That "L" stands for "low gear," a special setting that changes how your car's gearbox operates. What could a low gear mode be used for when you're driving a straightforward, automatic transmission?

It has been reviewed by Cars.com Senior News Editor Jennifer ... completely without its uses. It stands for “Low,” which typically means 1st gear but can sometimes mean the lower gears.

The 1 and 2 are similar to L or Low and limit the transmission into the first or second gear, which is excellent when climbing steep embankments or towing in slippery terrain. In most cars ...

Furthermore, any car without a transmission cannot harness ... or “revolutions per minute” are kept appropriately low. This provides two benefits: Fuel consumption is decreased. The turning gears do ...

When overdrive is turned off, the transmission will remain fixed to lower gears resulting in greater responsiveness to the accelerator. The engine brake will also become more effective. Both automatic ...

The L, or low gear position, would keep the transmission in the lowest gear position and would have limited use in normal driving. Your new car uses a continuously variable automatic transmission ...

The joy of driving a stick-shift car is so great that you can actually break down its delightfulness into sub-experiences—switching between certain gears is more fun than others. You know it ...

In our above example, a car that redlines at ... This Jeep wasn’t just in first gear; it was in first gear with the transfer case in 4WD Low, which multiplies the engine RPM even more for ...

Low range still uses the same set of gears that the car has, but gears-down the driveline even further to multiply torque to the wheel. To show how that translates from behind the wheel ...