Auto Xmissions & Winter Driving

[rfg@xxxxxxx]

        This is, strictly speaking, not a BMW-specific question, but some
may feel it worthwhile nonethelese.

         It is about about automatic transmissions and winter driving.

        I have never owned a car with an automatic transmission, so I am
not absolutely sure of this but...I always thought that if you put an
automatic transmission into  "L", "1",  or "2", that this provided
increased torque to the driving wheels and was a poor choice for driving in
the snow and/or for getting your car moving if you were stuck in snow.  Am
I wrong?

        I ask because a recent letter from a reader published in a
Washington Post column called "Dr. Gridlock" advised that the best way to
do this was to use the lower gears.

        I know that with a standard transmission you would want to put it
in a higher gear (lower torque) and gently let the clutch out, hoping that
with the reduced torque you would get forward movement rather than a
spinning of the wheels.

        If I am correct, I want to write Dr. Gridlock and tell him what's
what so that there won't be countless drivers who, after reading that
column, will incorrectly think this is the best way to get a car with an
automatic transmission moving under these conditions when it is not.

        Many thanks,
        Bob G.

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