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Hey guys,Was driving to work this morning and as I was on the interstate, cruising at arond 72, I accidently hit the shift knob into driver shift control. What I saw was that I was in 4th gear. So, I shifted it up to 5th gear and saw my RPMs drop from around 3,000 to 2,500 or so.So...does the Vibe always stay in fourth, and one must manually put it into 5th?Also, isn't one of the perks of having five speeds getting better fuel economy? I read somewhere that the higher the gear, the better the gas mileage...Just looking for some guidance. Any thoughts on the subject?

Do the 09s have an "Overdrive Off" button? My 05 has one shifter.

it will automatically go into 5th under the right circumstances. If the OEM is going to spend the $ on the extra cog, they are definetely going to reep the rewards in increased fuel economy.

yup manual ftw. Auto's will/should grab the right gear when needed and ecu thinks its good.

So are you saying that even though it shows 4th gear on the dash (this is an 09 GT 5-speed auto with no OD button), I'm really in 5th? Because when I went into 5th gear, I noticed a drop in RPMs.

When you're in auto mode does it say 4 or D?

I would guess that the default gear position when you go to "manual" mode is 4th gear. When you're in "manual" mode, it probably won't go into 5th unless you make it. In full auto mode it should find 5th when appropriate.

When in regular automatic mode (not driver shift control mode), it only says "D."When I push the shift knob over to the left to engage driver shift control mode, it always reads "4," even if I put it manually into 5th gear, switch it back to regular automatic mode, and then put it back into driver shift mode. Odd...

hmm when i'm not moving and if i shift the thing to S it'll say it's in 4...so maybe whenever you shift it to S it'll start out at 4? sorry i have no idea how this thing works lol

I hear ya! I'm going to try to do a test on 4 vs. 5 in MPGs when I get a chance...

Mine will do the same. When I move the shifter to the manual shift control, it will be in 4th at the higher speeds.. I have to bump it up to 5th. At a lower speed like say 35mph. it will be in 3rd not 4th when I move it to the manual shift control.

Really? Mine always seem to be on 4th...I'll have to check when I'm going at low speeds next time...

Okay...I think I've figured this whole thing out now.Driving in to work this morning going about 75, I put the car into DSC, and saw my RPMs jump up a bit, at the same time noticing I was in 4th gear. When I put it into 5th gear, the RPMs went back down to where they previously were.So what I theorize is that engaging DSC must always make the engine default to 4th gear. Even at low speeds, engaging DSC showed 4th gear.Mystery solved. Now I can sleep at night

You are correct, Transmission stays in 4th throughout the speed range. My dodge work van sets the transmission to a lower gear at speed, sorry about that.

It sounds like it was programmed to assume that if the driver is going at highway speeds and then shifts to the semi-auto mode, he probably did so in order to downshift for more power, perhaps to pass or climb a hill.Quote, originally posted by musicmanmu »So what I theorize is that engaging DSC must always make the engine default to 4th gear. Even at low speeds, engaging DSC showed 4th gear.Most newer 4-spd auto transmissions that I've seen will grab 4th as low as 30-35 mph, so a 5-spd will probably shift into 4th even sooner and you won't see it downshift to 3rd (when you shift into semi-auto) unless you're going really slow.

I'm going to go give my 5-spd manual Vibe a big kiss now. (j/k) When you're in 5th gear with the new auto, at what rpm are you when going 65?

Well, I usually go 70 at the least (ha ha), but I'll check my RPMs for going 65 in 5th on the way home today and report back!

for ur fuel questionif ur cruising at 70, it's going to be more fuel economic if you are at top gear.If you are accellerating, going up a hill, or attempting to gain a lot of speed, not only for fuel economy, but for the wear and tear on the vehicle, it's better to downshift, and find a gear more appropriate for the driving style.On my old 2001 Toyota Corolla, the engine would shake if you'd try to gain speed on 4th gear and od, when going up a hill, and the engine not wanting to shift to a lower gear.my 2 cents.

this is odd..cuz the 4speed auto's had 4 gears w/ over drive. but i cant find anything about the 5pd auto :/