"AT HOLD"

[mpblackman]

What does the "AT HOLD" button on my centre console do? i have automatic transmission!

[Reason]

You might want to tell us what car you have and what country you are in.

[mpblackman]

its a legacy estate 2.0 gls and im in the u.k :)

[mike-tracy]

From Subaruforester.org

It stops automatic use of 1st gear, more or less. I think it also alters the shift points to upshift at lower revs than usual (opposite of Power button). It's mainly intended to reduce wheelspin on snow.

Specifically, with HOLD turned on:

In D, the car will move off in 2nd gear and change up to 3rd and 4th as soon as it can.
In 3, the car will move off in 2nd gear and change up to 3rd as soon as it can.
In 2, the car will use 2nd gear only.
In 1, the car will use 1st gear only.

Allegedly, using Hold also makes the centre transfer clutch lock up sooner/harder.

-- Steve

[mpblackman]

ty steve, had been bugging me for ages :smile:

[Robbks]

Depends on what year box you have.
my '94 JDM LGT auto has the AT hold button (VTD Auto), but it's operation is slightly different to that of the later model boxes (MPT Auto) which is the operation listed above

in My VTD box the "AT HOLD" button literally forces the box to hold the manually selected gear (1,2,3) regardless of throttle applications. you will get no kick-down on fast, full-throttle applications
This is even the case when in "drive", it allows you to drive more aggresively at highway speeds without the box changing gears. it will unlock the torque converter, but still remain in drive, unless the speed is quite slow.

The MPT boxes will still kick-down when locked in say "3" and the hold button is on.