Does It Make Sense to Shift Manually?

[elemgee]

I know that the transmission is a weak link on the SVX (I have a 96). I've added a transmission oil cooler which I think has helped, but I remember reading a couple of years back a thread from someone who said that you should only shift into Drive when you will be using 4th gear for an extended period of time. I think he was saying that unless you are going to use a higher gear (like 3rd or 4th) for an extended period of time, you should stay a the lower gear, that its better for the transmission.

I get into a number of traffic jams on the way to and from work each day (long commute into DC), and so I frequently leave the gearshift in 2nd or 3rd until the traffic clears. The engine may ocassionally get up to 3000 rpms or so while in second or third, but I thought it was better for the transmission to not be constantly shifting up and down.

Thought I'd recheck this to see if there are any contrary views out there.

Thanks.

[SVX92-97]

I never use "2". I always use "3" when driving around town and in stop and go traffic, and "D" on the freeways only. As long as your tranny was good to begin with, you should have no problem with a 96 as all the svx trannys received an upgrade in 94. I have a cooler on my 94 which was transplanted over from my wrecked red 96 last month. On my green 96 I dont have a a cooler, but I had a new duty solenoid C put in this year from svxfiles, as I had no AWD. I would highly recommend you use a good quality synthetic ATF, like Amsoil, Mobil 1, or Redline, and change the internal filter once a year, and you should be worry free. Good Luck!