Just wondering if those of you guys with the non-s/c non-gen 2 x's find that you have to downshift up any incline.

I have an '02 auto and just to make it up the mountain without driving myself crazy, i find that i have to gear down to 2, just to keep up with traffic...

is this a bad habit for the engine???

I wouldn't consider it bad for the engine, depeding how much your foot is in it and how hight the RPMs are. If you're around 4,000 or so, it's fine if you really have to step on it.

Try gaining more speed before you hit the incline and then let it slow down a little when you're driving up. This way it'll be easier on the engine and on the gas mileage.

Then again, Illinois is so flat that a driveway incline is steep to us here. So I may not have the best advice.

did you turn the overdrive off?
try that at the bottom of the hill.
that will get the rpms up.

Which mountains do you go to?

I can blast up the upper-cut (hwy1 up to North Van past 2nd narrow) in 3rd at 100+ kph. I can go up that steep part on Coquihalla in 3rd at 120 kph. I really don't think 2nd was necessary for any highway speed hills.

Small streets in West van, yeah, 2nd is needed.

What bluztraveler said. at the base of a hill upon which you suspect you'll need to downshift, hid the OD button so OD is OFF (light on dash comes on to that effect), rpms go up and off ya go. Remember to hit the OD button again at the top or you'll notice a decrease in mpg.

If you want better MPG btw - let the speed drop as you go up, and let it pick up on the down hill. Flooring it to maintain speed on a climb kills mpg.

Turning off the OD is a good idea if the hill is steep, and the auto isn't automatically downshifting you already...as that makes you NEED to floor it/add go go juice, to avoid rolling down to a rediculously slow speed on the uphill.

Another plus of turning OD off is that it keeps the torque converter from unlocking and keeps your transmission cool.

An explanation: If you leave OD on and start to push the gas down, at some point you'll notice your RPMs jump up 800 or so. This is the torque converter unlocking - but it stays in high gear (unless you really mash on the gas and it actually downshifts and the RPMs jump way up)
This gives you a little bit more power to climb - but at the cost of generating a lot of heat in your transmission. It is okay once in awhile - but it is not okay for extended periods of time (a long climb) or when you are towing anything. Better to have it downshift but stay locked in those scenarios.

Very true, Kaiser.

It actually takes a good deal of throttle before the transmission actually downshift in D. Most the time it just unlocks the converter.

Under lower speeds (45 mph or so), the transmission doesn't even lock in 3rd (on mine, 3rd locks at 50 mph under 1/4 throttle).