I've been experimenting with the paddle shifters a bit to accelerate on the highway in "Drive" mode (never tried sport). Really makes a difference, but I find that when I downshift to up the revs there is a bit of a "kick" where the car seems to slow a bit and lurch forward.

Am I doing something wrong? Never driven manual before, and I don't believe I was hitting the gas as I downshifted but in retrospect I might have been. Assume the kick isn't supposed to be there.

How am I supposed to use the paddle shifters?

What is the difference between drive and sport, realy, if the paddle shifters work in either?

 

The way I understand it, is that in S-Mode you tell the transmission to shift up or down (within the power/rev/speed envelope) at all times. In D-mode, the 'computer' does the shifting and you can shift but then the computer regains control once the steady state is reached.

 

The difference in D and S in auto mode is that the shift points are different. obviously S shift points are higher.

in manual mode the difference is how D and S hold the gears. S will hold the gears more.

 

so would i be right to think that S mode would have better acceleration but worse gas mileage?

How is the transition between gears in S?

any other differences?

Gotta get on the higway and try this stuff out. Volunteered to teach a few classes at a university a few hundred clicks away, in part cause I wanted the excuse for a road trip. Perfect time to check this out I think. Any problems with shifting between S and D while driving?



And do you know if there is a reason I'm getting a bit of a lurch when I downshift in D?

 

According to the manual "fully automatic" S-mode is like a regular automatic without overdrive. ie: it only uses gears 1 through 4. As soon as you touch one of the paddles YOU are in full control of the gears (including 5th); the car will not shift unless you shift it. The only exception is that it will gear down to 1st when you stop.

All this to say that gas mileage will depend on how you shift in manual mode, and it will not be as good in full-auto on the highway due to the lack of 5th gear.

Haven't had any problems yet. If you're hard on the gas or hard on the brake while shifting the transition will be more noticeable (not unlike a std car).

It's pretty seemless. As mentioned above, if you're cruising down the highway and shift from D to S, expect a kick as it bumps you down to 4th gear. Other than that, I haven't had any problems flipping btwn the two when driving around town. Like everything else, use best judgment when doing so to avoid too many distractions...

It's normal. If you take any auto-tranny and manually downshift you can get a lurch depending on fast you are moving, what your RPM are, how quickly you are decelerating, etc. In a manual car, this is mitigated by rev-matching and clutch control to smooth it out... auto-trannies are not that smart yet... at least not in this price range. :wink:

 

thanks man. perfect.