I was out driving with an older person (>75 y.o.) yesterday, and they wanted to try out my (new-used 06) s60 2.5T, so I said sure.

I was surprised to see this guy attempt to use engine braking, by going from D to 4, then to 3, when coming to a stoplight. He claimed it helps not wear out the brakes, but I'm thinking driving like that will instead destroy the transmission.
EDITED: I know to "down shift" coming down a steep hill to save the brakes, but this is on flat land...

So, what's the deal with doing that, and is it actually harmful, if you do not have a manual transmission? Is it some old-school, old-fashioned way to drive that they taught 50 years ago?

In addition, this guy has a lot to say about how "inferior" FWD is to RWD, and that had me rolling my eyes a bit , as we live in a major metro area, no "AutoBahn's" around, and even at non-rush hour, traffic is slow. The roads get salted in the winter, the odds of needing RWD for much of anything around here is really low. (I also got a comment about how this Volvo is "not a drivers car"...)

Thanks for any ideas you might have on why an older person might drive like that and have those opinions!

 

Engine braking with an automatic transmission is considered a necessary fact of life, and so there is noticeable engineering effort invested in making it possible. Traditional automatics have overrunning clutches (they will freewheel) in first and second, and these clutches have to be mechanically disabled when you are not in the top range. GM even made an automatic in the late 50's that was in first, second, and third gear all at the same time. This transmission had a special "hill retarder" gear which put it in reverse and forward gears at the same time. Crazy stuff. Chevrolet called this "turboglide" and you can find it on google/wikipedia, whatever.

Anyway, it's the only right thing to do when you drive down from pike's peak. It's not necessary on flat land every time you come to a traffic light. My opinion is that nobody much drives that way. Personally, a set of brakes lasts me about 5 or 10 years, so I don't need to worry too much about that.

 

Thanks for that info, firebirdparts.
My problem with engine braking/downshifting on flat terrain, is that the '06 S60 doesn't make it easy to shift down, and you have to press the shifter button and drop into the next spot on the console. My impression is that for flat city driving, putting it into "D" and just going should be just fine. The person who "tried" the car, is going to be borrowing it for a while, and I'm not sure if i should advise him to "just wear out the brakes, but stop downshifting, please", or if I should just let him be, as he's apparently set in his driving habits.... I'd really rather pay to fix brakes than the transmission...

 

Seems like he'd get bored with that in a few minutes.

 

If only!
I spoke to him today, and he doesn't like the FWD, and he is a tall guy and doesn't fit in the driver's seat as well as he imagines he would in some old Jag s Type (with RWD, of course).

Oh well, he's looking a gift horse in the mouth, I'm not moved.

 

ya it used to be with old front drum brakes you had to down shift to help slow the car down. But that causes engine ware and with newer disc brakes i would rather replace pads than valve seats

 

sorry I didn't mention driving in snow where it's better to shift than to brake

 

Hi all , this is my first post in this forum.


I recently purchased an XC60,
Does anybody how we can trigger Engine Braking, when going downhill with an automatic transmission?.
I read in the manual that when in Adaptive Cruse Control , pressing accelerator half way will trigger the Engine Braking. I tried but no luck. !!
Previously I had a WV POLO 2016 (automatic), which in downhills, I used to press the break softly to let transmission , automatically lower the shift to control the speed without needing applying brakes. actually that was very cool , but I am wondering how Volvo is?

Cheers