# What's 'drive 2' on an automatic transmission for?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-drive-2-on-an-automatic-transmission-for/324869>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 5, 2005, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-drive-2-on-an-automatic-transmission-for/324869 "2005-10-05T12:32:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-drive-2-on-an-automatic-transmission-for/324869/41 "2005-10-07T14:44:59Z")

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One of the Google ads is entitled “Learn Stick Shift”, I just thought (automatically 😉 ) what other way is there to drive. In the UK you can take your driving test in an automatic car, but if you want to drive a manual you need to take the test, again, in a manual vehicle.

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**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-drive-2-on-an-automatic-transmission-for/324869/42 "2005-10-07T15:21:08Z")

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> [@Pushkin](#):
>
> IMO most cars in Europe would have smaller engines and be designed with frugality in mind. More gears mean more economy and are handy for squeezing more performance out of the engine. If you have a large V6 or V8 and have cheap fuel, you don’t have to worry so much about how many gears you have. All the same, I would have thought more than 5 automatic gears would still have been the preserve of more expensive motors.

Cars like BMW X5, Porsche Cayenne and Volkswagen Tuareg have 6 and 7 gear auto trannies.

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**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-drive-2-on-an-automatic-transmission-for/324869/43 "2005-10-07T16:06:54Z")

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> [@Rick](#):
>
> If I am understanding you correctly, Volvo did that for a few years back in the early 90s. When going downhill, and the trans was set in ecomony mode if the trans control unit saw the speed increasing, it downshifted to 3rd to allow engine braking. This was done to help make the brake pads last longer.  
> Customers did not understand the function, complained, and it was removed a few years later.

Did this tranny also have Sport & Normal modes?  
If so, what would it have done in those modes in the same situation?  
I’m glad to see an automaker validating my long-standing belief that as long as engine braking adds up to the transfer of less power than my engine uses to make the car go FORWARD at 70 MPH, the engine braking poses no substantial risk to the transmission.

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