Karl, my little smart luggs like crazy in auto mode, unless I accelerate fairly aggressively at each gear. If I let the car change on it's own I get 2nd at 10mph/2000 rpm, 3rd at 20 mph/2000 rpm and 4th at 30 mph/2000 rpm, 5th at 40 mph/again 2000 rpm. Then it's lugging along. If I feather the gas, the shifts are smooth (no porpoise-ing), but it doesn't downshift unless stopped. Manual mode is great.
Karl, my little smart luggs like crazy in auto mode, unless I accelerate fairly aggressively at each gear. If I let the car change on it's own I get 2nd at 10mph/2000 rpm, 3rd at 20 mph/2000 rpm and 4th at 30 mph/2000 rpm, 5th at 40 mph/again 2000 rpm. Then it's lugging along. If I feather the gas, the shifts are smooth (no porpoise-ing), but it doesn't downshift unless stopped. Manual mode is great.
[quote=Karl Roth;62638]the gas pedal is connected to the computer in this car and suggests what you would like to do. It can coast or give you engine braking going down a hill it just needs to figure out what you want.
Yesterday, for the first time at just over 500 miles, my car did just that. The same downgrade that I'd already driven a number of times since I got my car, and with my foot off the gas, it actually downshifted and held my speed to 25 mph using engine braking. I thought I was imagining things......but I wasn't. I'm really starting to love this transmission. The only thing that still bothers me is when I'm idling, going through a drive-thru, or when I turn into my driveway and try to go really slow. It's reminds me of having a teenager learning to drive a stick shift! It jerks & hops, and at times seems like the engine is going to die! I hope that gets better soon, and the tranny learns what it's supposed to do in those situations, too!
I am a diehard automatic driver, I am 40 years old an have literally only driven a manual car for about 30 minutes when I was 16 years old. The only experience I have with shifting is riding my 1979 Vespa scooter which has 4 gears and a clutch on the handlebar. After driving my Smart for the first few days in Auto mode and not really liking the results I decided I was going to test it out in manual mode and have been loving it ever since! It's so much smoother and I have found I like shifting on the floor better than the paddles, I would have never guessed that.
the gas pedal is connected to the computer in this car and suggests what you would like to do. It can coast or give you engine braking going down a hill it just needs to figure out what you want.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Karl Roth
Yesterday, for the first time at just over 500 miles, my car did just that. The same downgrade that I'd already driven a number of times since I got my car, and with my foot off the gas, it actually downshifted and held my speed to 25 mph using engine braking. I thought I was imagining things......but I wasn't. I'm really starting to love this transmission. The only thing that still bothers me is when I'm idling, going through a drive-thru, or when I turn into my driveway and try to go really slow. It's reminds me of having a teenager learning to drive a stick shift! It jerks & hops, and at times seems like the engine is going to die! I hope that gets better soon, and the tranny learns what it's supposed to do in those situations, too!
give it a little time, the more starts you do the quicker it will start to work the way you would like to see it. Wish I could tell you exactly what or why it does it but creep becomes creep rather than launch and the lurching goes away. I think it is a combination of the clutch plate getting btroken in and the engine control and trans control computers getting it all together.
What I can tell you for sure is that it gets better with time. Been told i have blind faith in the folks that designed the car. Trust them and drive it like a typical auto for a week and you will see It get better. Others here have found the same to be true.
karl
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