable it by pushing the traction control button on the dash.

 

L will take you to a little shy of 75 mph
thats maxing out 2nd gear

 

only L takes off the "hidden" traction control

"I" increases line pressure for quick shifts (you can notice the difference too)...it also drains the gas tank pretty good too

"D" is like the everyday economy mode

 

sub'd

 

just don't downshift to L while doing 80+ cause you will find second in the worst way. other then that practice and have some serious fun.

 

and definitely dont shift to "L"

 

I haven't done this in my Cobalt yet (hold low gear) but I think my vehicle has enough torque for me now.
I did, however, do it in my Civic. It did not have enough torque for some situations, so I had to hold a lower gear longer than the ECU wanted to.

 

A Civic didn't have enough torque to hold speed in a higher gear? STOP THE PRESSES!

In all seriousness, I'm very happy with the performance of the Cobalt's Auto tranny for everyday driving. It's peppy, smart, and it doesn't usually search for gears in most situations. Now I do wish that it was a 5 speed auto instead of the 4 speed to keep the engine in the power band easier, but beggars can't be choosers.

 

I must be doing something wrong b/c L for me won't get out of 1st, and I won't get out of 2nd. Or am I just not letting it go far enough?

There is one auto-shift I cannot stand... it is either 2-3 or 3-4.. it does it like within a few seconds of changing from the previous gear when just cruising along in the city.

 

Did they change the set up somwere in the middle?, cause my '08 doesn't have a TC button but when I put it in "L" the DIC says "Traction Control Off"

 

i like driving in L on like residential streets. i love the sound of my exhaust at like 4-5k rpm.

 

How many here drive around the town in I? I finally got it to shift automatically from 2nd to 3rd in I, but I had to hit 4000 rpm. It seems to take too long to shift into 3rd for my liking. Driving around less than ~30mph or 50km I can see in I, but not really over that, as it revs too high it seems.

However, 2nd to 3rd shifts way too fast for my liking also when in D

I don't like having to shift to L all the time either when stuck in snow.

Conclusion... I should have got a 5-spd manual.

 

In order to shift into 2nd when in L you have to push the engine all the way to the redline. Same for I it has to go all the way to redline.

 

i had a jeep grand cherokee before the cobalt and the tranny got fucked up by shifting threw the gears manually.

 

guess it's just a jeep thing.