I looked at it on howstuffworks, but I only understood it partly, so if you could explain it more in detail, that would be greatly appreciated.

Then my old car has something called TEMS, with Sport and Normal as options. What could that be?

 

What? Why would you leave it off? It's there to save gas, all it is is a really tall highway cruising gear.

 

It's a Toyota right?

Toyota Electronic Modulated Suspension - This system continually adjusts the damping effect on the shock absorbers, according to current driving conditions, ensuring a smooth ride under rough road conditions.

That's the only thing car-related that i could find with that acronym.

 

Yeah, it's a Toyota.

 

just leave it on, the sport mode shifts faster and at higher rpm's but consumes gas like crazy.

 

i take it off when i take my moms car out :rick: lets just say its MUCH quicker

 

that is the most retarded thing I have ever heard. All overdrive does is lock the sun gear when at highway speeds so for every 1/3 revolution of the motor you get 1 revolution to the drive wheels....It is intended to keep RPMs low on the freeway to keep gas milage up. This is also usually coupled with a lock up trq converter

 

lemmi hear u say that when ur in the car with me h:

 

On a lot of cars, let's say it's a 4-speed auto, overdrive is just 4th gear.

For example my first car, a '90 Legend that my dad handed down to me, had D (picks between all 4 gears) and S3 (picks between 1st 3 gears, holds gears longer) spots you could move the lever to, then it had an S4 button on the top which if you pushed gave you the S gear holding, but also let you go into 4th.

The main reason you would want to disengage it, is if you're climbing up a hill and the transmission is hunting for a gear.

 

I would be happy to...buy me a plane ticket and we will settle this h: