When U R Supposed To Use D2 & L

[Grandmaster80]

hi frds, its five month since i bougt my IS200 AUTO. This is my first auto car n im not familar with gear box functions. I was told by the dealer that just use D-1 for driving and ignore the other two options. I tried to read the manual but it was too difficult to understand. So i will be very thankful if u cud answer my 2 questions below: 1- when u need to change the gear from D1 to D2 or L? and if u dont then what are the consequences? 2- when u r supposed to use N-nutral option? When u stop at signals? In my manual cars i always put the car in nutral with hand brakes on but in this i just leave in D!.

[Parthiban]

Normal driving, just leave it in D. At the lights, leave it in D, and keep your foot on the brake. Only really use N if you need to push the car or something, don't think I've ever used it in mine.

Other options just limit the use of gears - D uses all four gears, 3 only uses the first three, 2 the first two and L is effectively just first gear. Only need to switch down if you need engine braking coming down a steep hill or something. Again have barely ever used them.

I'm confused about the options you've put there though, what's this D-1, D-2 all about? The gearbox has P-R-N-D-3-2-L in the IS200 auto

To sum up though, auto's are designed to do all the work for you, you'll generally only ever need to use three position, P, R and D. The others you won't really ever need :)

[durg]

It's also recommended that you put the car into "3" if you are towing. It stops the car changing gear all the time (given there is more load on the engine than normal) and even though the engine is revving more it often uses less fuel because it isn't working so hard. And it gives more engine braking and Battery recharging.

If you stop for a long time at the lights or in heavy traffic then you will save fuel by putting the car into neutral.