Monitoring means 46, 47 are provided to monitor working hydraulic pressure of the hydraulic engagement elements for the high gear range of a vehicle automatic transmission 2. Characteristic changing means 5 is provided to change, to a high vehicle speed side, a gear shifting characteristic when shifting from the middle gear position to the low gear position. According thereto, it is possible to quickly shift from a middle gear position to a low gear position without reducing the durability of hydraulic engagement elements for a high gear range, thereby, to achieve sufficient acceleration performance during climbing a slope, which improves driveability.