Should You Use D Gear or S Gear for Climbing Hills?

[DelKira]

Modern automatic transmission cars can use D gear when climbing hills without worrying about insufficient power. Here are some additional notes about car hill climbing: 1. Of course, S gear can also be used for climbing hills. Most vehicles do not have an S gear but only an S mode, which is the sport mode. In sport mode, gear shifting is slightly delayed, but acceleration is more aggressive. Normally, in D gear, shifting occurs around 2500 RPM, but in S mode, it might shift at 3500 RPM. Therefore, S mode provides faster acceleration and higher engine RPM. 2. When climbing hills, you can directly shift from D gear to L gear, but avoid doing so at high RPM. Shifting directly from D to L at high RPM may cause the steel belt to slip, damaging internal transmission components. 3. Additionally, using D gear for long climbs under heavy load can cause the CVT transmission to overheat. It is recommended to use L gear for continuous uphill driving to allow the engine to maintain maximum torque output. When using L gear for climbing, the gear ratio will continuously adjust based on speed and torque, but the changes are limited to a small range.