On my Grand AM I have a 3, 2, 1 option. What are these for? When would I put it in 3, 2 or 1?

P
R
N
D
3
2
1

(I'm SUCH a girl! LOL)

They are lower gears... useful for driving on hills, especially those covered in snow or loose gravel.

You would use 3, 2, and/or 1 to "manually" shift your automatic transmission. When you use any of those positions, the transmission stays in that gear until you move it to another.

Some advice: Don't shift to 1 while you're driving at freeway speeds. You won't like it.

Oh yeah... 2 is usually used for driving in snow. It starts the car in a higher gear to lessen wheel spin.

Ok so 2nd gear is for the snow.
(I can use that one! )

What about 1st and 3rd?

Those are for us gear heads like TCM and me who are use to shifting gears and need something to do while we drive. LOL

I don't think I have ever use manual 1st in an automatic.

I have used 2nd, 3rd and 4th (on a 5 speed auto) for going down long, steep hills. At lower speeds, it is better then dragging and over heating the brakes.

Also, 3rd or 4th gear, which ever is 1 under D, is used for city driving where you don't want the transmission to be shifting back and forth between 3rd and 4th which is, in most cases, an overdrive gear for highway driving with out a lot of stop and goes and at a high speed like 50---->

Now do you need to know what overdrive is?

Girls, you got to love 'em.

Good question though.

Great answers from all of you.

Thanks!