I might have asked before but asking again, sorry if i forgot.
So I travel alot on the highway and most of it is uphill where i go. So and am not nuttie about it but just trying to figure out best operating gear.
The rav is able to go into the so called manual mode. If going uphill is it better to let the rav pick the gear and when it does this am I getting the best mph when going up hill my brother says this is best. Or should i put in a lower gear until i reach the top and the road levels out and then put it back into auto mode. Also if I decide to use the manual mode and if going 60 mph. What would be the best indicator that i am traveling saving gas and using engine wisely. For example should i be in 5 gear at 60mph and tach at 1500 rpm. Hey i know its not a race car for crying out loud. But just asking maybe what others do. And no not a nut about it either or having ocd. I bascially just stay in auto mode all the time but would like to know. thanks lol
I would let the car tell me.......if during your drive the transmission constantly shifts up and down between 5th and 6th then put it in 5th. If it shifts between 4 & 5 constantly then leave it in 4. Once back on level ground go back to "D" or whatever the standard mode is.
You could also leave it in "D" and try Sport mode (if yours has it) to see how it reacts.
Ok thanks but one of my problems is, sometimes i am not in tunes with how it is going thru the gears when in auto. Yes i hear it shifitng but not counting them. another question so if I want to see what gear it is in? If i move the shifter to manual does that tell me? since i noticed a few times when i did do that it said 4th gear. does that mean at the present time it is in fourth gear? or does it default to fourth? i believe when you do move the shifter into manual mode it is telling you what gear you are in at the present time? or am i wrong on that? this has always made me want to know and now asking.
My 2011 RAV4 V6 is the only automatic transmission I've had, so I am accustomed to manual shifting. When the RAV4 is 'hunting' for a gear, I always put it into a lower gear. The heck with the mileage.
--
Pico - who started driving with a 1936 Studebaker truck. No synchro!
A lot of our driving is over hills and mountains. When we had manual gearboxes we shifted a lot. The auto boxes on our current vehicles shift a lot as well, but unless wanting to use engine compression to slow on downgrades we let them do their thing, figuring that they have been designed to perform the same functions as manuals have been.
ok yes ten yrs ago i stopped driving manual. i figure with todays traffice congestion maybe a auto is better. u get tired and since the computer is supposed to be better and figure it out for u, i say go head.
Ok I stumbler onto the answer when looking for something else in manual. When shifiting from drive to manual it goes into 4th gear based on ur speed. seems to default to that. ok
Yes, it defaults to 4th (I believe direct drive).
If the hill is not steep, you can try 5th, but 4th should be able to handle anything at highway speed.
I didn't know those little bumps on the east coast even qualified as hills. :shrug:
As far as the transmission goes, I put it in manual mode anytime it is hunting between gears while climbing an ascending grade or when I want to use gearing to control speed on a descending grade.
I guess a bump can be a hill LOL! But the flat landers call them mountains LOL LOL! I am not one to get techno about what is considered uphill either (smiling and lol.) Uphill term is used alot in football.
- transmission in D - modern computer-controlled transmissions are pretty smart to figure out what gear to pick, including effective engine braking when going downhill
- do NOT use cruise control because it will "force" the car to attempt to keep the speed constant regardless of how steep is the incline, resulting in wild rpm swings and very drastic downshifting.
these boards are all good the exchanges are great! LOL and omg someone knows about banannas! cool, its the harry chapin song for those who might have forgotten. I live beyond scranton.
Here is quick math exercise of why using inertia on inclines is a good idea.
Let's assume a 1 mile long incline with 5% grade, fairly typical of what you can find on an interstate in hilly terrain.
Strategy one is to keep cruise control engaged at 65 mph and let the engine / transmission adjust the drivetrain output to maintain constant speed.
Strategy two is to disconnect the cruise control, accelerate to 70 mph before the incline, then keep the gas pedal moderately pressed and let the speed to gradually "bleed" down to 55 mph by the end of the incline.
