[ra3boy]

What to use and when?
The owner's manual states improved engine braking only.
What do you guys use DSL for?
Not to mention smoking FX,VW and Porshe.

 

[Sw1tched]

Personally I use D and Ds as part of my everyday driving. I find that rather than have to ease on the brakes I can simply slide the transmission into Ds and the MO will slow itself down quite effectively and efficiently going down hill and coming to a stop sign or red light.

I know most of the members here don't do what I do, but I've found it to work extremely well and I've incorporated it into the way I drive. Ds is a beautiful thing, use it well

 

[Doombringer]

Ds will rev your engine higher to deliver more torque and power at lower speeds, like when starting from a stop. I know a LOT of owners who use it for that purpose.

And if you're not hitting the gas when in Ds, it acts to slow you down. Kind of a strange double-edged sword, but it works.

As for L... I don't touch L. It is Supreme Engine Braking but I'm not sure if it has any benefit for acceleration.

I usually don't use any of them for braking... I use the brakes and the natural engine braking that comes with "D". Can't escape THAT.

 

[Eric L.]

I like how Ds revs the engine up to higher revs for quick acceleration, but using it on an everyday basis will place extra wear on your engine. Even while cruising, the RPMs in Ds are very high, much higher than you will maintain even if you were aggressively driving a manual shift vehicle. If I use Ds, I will immediately shift back to D after I have reached my desired speed.

 

[hfelknor]

One thing I used Ds for while i was breaking the car in, was to vary the RPMs after I had 500 miles nbut not 1500 miles on her.
I would just pop Ds without changing throttle pos and the RPMs would pop up without any additional strain on the motor. The speed remained the same.


Now I use it like Eric. But maybe more often as i know it doesn't put extra wear on the engine any more than a manual gear box does.

BTW , like Doom, I never use L.
But I would guess that it "might" help 0-20.
(I really doubt it. I think the computer profiles are such that the "gear" ratio from a standing start has more to do with it than the RPMs and power band. But I don't know that.)




One thing I would like to know...........
IF the MO can do about 115 MPH in D..............

how fast can it go in Ds?

First thought is that it is like 2nd or 3rd gear. So it would probably top out at maybe 80?
But this isn't a mechanical gear.
This is a variable tranny that is computer controlled..........it could be ..........maybe 115?
How about one of you lead feet trying it out and reporting back.
Enquiring minds want to know
:2:

Homer

 

[Doombringer]

I wish that damn limiter wasn't there. I personally haven't reached 115 mph, but someday I might, and I might want to go even faster

But yeah, don't OVERuse Ds. Second is good for a 'turbo boost' but I get her back into D when I've done passing or starting from a stop.

 

[darrylburke]

One thing I have noticed with "DSL" is that when you do a "hard" acceleration, the car acts the same regardless of it's in D, S, or L, it will hit 6250, around 100Km,

now.. if you "let off the gas a bit" on acceleration this is where it will act differently,, the D, will drop more revs, then S, and S will drop more revs then L..

Like some of the others here, I love to use the "Ds" to do a bit of engine breaking.. when I want to slow down just that little touch.

I've also noticed "S" and "L" have better "rolling" acceleration for passing, the lower the gear, the more "torque'y" the car feels, and the quicker the initial pick up..

 

[SHINDIG]

Based on the above, which has gotten me a little concerned about the use of Ds, here is my question: Will it hurt the engine if I'm FLOORING it in Ds?

I read some of the "break-in" posts, and it seems the only way to get to full throttle or higher RPMs is to use Ds while flooring the pedal.

Don't want to hurt my baby, after all...

 

[Eric L.]

I wish that damn limiter wasn't there. I personally haven't reached 115 mph, but someday I might, and I might want to go even faster

But yeah, don't OVERuse Ds. Second is good for a 'turbo boost' but I get her back into D when I've done passing or starting from a stop.

I believe the limiter is there due to the fact that there is only one tire application for the Murano and its limited to T-speed rated (118mph).

 

[Kris]

It is my 3rd car with speed limiter......I tried the others..the speed limiter worked.

Now the MO, 115 mph no problems...........flying


haven't reached 118...........yet.............but it is only matter of time


As to acceleration, if you really floor it hard it does not matter D, S or L. Computer knows what to do. However, braking it is completely different story. I usually use Ds only when in heavy traffic I want to change lanes, accelerate quickly without really flooring the gas........

 

[turbodog]

I like how everyone mis-spells engine braking as "engine BREAKING"! What a freudian slip!

As discussed in motorcycling for years, engine 'breaking' may seem cool, but it is causing needless extra wear on your engine. BRAKES are made for braking, and they have easily replaceable wear surfaces, and ours have ABS systems to keep one from over-doing it and losing control. The engine's wear surfaces are NOT so easily replaceable, and (especially for those with FWD vehicles), engine 'breaking' in slippery conditions can have dire consequences.

The informed driver reserves engine 'breaking' for situations like long, steep downhill runs where brake overheating/fade could be a safety issue.

 

[Doombringer]

Geh... normally I'm VERY good about "braking" and "breaking"

It's a pet peeve of mine as well. Just goes to show you...

Doom... next time, don't post at 7 AM. You're not awake enough. :2:

 

[UncaDanno]

The informed driver reserves engine 'breaking' for situations like long, steep downhill runs where brake overheating/fade could be a safety issue.

Yup. And the MO did a real good job at this about a month ago. Going down a long hill out of the mountains, the MO held speed between 60 and 70 MPH. Just had to tap the brakes a couple of times. Our other vehicles would quickly run up to the 80-85 range if we didn't constantly tap the breaks.

