Hey, the vitara I have now is my first auto car... so I am kind new to this, I have no Idea what is "L" position for, what does it do? It seems to be a first gear with an rpm limit, is it just that?
                    Gui

probably 1st gear. on some vehicles they will shift from 1st to 2nd in the "L" or "1" position, my dad's dakota shifts into 2nd in 1st if I remember right. not sure about your zuk with the shifting in "L". the only auto tranny zuk I've ever driven was my grandpa's XL-7 and I didn't pay attention enough to remember if it had an "L" or 1.

so pretty much, that's basicly your 1st gear position.

Hey, the vitara I have now is my first auto car... so I am kind new to this, I have no Idea what is "L" position for, what does it do? It seems to be a first gear with an rpm limit, is it just that?
                    Gui

Nearly every automatic (read hydraulic) transmission ever made gives the operator the choice of either letting the transmission's "logic" (mechanical or electronic in nature) choose the shift points or letting the operator choose the gear manually through the shift lever.

The purpose of this is so that the operator, when presented with an unusual driving situation, can choose to fully control how and when the automatic transmission shifts.

Common examples of this include towing heavy loads short distances (pulling a boat out of the water) , driving down steep inclines (mountain driving) and driving in heavy snow conditions.

Sometimes the driver is actually "smarter" than the transmission.

Hope this helps!
 

I enjoy shifting the tranny myself in my automatic.   

Makes me feel special.  I know its not the best thing to do to the tranny but, meh, I do it sparingly..

When I was learning to drive someone explained it to me like this:

If someone challenges you to a race, start in "L" for low.  After it winds out, shift to "D" for Drag.  Then when winds out again shift to "R" for Race.  Tried it once and something broke.

When I was learning to drive someone explained it to me like this:

If someone challenges you to a race, start in "L" for low.  After it winds out, shift to "D" for Drag.  Then when winds out again shift to "R" for Race.  Tried it once and something broke.

Sorry, R doesn't mean "Race" it means "Really Fast". It's VERY important to make shure you're going really fast before shifting into this gear.   

~J~

Hey guys, I think there is something wrong with my auto tranny...
when in "L" is stay in first gear but it does not develop any speed, it goes realy slow and sort of limits the RPM to 3000 and something...Someone who has an auto could tell me if this is normal?
      Thanks
    Gui

Hey guys, I think there is something wrong with my auto tranny...
when in "L" is stay in first gear but it does not develop any speed, it goes realy slow and sort of limits the RPM to 3000 and something...Someone who has an auto could tell me if this is normal?
      Thanks
    Gui

Yep.  That's EXACTLY what will happen and it's designed to do that.

By putting the the transmission in "L" (for "Low") instead of "D" (for "Drive"), the transmission will remain in Low gear until you manally shift it to something else.  The same goes for "2".  Just remember that putting an automatic transmission into any gear other than "D" must be done for a specific purpose.  In the case of "L", you should be in a situation where you are pulling something heavy (like a boat and trailer out of the water) or are driving up/down a steep incline where extra traction (as opposed to speed) is necessary.

Thankn Ack.
but is it normal not to pass 3000 rpm? It seem like the engine has been cut, tied up : )
when I am in "D" the first gear performs way better than when I use in "L". Does that happen on purpose?
                 Thanks
      Gui
                     

when you are in L imagine that you are in a manual transmission vehicle and you leave the vehicle in first gear and dont ever shift it out. How fast can you really go with the rpms screaming. That is what L is, just first gear. Most likely the transmission has a rev limiter built in so that you don't burn it or the engine up if you put it in L by mistake.
 When it is in drive the transmission is allowed to cycle through the rest of the gears, So it will rev higher to get to a better shift point, then shift into second, third and fourth if you have it.