When do i use 3rd gear

It must be used to shift the vehicle from Drive to a lower gear first or second. It must be used to shift into Park from any gear. Refer to your owner's manual for more information about the transmission lock release.

P — Park To be used when starting the engine and when leaving the vehicle parked. R — Reverse To be used when backing or reversing the vehicle. N — Neutral To be used when the transmission is in a position that no gear is selected. D — Drive To be used for normal forward driving.

O — Overdrive if equipped To be used for driving at higher speeds. For more information about gear selection and use, refer to your vehicle's owner's manual. Previous Table of contents Next. But, I have an automatic transmission and not a manual gearbox with gears — You may think. In most automatics, you'll actually get as much or more power to the wheels in 1 , 2 or 3 than you will in D.

Those selections just limit the transmission to the lower gears. They rarely start off in that gear, so power is the same if you are below the usual shift point, and greater if you are above it, never less.

However, it is also the gear with the least speed. Basically, the 3 2 1 gears are limiting how far through the gears your car can go. If you select the " 1 " option, the gearbox will only use first gear. If you select the " 2 " option, the gearbox will only use first and second gear. Drive D3 - This position is similar to D4, except only the first three gears are selected. Use D3 to provide engine braking when going down a steep hill. D3 can also keep the transmission from cycling between third and fourth gears in stop-and-go driving.

Never shift into a low gear while driving at a high speed. To shift into a low gear, do one of the following methods: If you are in " D ," let your foot off the gas or brake until you slow to around mph, then resume a steady speed.

Switch to " 2. Can you drive an automatic in 3rd gear? Category: automotive auto safety technologies. Can you switch from D to d3 while driving? What is the 2 and 1 on an automatic transmission? What is 3rd gear for in automatic transmission? Is d3 faster than D? What does d1 d2 d3 mean in automatic cars? Can you stop a car in third gear? Should I drive in d3 or d4? Should be fine as long as it didn't overheat, but probably not the best gas mileage.

The amount of extra engine wear is kinda negligible compared to the total wear that engine will get over its entire lifetime. One thing that would be helpful to know if it is an automatic or manual transmission — I'd been assuming manual, but after reading some of the other answers I realized that it might be an automatic. Bad news. If it's an old Chevy with a four speed, no problem. Show 2 more comments. Active Oldest Votes.

Improve this answer. Yeah, it's probably fine. When towing things, you usually put it in third to prevent rapid shifting between third and fourth, but it's still fine to drive the speed limit in most places. A bit of gas millage loss, but other than that, you're fine. Add a comment. Most contributing writers are probably aware of this, but readers may not be. Chuck Biggs Chuck Biggs 1.