09 TL AWD automatic, The car seems to run ok in any gear but 5th, in fifth gear, it has absolutely no pick-up. If I place the shift lever in "S" and use the paddle shifters, the car accelerates normally, but once in 5th it becomes a dog, Also it will not maintain 80MPH going up a hill (I drive to vegas a lot and there are several 6% grades). I never had this problem with my Nissan, or Volvo, but this car runs like a four cylinder. It has to downshift or it will not accelerate. Has any one else noticed these problems. I have had it to the dealer and they could find nothing wrong.

Cheers Jim

 

Well the fifth gear is an overdrive so I wouldn't expect much passing power from it. That why when you're in D and pressing the gas pedal, you can see the car downshift a gear of two. IMHO, I think it's quite normal as I would expect much pick-up at 1700-2000 RPM...

 

It may be worth mentioning that newer Nissan's also all have CVT's in them, which would give you pull in 5th.

 

As noted by the other poster, the TL automatic has a heavily surmultiplied fifth gear. In fact both fourth and fifth are overdrive gears, so, in effect, you have only three gears usable for perfromance and pick up, while the others are designed for smooth, quite driving on level roads, saving gas. The oppostie is true of the manual, where 5 of the 6 gears are very usable, and only sixth is overdrive. This is one reason why I opted for the stick shift.

 

Is there a '5th' in a CVT? or a 4th, 3rd, 2nd or 1st for that matter?

 

For anyone that's interested here's the page from the manual showing the gear ratios for both the 5AT & 6MT.

You can see the difference between 4th & 5th gear on the 5AT.

 

If you've ever driven one of the 5AT, you do kind of get the feeling that you'd like to have an extra gear or two.

It's a great motor and chassis, and I hope they get the 6AT into the TL as quickly as possible.

 

The manual is just great. You can cruise along in sixth gear at 45 if you really want.

In another forum, people jumped all over a poster who suggested that Acura consider an instrument panel addition that would illustrate to the driver what gear he was in.

The trouble is that with the 6MT, at some speeds you might legitimately be in any one of three gears and not necessarily realise from the noise (or lack of noise) that you were in a lower gear than necessary.

 

CD FIXER...you dont have to switch to S to use the paddle shifters....Even when you are on D you can still use the paddle shift and down shift to 4th.

 

Maybe it is the fact that the Fifth gear is so high, It is better than a 2 to 1 overdrive. My Nissan was a 2005 before the CVT transmissions as was my volvo (1997), but I never felt that it was dogging. One thing that I have noticed is that the Lockup torque converter does not unlock when in 5th gear. Everything else is great with my car, 'cept my wife doesn't know how to use a backup camera.