I have an automatic and I swear it shifts 4 times... 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5??? Everywhere I have looked for specs only show a 4 speed automatic... The owners manual describes the O/D button as controlling between 3rd or 4th/OD.

Am I imagining that it has 4 gears AND an overdrive???

SHU

you got 18!!

semi truck! yeehaw!

i believe it is 4
3 and then over drive
you do feel the switching between 3 and overdrive alot

I checked it 3 more times on the way home. It was definately 4 shifts. I bet it is a 4 speed tranny and a lock up torque converter or something like that for an overdrive...

SHU

You have 4speeds on your auto, thats why i made an automatic scion axle back, the 4 speed scion is louder on the freeway. Easy way to see what u have is to manuel shift it. From a stop put it in 1st than take off and go through the gears until you hit third than push the button for OD. 8)

The manual states that the overdrive button keeps it out of 4th, and hence OD...

Try it out for me will someone? Just find a slight downhill where you can lightly hold the accelerator... I am hitting 4th gear at around 30MPH. It wont go into overdrive until somewhere between 35 and 40...

Honestly!!!

SHU

There is a change of about 200 rpm after the auto is in 4th, it's not another gear. I haven't read up on it yet but it is just like the lockup torque converters I have dealt with in the past. As soon as you give it a little throttle to speedup or get up a grade it unlocks and the rpm's go up about 200. Turning off the O/D has a greater impact on rpm.

You are trippin' player... O/D IS 4th gear. If they woulda spent the extra money, they would've told us about it. I drove an Echo for 3 years, same tranny.

Try it the other direction. At a little below sixty, turn O/D off, you'll be in third, around 40, down shift to 2nd, 15 downshift again... Where's that other gear?.

Also, don't try to feel it, watch the tach...

It will kick into O/D at amazing low speeds, that's why I often turn it off in town, to tighten the shifts up, but keep thinking about my mileage getting docked... It's made for economy, the more time in O/D the less energy it's using...

There is a change of about 200 rpm after the auto is in 4th, it's not another gear. I haven't read up on it yet but it is just like the lockup torque converters I have dealt with in the past. As soon as you give it a little throttle to speedup or get up a grade it unlocks and the rpm's go up about 200. Turning off the O/D has a greater impact on rpm.See, I am not going nuts, lol!!!

I really do think there is some sort of lock-up in the torque converter...

the torque converter does lockup....

At higher speeds, the transmission catches up to the engine, eventually moving at almost the same speed. Ideally, though, the transmission would move at exactly the same speed as the engine, because this difference in speed wastes power. This is part of the reason why cars with automatic transmissions get worse gas mileage than cars with manual transmissions.

To counter this effect, some cars have a torque converter with a lockup clutch. When the two halves of the torque converter get up to speed, this clutch locks them together, eliminating the slippage and improving efficiency.

even my crap ford taurus with axod-e tranny had a lockup type torque converter

here is everything u ever wanted to know...and probably more....
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/torque-converter1.htm
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/automatic-transmission1.htm

i've been watching my rpm's lately and it seems like i have 5 gears....

it will cycle thru the first 2 real quick.. and while driving the rpms drop and makes it feel like a shift but it really isnt.... kind of weird....and hard to explain....

u shift 3 times....1-2...2-3...3-4....that last "shift" u think your feeling like its going from 4th to 5th gear is actually the clutch packs locking and your torque converter locking the turbine plates together.....