Does anybody here drive with the overdrive on most/all of the time? I had a friend who used to do this in his Camaro all the time and I'm wondering if that would damage the engine or not. I wonder if the performance difference is really that much and also curious as to how it affects gas mileage.

You'll get better mileage in general with the O/D on. I only turn my O/D on long trips. For bombing around town, towing/hauling, and in stop and go traffic, I leave it off.

 

The overdrive switch just governs whether or not the tranny make's it's final shift into OD or not. Driving around with it on, does not mean that the OD gear is engaged at any other time. I switch mine off when in stop and go/slow and go traffic, otherwise it's on all the time, but you wouldn't hurt anything by leaving it on all the time either.

 

I leave my O/D on all the time. EXCEPT when towing.

 

I guess what I meant to say was Does anybody drive with their OD OFF!

 

You'll get better mileage in general with the O/D on. I only turn my O/D on long trips. For bombing around town, towing/hauling, and in stop and go traffic, I leave it off.

Why stop and go? How does it help in that situation?