True, same here. Cuore is a great deal of things.. fun to drive, excellent handling, tight cornering, great AC for small car, but it is not reliable, specially if old.
We don't. The first gear is for takeoff, the second shifts instantly and third gear shifts on 25-45 and takes on beyond that depending on gas pedal. The max I did was 115 km/h, which equates to to around 130 km/h given my car's tyres. The car couldn't go up and I felt the need of a fourth gear.
At first I was also very worried that only 3-speed but remember that 4 speed autonatics were not popularized till 1980s and before that large Americans cars ran absolutely fine on 2-speed and 3-speed automatic transmissions.