2012 Cadillac CTS Owner Manual - Page 290

9-34 Driving and Operating You may have to downshift two or more gears to keep the engine running smoothly or for good performance. Up-Shift Light While you accelerate, it is normal for the light to go on and off if you quickly change the position of the accelerator. Ignore the light when you downshift. CTS-V vehicles use tracer lights around the outside of the tachometer as a performance up￿shift light. These tracers flash to indicate when to shift to the next higher gear to avoid the engine speed limit. See Tachometer on page 5￿14 for more information. Shift Speeds (Manual Transmission) { WARNING If you skip a gear when you downshift, you could lose control of the vehicle. You could injure yourself or others. Do not shift down more than one gear at a time when you downshift. Notice: If you skip more than one gear when you downshift, or if you race the engine when you release the clutch pedal while downshifting, you could damage the engine, clutch, driveshaft or the transmission. Do not skip gears or race the engine when downshifting. If the vehicle speed drops below 32 km/h (20 mph), or if the engine is not running smoothly, downshift to the next lower gear. Vehicles with a manual transmission have an up￿shift light on the instrument panel. This light shows when to shift to the next higher gear for the best fuel economy. When this light comes on, you can shift to the next higher gear if weather, road, and traffic conditions allow. For the best fuel economy, accelerate slowly and shift when the light comes on. Skip Shift (CTS￿V) Under light acceleration, the transmission will only allow you to shift from 1 (First) to 4 (Fourth). Shifts from 1 (First) to 2 (Second) or 3 (Third) are not allowed. This helps improve fuel mileage. Under harder acceleration, Skip Shift is disabled, and the driver has all gears available.