2019 Mazda 6- M shift

I use it whenever I want full control. Although you can simply depress the accelerator and it will automatically downshift. If I'm driving on a hilly road, I switch to manual mode to avoid "gear hunting". I usually stay with the 3rd gear.

On our CR-V 98, it has a switch (D3) where the gear won't go to 4th gear but will automatically downshift if needed.

Honda, in that era, also has "grade logic". I have that on my '97 Civic EX 2 dr. A road slope/grade detection system deduces that the car is climbing a hill, say, and in my case (4 spd A/T) it will not go higher in gear than 3rd gear 'til the road levels-out. Also, on the downgrade, it detects braking, speed increases... and automatically downshifts.

For me, with a modern A/T, downshift rev-matching is a 'real nice feature.

B652 said:

Who uses their Manual shift lever and for what purpose? I had a much older car before I bought the Mazda 6 and it did not have manual shift as part of the auto transmission.

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I use it when the roads are covered in snow, mostly for downshift so that I don't have to use the brake as much. I used it more in my 2017 Mazda 3, when upshifting cause I didn't like RPM's the car shifted at. The 2019 Mazda 6 I have now does a really good job shifting at lower RPM's.