What's the deal with gear selection?
 

I don't know if this has been addressed anywhere (I've searched a bit), but my only quirk with the Fit (09 Base AT) is that when you shift out of park, if you release the shift unlock button (on the front of the shifter) as you pull it back, the shifter stops at D3 rather than D. Why is this? The owner's manual even indicates that D is the most common position when driving and every other automatic I have driven always stops at D (not some lower alternative) when using this technique. I understand there is a "notch" at D, but not a locking stop. I also understand that it may not be "proper" shifting technique to release the shift unlock button while shifting, but if you are in a hurry, you should not have to concern yourself with lining up the shifter to D, that should be the locking or default stop position, not D3 (which restricts you to the 3 lower gears). Thanks. :confused:

There has to be some good reasoning behind this...my 1994 civic stopped here too.

My explanation for this is simple:
Honda automatic transmissions differ from other carmakers' (Toyota for instance) in that they DO NOT offer an "Overdrive OFF" button.

On many other automatic cars, your shifter's travel stops at D without unlocking, and the lever itself has a button for turning off overdrive. Remember that overdrive is just a fancy name for top gear, e.g. 5th gear on a 5-speed automatic. The thinking here is that if you're cruising and you want to overtake, you can jab the O/D OFF button and effectively command the tranny to downshift to the next lower gear (4th in our example). Until you turn overdrive on again, the fastest gear the tranny can use is 4th, not 5th.

On Honda A/Ts, the different non-standard D settings (e.g. D3) take the place of the O/D OFF button. To return to our example, if you cruise at top gear in D and want to overtake something, you can drop the lever a notch to D3 and command the tranny to use 3rd gear. Until you return the lever to D, the fastest gear the tranny can use is 3rd.

Just my two cents.
Then again if you wanted to overtake, you could just use kickdown instead and do away with the lever entirely.

Good, logical answer. Thanks Type 100! :)

My 2000 Honda CR-V and my 2005 Honda Element both had an "Overdrive Off" button.

But they also had the non-standard D3 setting? I think it's one or the other. I'm pretty sure the CR-V didn't have D3 so they threw in the O/D OFF button to compensate.

We didn't get the Element here in the Philippines - just as a rare "gray import" - so no feedback from me there.

My mom's FD1 Civic (the FA to you US people) has the D3 setting in addition to the standard D, and no O/D OFF button. So did a few friends' autobox-equipped EKs.