1) I shift to 3 when going downhill b/c 'cause I'm lazy and don't want to brake alot. Just remember to bring it back to D when you're ready to accelerate :P
2) When on the freeway and I need to get by someone, I downshift to 4 (or 3) depending on what speed I'm traveling.
3) No opinions on this...I use penzoil platinum synthetic b/c I got good prices on some cases
4) Now I might get some heat for saying so but I use 87 and it works fine for me. Performance-wise, I think there's a small difference (I read somewhere that it's a 5% loss in HP). But there's plenty of articles that say using 87 is perfectly fine as long as the gas is clean.
