so while I was driving in cruise control, i shifted in to manual by accident and say that it was running in '4' as opposed to '5'....since '5' is basically overdrive, can one get better fuel economy by driving in manual mode and going into overdrive? in theory it makes sense..what do ya think?
ps im not complaining about the gas mileage...just curious..

 

In my 04, shifting into M will drop me down to 4, even though D is the equivalent of 5. So I know of no known difference between 5 in M mode, and D.

With later years, there are differences in behavior. But you don't get any higher overdrive gear in M mode.

 

Yeah, what happens with most manufacturer's "tiptronic" transmissions (including infinity (04's for sure)) is as soon as you change from "D" to "M" mode, it automatically drops a gear because the system assumes you are going into "sport mode".

If you're in D and doing 20mph for example, in D, you might be in D-3. When you switch to M mode, it would drop you to M-2 by default...

 

If you want to save gas, always drive in triptronic mode and shift to 5 as fast as you can.. the earliest you can go to 4th is at 20mph and 5th is 30 mph.

I also found a trick in the triptronic mode for launching.

 

well since we're in the subject of tiptronic can anyone show me where i can learn how to use it? do and don't etc i've never used a tiptronic let alone a stick shift so yeah.

 

What's your "special" trick for launching?