junk disc brakes

[Sir A.Y. Atoyot]

Not anywhere close to what you can do w/ an m/t. Hence why on steep hills many ppl will put their a/t in 2 or 3 which will then work better. A typical a/t will never let the rpm's get to 4,000 or so to slow the car if it is in "D".

You're probably right. Personally, I figure replacing brake lining is cheap enough that I usually just use the brakes on a really steep hill. The computer assisted engine braking is pretty neat, though, on ordinary hills.