 

[ra3boy]

Original purpose

These are good responces. However, my intention was to find out
what Nissan uses these D, S and L for.
1. D (Drive) is clearly for taking off.
2. S (Second) is it more like 1 and 2 in convenient auto
transmission? or there is something else but high RPM?
3. L (Low) for taking off in snow or slippery conditions with
a max engine torgue ( available at low RPM)?

Thank you all.

 

[eager]

Maximum engine torque for slippery conditions.....Expect to visit a ditch in your near future because you are going sideways in a hurry. On slippery conditions low torque smooth acceleration is the ticket. If you are going to use low for acceleration you had better have some sticky road under you then it will give you some extra jump.

I notice the owners manual has some different ideas about what it is for.( Yes I know sacrilege to actually read the manual ...it really dosen't happen often !)
"
D (Drive):
Use this position for all normal forward driving.
S (Second):
Use this position for the improved engine braking.
L (Low):
Use this position for maximum engine braking on
steep downhill gradients/climbing steep slopes
and whenever approaching sharp bends. Do not
use the L position in any other circumstances.

Shift from the D to S or L position after releasing
the accelerator pedal.
"
The last instruction would seem to be at odds with normal performance driving techniques. Maybe they don't want us to find out what fun it is!

 

[hfelknor]

Well I rather thought that most of your questions had been addressed, but I will take a cut at the 3 of them.

1. D (Drive) is clearly for taking off.

D is for taking off, cruising, normal acceleration, normal engine braking, etc.
The key here is the word normal.

2. S (Second) is it more like 1 and 2 in convenient auto
transmission? or there is something else but high RPM?

Ds is like second.
The advantage of "second' was to keep the Engine RP Ms in a narrow, but High band.
The way an engine works, it is most powerful in it's "power band".
The power band is that range of RPMs between Peak Torque and peak Horsepower.
So, if you are on a two lane road and want to pass a slow driver and want to spend as little time in the oncoming lane as possible, put the transmission on Ds BEFORE you start your pass. When it is clear, make your pass. You will complete the pass much faster ( because the engine will be in the power band) than you would in D because in that case, the engine would be at only 1-2K RPMs at the start of the pass.



3. L (Low) for taking off in snow or slippery conditions with
a max engine torque ( available at low RPM)?

Well, aside from L, are you a new snow driver?
The last thing you ever want in the snow, is max engine torque.
And Max engine torque is never available at low RPM, except with a diesel engine.

I really don't know why Nissan included L.

But it "might" be faster 0-20MPH and therefore if you started in L and shifted to Ds at 20MPH you might be faster to 60-70MPH than if you just started in Ds. (Most people accept that 0-60 is faster in Ds than in D)

And of course the INVERSE of acceleration is deceleration which is commonly called engine braking.
So you Will have MORE engine Braking in Ds than in D.
And you will have more engine braking in L than in Ds.

IF you are coming down a mountain (I am talking mountains here. Not hills.), then shifting into Ds could be prudent and L could be used in extreme conditions.
If you ever find your self in Fish Creek Canyon, Arizona, you would be happy to have L just for it's engine braking as you go down thousands of feet, at a very steep angle, around 90 degree and worse corners (at least 1 180 degree) on a hardpack
road, in 120 degree temps.


Hope this helps.

Homer

 

[turbodog]

Based on the manual (and as much as we might LIKE the PERCEIVED acceleration benefit of Ds, that's clearly not why Nissan put it there):

D for all normal driving, including passing, where if you put your foot to the floor, the RPMs WILL go to max power... no Ds needed. Want to test this? Just go out, in D, and at 40 MPH stomp the gas to the floor and count how long it takes RPM to go to 6000. About a half second. If that makes the difference in your passing safety, you're cutting it too close. If you don't have the gas mashed to the floor (max power to the warp coils, Scotty!) then you are telling the drivetrain that you don't NEED full power, and the CVT controller is doing the 'proper' thing by not taking RPMs up to max power.

Ds for steep declines. Pikes Peak comes to mind, because I drove it this last summer... for those who have not, there is a park ranger at the bottom with a IR thermometer who measures your brake temp and will not allow you to go on if they are over a certain temp after your descent. You can count on a 20 minute delay if you did not use engine BRAKING correctly. In my Camry, I used 2nd for the most part, but actually went to 1st for a short section.

L for extreme declines. You won't find a steep enough decline on 99% of public roads I've ever encountered to justify L. The short stretch of Pikes Peak where I used 1st..... maybe.

Now, if you find it fun to play with the shift lever position, by all means, knock yourself out. I do it. Just don't kid yourself that this improves vehicle performance or demonstrates 'proper' technique, or doesn't increase drivetrain wear (to some degree, maybe not significant... but no-one knows for sure). It's just fun, and that's OK.

 

[Eric L.]

As discussed in motorcycling for years, engine 'breaking' may seem cool, but it is causing needless extra wear on your engine. BRAKES are made for braking, and they have easily replaceable wear surfaces, and ours have ABS systems to keep one from over-doing it and losing control. The engine's wear surfaces are NOT so easily replaceable, and (especially for those with FWD vehicles), engine 'breaking' in slippery conditions can have dire consequences.

The informed driver reserves engine 'breaking' for situations like long, steep downhill runs where brake overheating/fade could be a safety issue.

Very well said, I could not agree more. It is a fun sensation to feel the engine braking, and I can understand if some stickshift drivers are used to it. But the VQ as good as it is, is not invincible, and I for one would like to keep my engine in the best shape possible. Ds is pretty fun for accelerating, but the Murano has such good brakes they do a more than adequate job of slowing down the car in an any situation that would otherwise require "engine braking."

I suppose Ds would be fine to use all the time if you were towing something with the Murano, in which case you might want to take a load off the brakes.