Starting and operating
Do not drive with your hand resting on the
shift lever. This may cause wear on the
transmission components.
When it is necessary to reduce vehicle
speed due to slow traffic, turning corners,
or driving up steep hills, downshift to a
lower gear before the engine starts to
labor.
Automatic transmission
The automatic transmission is electronically controlled and provides 4 forward
speeds and 1 reverse speed. Also, it has a
manual mode and a SPORT mode.
WARNING
On steep downgrades, downshift the
transmission to 4th, 3rd or 2nd gear as
necessary; this helps to maintain a safe
speed and to extend brake pad life.
In this way, the engine provides a braking
effect. Remember, if you “ride” (over use)
the brakes while descending a hill, they
may overheat and not work properly.
Do not shift from the “P” or “N”
position into the “D” or “R” position
while depressing the accelerator
pedal. This may cause the vehicle
to jump forward or backward.
The engine may, on rare occasions, knock
when the vehicle rapidly accelerates or
rapidly pulls away from a standstill. This
phenomenon does not indicate a malfunction.
. Shift into the “P” or “R” position
ONLY after the vehicle is completely stopped. Shifting while the
vehicle is moving may cause
damage to the transmission.
. Do not race the engine for more
than 5 seconds in any position
except the “N” or “P” position
when the brake is set or when
chocks are used in the wheels.
This may cause the automatic
transmission fluid to overheat.
. Avoid shifting from one of the
forward driving positions into the
CAUTION
7-15
“R” position or vice versa until
the vehicle has completely
stopped. Such shifting may
cause damage to the transmission.
. When parking the vehicle, first
securely apply the parking brake
and then place the select lever in
the “P” position. Avoid parking
for a long time with the select
lever in any other position as
doing so could result in a dead
battery.
NOTE
. When the engine coolant temperature is still low, the automatic transmission will upshift at higher engine
speeds than when the coolant temperature is sufficiently high in order to
shorten the warm-up time and improve
driveability. The gearshift timing will
automatically return to the normal timing after the engine has warmed up.
. Immediately after ATF (automatic
transmission fluid) is replaced, you
may feel that the automatic transmission operation is somewhat unusual.
This results from invalidation of data
which the on-board computer has
collected and stored in memory to
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