What do the 1 and 2 symbols mean in an automatic car?

When you’re getting into the car industry, it’s normal to feel intimidated by the seemingly endless number of acronyms and different terminologies. However, to the general driver, there are a few odd things about their car that they would like to know about.

As an automotive journalist, I often get asked a whole range of questions, ranging from simple queries like “Can I mix unleaded petrol?” to more granular ones such as “Why does my car sound like X?”.

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But without a doubt, one of the most common questions I get asked – by either friends or strangers – is “What do the 1 and 2 symbols mean on my gearstick?”.

It appears that a vast majority of other drivers are in the same boat, with similar questions arising across various social media platforms like Reddit and Facebook for over a decade.

In a 2023 post to the Cars Australia Reddit thread, one Holden Commodore owner asked, “I’ve looked around online and asked around about this but haven’t gotten any solid answers or advice. I drive an automatic and the other day I thought to myself ‘I wonder how you use these gears?’.

“I tried them out last night driving around my home in case anything happened, and it seemed like what I thought it would be, which is like shifting [gears] in a manual, only without the clutch.

“Has anyone who drives an auto used the gears when driving before enough to know how you’re supposed to use them?” they asked.

To lend a helping hand, we reached out to experts to determine the gears’ true functions and what scenarios would warrant a manual gear change.

What are the 1 and 2 in an automatic car?

Generally speaking, the 1 and 2 symbols found in older automatic cars – or the ‘L’ function in newer automatic models – denote first, second, or ‘low’ gear and are typically used for a range of driving scenarios where you would need to maintain these gears.

While drivers don’t generally need to worry about finding the right gear in an automatic car, the first gear can be used in situations where you need more power and grip at a lower speed.

Kevin Flynn, a driving instructor with more than 30 years of experience from Melbourne-based driving school Driver Dynamics, told Drive, “A great example would be if you were towing and wanted to hold the transmission in first gear for a little longer than normal, if you were starting on a particularly steep hill for example – you can shift back to drive when it suits you”.

The second gear is typically used in scenarios where you still need power but at a faster speed compared to the first gear. For example, drivers can activate second gear when going off-roading or towing a heavy load, such as a trailer, in urban areas.

“Towing is a great example [of when you would use second gear] or driving in lower-speed hilly areas, as second gear allows you to use some of the ‘engine braking’ effects you would have with a manual transmission,” Flynn explained.

Additionally, the driving instructor said he sometimes uses manual gear selections “on our high-performance driving courses to control when the transmission upshifts and to hold gears a little longer”.

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