If I am driving when roads are icy, has snow or is wet,

for normal road driving, am I supposed to be in a lower gear D3 or D4 or is it better to be in D5?

same question for freeway speeds. Should I be dropping to D4 or leave it in D5?

 

I know that for inclement weather, it's better to drive in a lower gear and I think that's because of better braking ability, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong on the reason. But for normal driving, D5 gives you the best MPG. I've never driven in anything but D5, but that's just because the weather still has not gotten bad enough here for us to even have any poor driving conditions.

 

On rural streets where you generally don't go above 25 I stay in 2. Not the SS mode 2, the bottom part where the 1 and 2 are next to each other.
Highway driving... you don't want to go beyons 3rd if its totally iced. I mean... you're on ice... time to slow down.

 

but at the same time, you don't want to be revving high and causing the tires to lose traction if you accelerate....I would say that keeping the car in 5th while going slowly is the optimum solution for winter driving...

 

The problem with cruising in 5th is that you could easily break traction with an unexpected downshift.
I think its best to start off in 2nd, to avoid wheelspin off the line, and hold gears 3 and 4 as you pick up speed.