In Reply to: I'm with you, SWEDECAR [Profile/Gallery] , Sun, 4 Jul 2010 16:00:12

Anders,

I believe the BMW feature you mentioned resulted from a concern with fuel consumption and emissions when idling, and that it was prompted more by European driving conditions than U.S. When I lived in the U.K.a few years ago, I remember this being an issue for some folks, especially with frequent British motorway gridlock. Some of my British friends would put the shift lever into neutral at a stop when using an auto transmission -- partly defeating the function of an automatic.

With respect to the hill retarder, I am unaware of any such feature on current Saabs. Like most cars with automatics, the transmission will automatically downshift as a function of speed and load, and may do so if speed decreases when driving downhill and no pressure on the accelerator.

Hill holders / retarders were used on some manual trsnsmission cars in this country in the 40s (e.g. Studebaker), and on some turbine-type automatics. Buick used such a feature with the Dynaflow transmission, and my 61 Chevy with Turboglide transmission had a "grade retarder" function. In both cases, the retarders were engaged by manually moving the transmission selector lever.

Generally, to get the same effect with my 06 9-3 Aero on a steep hill, I must move the selector to manual and downshift to the appropriate gear. The usual event, I think, when descending a steep incline is for the car to gather speed, and there is no auto downshift. On a lesser grade, where weight and rolling resistance slow the car, it does downshift automatically, but this is not a "hill retarder," correct?

SEN

posted by 207.179.248...

• '06 aero automatic problems and warranty response, Kerwin, Thu, 1 Jul 2010 06:39:19
  • Re: '06 aero automatic problems and warranty response, simul8guy, Wed, 7 Jul 2010 21:26:06
    • Re: '06 aero automatic problems and warranty response, simul8guy, Thu, 8 Jul 2010 08:39:43
      • Re: '06 aero automatic problems and warranty response, John Myers, Thu, 8 Jul 2010 09:36:35
  • Re: '06 aero automatic problems and warranty response, kkelley, Thu, 1 Jul 2010 17:54:57
    • hill retarder, kerwin, Fri, 2 Jul 2010 19:17:03
      • Re: hill retarder, John Myers, Fri, 2 Jul 2010 20:27:09
        • I'm with you, SWEDECAR , Sun, 4 Jul 2010 16:00:12
          • Re: I'm with you, SENewhouse, Mon, 5 Jul 2010 05:30:29 <-- Viewing This Message
            • Absolutely different from your description, Kerwin, Mon, 5 Jul 2010 08:23:58
              • Re: Absolutely different ... looked it up, SENewhouse, Mon, 5 Jul 2010 12:54:06
                • Apology: my ops manual is the same, Kerwin, Tue, 6 Jul 2010 14:57:16
              • Re: Absolutely different from your description, John Myers, Mon, 5 Jul 2010 09:37:53
    • Take him on a test drive..., Johnson , Thu, 1 Jul 2010 22:05:12
      • Document time & conditions, MJ, Thu, 8 Jul 2010 09:27:50

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