Cadillac BLS Owner's Manual page 143

460_OM_MY09.book Page 143 Wednesday, April 2, 2008 10:32 AM
Sentronic, manual gear selection
Move the selector lever to the manual position (M)
(to the left position D) to select gear manually.
Select a higher gear by pressing the selector lever
forward or a lower gear by pulling it back. The
selector lever will return to a position adjacent to
the letter M after each gear change.
An example of when you may wish to make
manual gear changes is when overtaking, to
enable you to remain in a low gear for an extended
period of time.
If the road surface is slippery, you may wish to pull
off in 2nd or 3rd to reduce the risk of wheelspin.
When descending steep hills you should select a
low gear to increase the braking effect of the
engine and thus spare the brakes.
Manual gear selections are displayed on the main instrument
panel. The letter M and the current gear are displayed.
When the selector lever is in the M position, as opposed to the
D position, the engine is much more responsive to changes in
accelerator position. The accelerator has a different feel.
When changing down, the desired gear can be selected but the
transmission will not change down until the engine speed is low
enough to avoid overrevving.
Starting and driving
Steering wheel controls for manual gear
selection 3
Certain variants also have steering wheel controls for manual gear
selection. On these models, it is possible to change gear manually
using the selector lever and the steering wheel controls. The
steering wheel controls are only active when the selector lever is in
the M position.
Select a higher gear by pressing the right-hand button and a lower
gear by pressing the left-hand button.
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