It seems to be mostly when I'm letting off the gas to shift into third...
When you lift off the gas while in 2nd, the car will deccelerate real fast (much more so that doing the same while in 3rd or above) and downshift into 1st - apparently sometimes before you are able to flick the shifter. I don't think anything's wrong with your car, just follow the advice to leave your foot pressing on the gas while you shift.
There was of course the "shift and lift" method that dealer's and others have talked about - but I think that works more for the automated mode to keep it smooth-ish. But my point in mentioning the "shift and lift" method is that perhaps some have confused it by lifting first and then shifting. This should be avoided IMHO.
It'll downshift to first if you are driving very slowly or coasting in manual mode. It usually happens at less than 10 mph. I guess the ecu is figuring you're coming to a stop or something.
That's true. (mine doesn't down shift to 1st until under 5 mph, with the brake on), but this is not unexpected.
Trena says hers down shifts to first when she is ready to up shift to 3rd.
That's not right, especially if this is new behavior and is getting worse.
Also, letting up a little on the throttle to shift (although controversial and not my preference) will not cause what she has described.
Trena, I had that happen to me once or twice.....but then I realized I was hitting the wrong paddle!
Regarding keeping a constant throttle during manual shifting - does anyone else get the sense of the engine over-revving when doing this? It doesn't happen all of the time, but every once and awhile when manually shifting, the engine sounds like it over revs a bit, unlike in auto mode, which is usually smooth (sounding).
Trena, I had that happen to me once or twice.....but then I realized I was hitting the wrong paddle!
Regarding keeping a constant throttle during manual shifting - does anyone else get the sense of the engine over-revving when doing this? It doesn't happen all of the time, but every once and awhile when manually shifting, the engine sounds like it over revs a bit, unlike in auto mode, which is usually smooth (sounding).
If you mean when you are coming down the box, it revs between the gears, it is designed to do that, I bit like a manual, going down gears to get a smooth downchange you take the car out of gear, and while you have your foot on the clutch you blip the throttle put the car in lower gear and then bring clutch out, it is an old racing technique to stop the wheels from biting as you bring out the clutch, hard to explain unless you know about manual boxes.
The Aston Martin with the flappy paddle box does exactly the same, blips as it comes down the box if it feels it needs to, it usually happens if you shift down earlier rather than later, so it matches engine revs to wheel speed.
Hope I have explained this well enough.
El
"letting off the gas" in 2nd gear will most definitely reduce RPM's enough that 3rd gear will probably not always be possible and/or the computer will be confused enough to want to automate a downshift. esp if the vehicle is accelerating or under load.
the shift light is a guide, not a rule.
lifting the foot at any time in the shifting sequence will gain you nothing and in many instances, will confuse the computer-controlled clutch/shift/throttle sequence enough to cause unwanted behavior.
steady, even pressure is recommended for the smoothest shifting.
one more rudimentary guide is to shift to 2nd @20mph, 3rd @30mph, 4th @40mph and not into 5th until over 50mph. it is a bit higher revving that what the shift light will indicate and it will not be the most economical, but i have found it to preserve the vehicle in the power band a bit better - making shifts over 3000rpm instead of closer to 2250
My other question, and maybe this is a stupid one, is do I actually HAVE to let up on the gas to shift up? It seems to shift as smooth as glass if I barely tap the gear shift and barely let up off the gas, instead of the larger movements I would use on a normal manual transmission.
Correct, and that's how I trained the smart associates I worked with to teach new owners. The point is to be able to demonstrate to new owners that the car can be driven and shifted smoothly with just a slight easing off of the throttle facilitating each shift. Once one gets the timing down, anyone should be able to sit in the passenger seat with a scalding hot cup of coffee filled to brim, without spilling a drop as you went through the gearbox. Sounds like you figured out the right technique on your own. Nicely played!
As for the upshift arrow, it's obviously just a very conservatively programmed prompt. Go by your ear and remember that what you're working is essentially a manual gearbox and eventually it all comes together without much thought.
Without a tach it might seem hard to gauge how hard your engine's working, but not to worry, it's redlined at 6k rpm and even when in manual mode, in the lower gears it'll upshift on its own if allowed to rev to about 6300 rpm. No damage to the engine. So if you'd like to actually hear what the engine sounds like up there (to get used to just how far it'll rev), with the car in manual mode, leave it in first and go with hard throttle till it decides to upshift on its own. That'll give you an idea of how things will sound when it's really winding and you'll probably conclude that you're actually not working it very hard at all in normal driving.
Some other rpm cues: In 5th gear, your engine turns over about 2,900 rpm at 60 mph. 70 or so is about 3,300. Even at the 90 mph limiter, it's only spinning about 4500 rpm. This going by memory and the factory tach, so one of these days I'll get some exact numbers via scangauge with the cruise control engaged. But in any case, they're close enough for you to work with and think about as-is.
"letting off the gas" in 2nd gear will most definitely reduce RPM's enough that 3rd gear will probably not always be possible and/or the computer will be confused enough to want to automate a downshift. esp if the vehicle is accelerating or under load.
the shift light is a guide, not a rule.
lifting the foot at any time in the shifting sequence will gain you nothing and in many instances, will confuse the computer-controlled clutch/shift/throttle sequence enough to cause unwanted behavior.
steady, even pressure is recommended for the smoothest shifting.
one more rudimentary guide is to shift to 2nd @20mph, 3rd @30mph, 4th @40mph and not into 5th until over 50mph. it is a bit higher revving that what the shift light will indicate and it will not be the most economical, but i have found it to preserve the vehicle in the power band a bit better - making shifts over 3000rpm instead of closer to 2250
Well, I'm not saying you're wrong, I'll just tell you how the scenario plays out in my car.
If I shift to 2nd at 20, accelerate to 30 (preparing to go to 3rd), then let off the gas it does NOT shift to first. It stays in 2nd until I let the car slow to under 5 mph, then it shifts to first.
So what I'm telling Trena is (in my opinion) if she is in 2nd and has sufficient speed and rpms (she can feel the rpms, no tach) she CAN let her foot off the gas and the car should not down shift. What she gets is unexpected behavior.
So, if I'm interrupting her described experience correctly, I'll stick with my opinion that her car is not behaving normally.
But to answer her 2nd question, I agree with you (and many others), there is no need to let up on the throttle when shifting.
So here's my question: is the smart actually PROGRAMMED to take a light lifting-of-the-foot off the throttle as its cue to upshift?
The confusion seems to be about the rev-matching. If the car's computer automatically slows down the engine to rev-match when upshifting, then it is literally doing the job YOU would do by lifting your foot off the gas. As was pointed out, if you don't lift your foot off the gas in a manual, you "clunk" into the higher gear with the engine revving faster than you'd like. I mean, that's the whole reason behind the stereotypical pitch-change noise we all made as kids when we were pretending to be Indy Car racers on our Big Wheels.
So, if the car's computer rev-matches, you shouldn't need to move your foot from the gas at all, UNLESS, when in the car's "Auto" mode, the car takes a quick lift of the foot as its sign to upshift. No?
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