The Nissan Path

I have noticed on my 2012 PF that it is always trying to look for the tallest gear. I had the same issue with my 2006 Toy 4Runner if you get stuck behind someone driving slow on a slight grade it can be annoying as I feel like I'm bogging the V6. With my 4Runner I would often drop it into 4th gear as it seemed more natural and I have started to do the same on my new to me PF. I'm sure that all the auto manufactures set the auto transmissions up this way to increase fuel millage but if I had a manual trans I would naturally down shift. Do any of you feel the same way?

Yep. Thumb switch the Overdrive off is a good way but I found that on hills on the road, it seems to bog out at the worst times no matter what setting.

I often wonder just how bad that is for the engine when I was learning how to drive stick I can recall my father saying "don't bog it! Down shift". My old Volvo had a button on the auto you could choose between economy and sport mode and our PF is just like the economy setting. On the Volvo I would always put it in sport mode and it was always in the correct gear I also never noticed a difference in fuel economy in either mode.

It's very common these days for mpg. My wife's Acura and my Suburban both are locked into 6th gear as quick as possible and don't like to come out without really getting into the pedal. I find the PF do be the least annoying actually. It's usually more anxious to downshift than the others at least.

If you're not hammering on the go-pedal of the Acura, it will be in third gear before you can even get pulled out across two lanes! Doesn't really get any better mpg than the PF either.