Patent ID: 8489292

Claim:
A vehicle control apparatus, equipped with an engine, an automatic transmission, and a torque converter disposed between the engine and the automatic transmission, the vehicle control apparatus capable of selecting either an automatic gearshift mode in which gearshifting of the automatic transmission is automatically performed according to the vehicle running state, or a manual gearshift mode in which gearshifting of the automatic transmission is performed by manual operation by a driver; the vehicle control apparatus comprising: an engine revolutions detector that detects revolutions of the engine, a turbine revolutions detector that detects turbine revolutions of the torque converter, a slippage amount calculator that calculates a torque converter slippage amount that is the difference in revolutions between the engine revolutions and the turbine revolutions, and a controller that variably sets a maximum value where manual gearshifting is possible in the manual gearshift mode based on the torque converter slippage amount, and that variably sets a downshift allowable vehicle speed at which a downshift is allowed in the manual gearshift mode based on the torque converter slippage amount.