In winter-like conditions, does it make any difference whether your car’s transmission is in overdrive or not?
And if you are going down a hill that’s
snow covered, is it better to put your car’s transmission in neutral or not?
No and NO. You have less control when the car is in neutral. Don’t do it. It might be acceptable to turn overdrive off going down hill, and you can switch to D3 or D2 to accomplish that as well if you have an OD switch.
The only thing to add is that in OD when you let up on the gas the car tends to free wheel and there is no engine braking. In D, there will be some engine braking. Going down hill on ice, you may need to use either depending on the circumstances. If it is very very slick, the slight engine braking can be enough to break the front wheels loose and start a slide. Other times you want a little braking to slow it down when applying the brakes would cause the wheels to break loose.
Just depends on the circumstances. I’ve been in both. Very interesting when there is also a curve at the bottom as well as other cars. Best to slow down for a little extra margin.