2.23
Special cases
Under certain driving conditions (eg.
engine protection, or electronic stabil-
ity program (ESP) operational etc.) the
automatic system may change gear au-
tomatically.
Likewise, to prevent incorrect manoeu-
vres, a gear change may be refused by
the automatic system: in this case the
gear display flashes for a few seconds
as a warning.
Special circumstances
– If the bends and road surface do
not allow you to stay in automatic
mode (e.g. in the mountains), we
recommend that you change to L
mode.
This will prevent repeated gear
changes when climbing and will
enable engine braking on long de-
scents.
– In very cold weather, to avoid stall-
ing the engine, start the engine and
wait a few seconds before moving
the lever from position P or N to po-
sition D or R.
– Vehicles not fitted with traction
control: to avoid wheelspin when
starting on a slippery or low grip
surface, change to L mode before
moving off.
Driving in automatic mode
Select position D. In the majority of
traffic conditions, you will not have to
touch the gear selector lever again: the
gear will be changed automatically at
the right time and at the most suitable
engine speed because the automatic
system takes into account the vehicle
load and road contour and adjusts itself
to the particular driving style you have
chosen.
Economical driving
When driving, leave the lever in posi-
tion D, keeping the accelerator pedal
lightly depressed to ensure automatic
gear changes at comparatively low
engine speeds.
Accelerating and overtaking
Depress the accelerator pedal firmly
and fully (so that it goes beyond the
kickdown point).
This will enable you to change down
to the optimum gear within the
engine range.
CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANSMISSION (2/3)