kimokalihi Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 I recently bought a Legacy Wagon L and it's an auto. The first car I've had that was automatic. It's got this little button on the shifter that says manual and if you press it a little light will come on that says manual below my guages. What I wanted to know is, exactly what does this button do for me? I was thinking maybe for some reason you would like to shift your automatic like it was a manual and pushing that button makes it easier on the tranny? Not that I wish to do that but that's all I've come up with lol. Also my first Subaru. These are interesting cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 Check out the "Sticky" compilation at the head of the threads. I believe this and many other FAQs are covered there. Welcome aboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarian Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 If you put the shifter in 3 or 2 and press the manual button, it keeps the trans in that gear. It won't downshift when you slow down. That's all it really does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
91LegLS Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 If you put the shifter in 3 or 2 and press the manual button, it keeps the trans in that gear. It won't downshift when you slow down. That's all it really does. You're almost correct. If the gearshift is in 3 the car starts in second, then shifts to third. When you stop, it goes back to second, not first. Putting the gearshift in 2 forces the transmission to start and stay in second. The feature is designed to be used in situations with bad traction (ice, snow and mud) It lessens the chance that your wheels will spin and gives the engines torque more opportunity to move the car forward. It is very noticable if you have AWD. If your engines rpm gets too high, the transmission will shift to the next higher gear, regardless what gear the gearshift is in, to prevent damaging your engine. If you have an owners manual in your car, it describes the feature in detail. If you don't have an owners manual, check out Ebay; they have thousands of manuals for sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 OK Here is the link to the Sticky. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?p=410273#post410273 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 Interesting...I'd always wondered about its function as well. I'll have to give it a try next time I drive an auto Legacy. Is this a Subaru only thing, or do some other cars have it too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TROGDOR! Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 I use it a lot when driving up mountains around here in 2nd or 3rd gear, it allows me to put my foot to the floor without downshifting and revving the hell out of the engine. I find it to be pretty convenient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
91LegLS Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 Interesting...I'd always wondered about its function as well. I'll have to give it a try next time I drive an auto Legacy. Is this a Subaru only thing, or do some other cars have it too? It is very similiar to Ford automatics. Back in the 70's, Ford had something called SelectShift, which they still have on some of their vehicles that have RWD. The only difference was the 1st gear lockout happened only in 2nd. Put the gear selector in 1st, it only used 1st. Put it in 2nd, it only used 2nd. 3rd was normal driving. I recently test drove a 2006 Mustang and the transmission had the same feature. I freaked out the salesrep because he was talking to me about the traction control yet he didn't know the automatic would lock out 1st if the selector was in 2nd. At work, we have a F350 and it does the same thing. Other makes have a standard automatic (put the trans in 2nd, car starts in 1st, shifts to 2nd and stops shifting). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimokalihi Posted April 19, 2006 Author Share Posted April 19, 2006 Sweet thanks, I drive up a big steep hill to get home each day. It's about 3/4 of a mile up at like 20-35 degree inclines. So I'll try that out because if I want to get up to about 50mph I have to give it a lot of gas and it downshifts and revs to like 5k or higher before shifting or I have to accelerate really slowly to avoid that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamal Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 Interesting...I'd always wondered about its function as well. I'll have to give it a try next time I drive an auto Legacy. Is this a Subaru only thing, or do some other cars have it too? I haven't senn another car with quite the same system. And actually it's only in 90-94 Legacies and the SVX, although some older Soobs had a similar button. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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