the owners manual says this mode is just like drive except it selects gears 1-4 and keeps the car from going into 5th...but when i put my awd car in "s" it never goes to any gear past 3rd on its own, if i use the paddles, i can get 4th and 5th, but if left alone to do its own thing, never past 3rd...is this normal

 

It's normal. It keeps the revs really high so you need to be going really fast for it to go past 3rd.

 

that makes sense...i will try it out on the highway tomorrow morning at 5am on highway 121 in dallas

 

I 've heard it will hold 3rd until it's close to (or above) 100mph. It was some ridiculous #. I've also never seen it above 3rd in S mode, but then again i've never taken it into the triple digits yet so yea..

The upcoming 6 spd auto should fix that.

 

i dont know if there is a fix needed, if its sport mode, then it should be "sport", and you would need higher revs for sport driving...but a 6sp auto would be nice!

 

Mine goes into 4th pretty easily...around 50 mph.

 

I think the sport mode is worthless. I just use the paddles (with the car in D) when I want to drop down a gear for turn.

 

i bet its 3rd and not 4th....mine goes into 3rd pretty easy, but 4th i havent seen yet...what rpm is it running at 50mph...

 

the only problem with that, is the car just goes back to d on its own after a certain amount of time....

i hardley every used it in my type s, just for downshifts on occasion while comming to a stop...otherwise, 99% of the time i just stay in drive...

that is one of the new features i do like however, being able to use the paddles without being in sport...

 

so does yours go into 4th while in sport mode easily, or does it hold 3rd for what seems like forever...

 

Which I didn't know about...Thanks!

 

I used sport this morning since I was running late for work. Sport mode holds 3rd for a very long time and its for the reason of being in the powerband for the longest period of time needed before shifting to the next gear. I was traveling at a pretty high rate of speed and it definitely shifted from 3rd to 4th on its own. I never saw 5th though.

 

were all here to learn and help!!

 

this makes the most sense to me...5th being an overdrive, wouldnt be needed in a sport mode, thus its blocked from going into 5th in sport...

i think the folks that are saying their car goes into 4th pretty easy and early are actually going into 3rd...its the only explanation...

 

Repost?

 

just trying to get more feedback...wasnt getting much action on the problems forum...you got something to add??

 

S mode will shift from third to fourth at about 105MPH. I verified this myself in my '09 just before Acura swapped it out.

 

Damn, you just gave away how fast i was going lol.

 

Thanks to everyone for the info here, but 105MPH? Really?? Seems a little much to me for a performance sedan designed for the street, no? If you really wanted to drive that aggressively why not just save it for the paddles?

Other vehicles my wife and I have owned over the last 12 years (an Audi A4 2.8L, two different Audi A6/3.2L's, a Volvo S60 T5 and a VW Touareg 4.2 V8 4WD,) use their sport modes to make the shift points modestly more aggressive compared to "D", while also preventing an auto-shift into overdrive unless it is manually forced to do so. The VW and its Porsche cousins would only automatically shift into 6th in S Mode if the vehicle was in cruise control, or manually of course. As a result I almost never put these vehicles in drive and let the car do the upshifting 90% of the time.

I will check to see if the shift points can be adjusted by the dealer (I hope?) If I want to drive more aggressively I'd rather make the shift decisions with the paddles rather than having the car automatically held in 3rd gear to more than 5,000 RPM. While I am not doing power-slides on the way to work, I do like to drive in a "spirited" fashion and not necessarily with the paddles, which you have to hunt for sometimes when turning the wheel. Seems S-Mode is not setup for the most useful purpose here (but that's just me.) You guys may like it like this.

 

I agree...S mode seems pretty useless unless you know you're going to floor it past 100mph...which is very impractical. I though mine was shifting to 4th at around 50...but I was mistaken...it is going into 3rd and staying there.

 

i have been using the s mode for a few days now just for fun...there is really 2 different modes inside the s mode itself...one where you just drop it down into s and leave it alone to shift on its own, and one where after you drop it into s and then hit the paddles to shift it yourself...the second is different then just leaving it in drive and using the paddles as this will return itself to drive if you dont have your foot in the gas...

i read somewhere, that while in s mode, that the car also shifts more agressively...can anyone confirm this...it does seem and maybe its in my head, that while in s, its much more sportier and quicker...

 

it is, but barely. Try dropping an audi into S mode and they become near brutal off the line (as they should)

I still don't find the S mode or the paddle shifters as useful as i thought they'd be. Rather have a manual gate for the shifter.

 

Seems like a real design flaw...

With all the other problems I am having with the vehicle...although I love the look...may have to get rid of it.