If you follow strategy two, you effectively reduce the amount of work that the engine has to do to climb the incline by 23% vs. strategy one. This is a pretty significant difference, good for the engine and fuel economy.
Anybody who took physics in high school (and got better than "F" grade) can verify this simple calculation. And anybody who has ridden or seen a roller coaster understands how inertia, kinetic and potential energy work together to get you through ups-and-downs with minimum energy input.
That's why must manufacturers advise against using cruise control on mountain roads.
Here is quick math exercise of why using inertia on inclines is a good idea.
Strategy two is to disconnect the cruise control, accelerate to 70 mph before the incline, then keep the gas pedal moderately pressed and let the speed to gradually "bleed" down to 55 mph by the end of the incline.
That's why must manufacturers advise against using cruise control on mountain roads.
That strategy might work in Ohio but using it in much of the West on highways and not maintaining a steady speed on our substantial grades and otherwise will earn quite a lot of cursing and road rage from other affected drivers who want to maintain the speed limit. Also if it results in impeding traffic or exceeding the speed limit by more than about 5mphit can earn one a citation from the Highway Patrol, State Police, etc.
Unless I missed something there isn't any reference in my Owner's Manual about not using cruise control on grades.
On the massive mole hills we have here in Minnesota, when my 5 speed starts hunting I just put it in 4th and it's pretty happy without a huge toll on MPG. 4th gear on the V6 rav's is pretty versatile. Must be a 1:1 ratio?
As smart as I think the the Toyota engineers are, they can't account for every terrain condition and that's where human intuition comes into play. I'd rather take the MPG hit vs. the wear from hunting gears.
Getting back on topic. I find when the going up hill if the car keeps hunting for the right gear, switching to sport mode helps. It tends to then stay in the lower gear.
The eco mode, car is more or less always trying to find the most efficient gear based on driving conditions and input from the driver. Sometimes it's a fine line between two gears and it keeps switching.
Having waded through this one and without getting into all the tit for tat that's gone on, here's my take. First, the so called "manual" mode on the 4.4 Rav4's transmission, isn't one. All it does is lock out the gears above the number shown on the display. When you slide the gear shift from drive to sport mode, it defaults to "4." You're now driving a four speed automatic. It doesn't lock the tranny into 4th gear. It just operates as a four speed automatic and will up and downshift within those gear ratios as it sees fit according to how it's been programmed.
Second, as someone who uses the cruise control a "lot," my car usually does pretty good at holding speed but when I've been in areas of the country with steeper grades, it will do a lot of shifting. Sixth and fifth gears are very tall and it drops 6th almost immediately at the slightest increase in pressure. That one's no problem but sometimes, 5th isn't up to the task of holding speed either so the car continues to drop speed until the system figures things out and drops to 4th gear. By then, it's dropped two to four mph and will surge back up to the set speed. It's not particularly good for fuel economy and it gets annoying after a while. What I started doing that worked well for me is, when I see a climb coming up that experience has shown me will have the car dropping to 4th, I just slide the shift lever over and put it there as the car starts the climb but before it's had a chance to slow down. The downshift is smoother because there's not as much pressure on the drive system and I've not found a hill it wouldn't easily climb in 4th gear. As it crests the top, I just slide back into "D" and let the system upshift as it sees fit. All of that works well and smooth's things out from my point of view. I have done a bit of experimenting with sport mode via the eco/sport buttons on the freeway w/cruise control and it also works well in the above example because sport mode is quicker to downshift than normal or eco modes would be so the surging effect is less pronounced as the car doesn't loose as much speed before the tranny figures out that the car can't pull the current gear. I'd say to the OP, just experiment around with it a bit until you figure out what works best for you. Generally though, I think the system does a pretty good job of controlling the tranny shift point. It's just that there are some situations where it's bias to hold the highest possible gear in the interest of fuel economy works against it.
FWIW!
Drive Safe,
Steve R.
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