While reading a thread at Beyond, I came across a thread that was quite interesting..(http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.php?threadid=35246)

It was asked as to what should be the "best" rpm range for an automatic transmission to be running in, which specific regards to the Max.

Personally I'm light on the throttle so the car gives me short shifts, I'm usually at around 1,100rpm - 1,500rpm once I hit city speed limits (50km/h-35mph?)..Unfortunately, the Max does lug a bit sometimes when I'm running at such a low rev. The "rumble" noise tells me this is not good for the transmission as some who have stated in the Beyond thread. At the same time, I'm pretty consistent with my speed so my transmission hardly shifts between 3rd and 4th gear.

Leaving overdrive (OD) off seems to give me the best powerband, as I'm in the 2,000-2,500rpm range for city driving. I remember reading threads here and elsewhere that turning the OD on and off while in motion may hurt the car but seeing how it's electronically controlled, I didn't quite understand that reasoning.

Anyways, should I just make use of the OD button rather than driving my car "below" the rpm band?

By the way, I'm not yet about to move over to stick shift

 

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In stop and go city driving I like to leave O/D OFF. Other then that just put it in D and let it do it's job.

 

As far as best rpms is concerned its the same for auto and manual. since the engines are the same the cars still gonna make hte most power in the same rpms range (i would think) and that range to the best of my knowledge is between 3000 rpms and 5500 rpms....