The hard downshifts in sport mode

[TwistedOrca]

When this topic was brought up by a bunch of g37 owners during the first year of the 7spd tranny, they came out w/ a tsb and basically neutered the tranny. So if Kia came out w/ a tsb, I’m staying as far away from it as possible.

As for the lurching, The car itself is not lurching forward, it’s actually slowing down but jerking the driver forward as it downshifts. Imo that means that tranny is grabbing the gears the way it should For a performance car. That’s not uncommon w/ any modern day auto tranny on powerful engines. My cousins m3 will jerk that junk out of you as it downshifts.

Again, I’ve found this car very smooth, maybe a little too smooth for my inner racer lol

Very true, owned a 2011 G37s Sedan and got the "update" on the transmission. It was making the wifey nauseous...never the same, definitely crippled its get up n go.

 

[General_Vodka]

When this topic was brought up by a bunch of g37 owners during the first year of the 7spd tranny, they came out w/ a tsb and basically neutered the tranny. So if Kia came out w/ a tsb, I’m staying as far away from it as possible.

As for the lurching, The car itself is not lurching forward, it’s actually slowing down but jerking the driver forward as it downshifts. Imo that means that tranny is grabbing the gears the way it should For a performance car. That’s not uncommon w/ any modern day auto tranny on powerful engines. My cousins m3 will jerk that junk out of you as it downshifts.

Again, I’ve found this car very smooth, maybe a little too smooth for my inner racer lol

2013 G37X here. Bought used (crashed) and thankfully the previous owner(S) didn't get the tsb. 90% chance they where drifters (side smashed and control arm popped out of the socket, bald tires). would rather have it lively than act like a CVT.

 

[jdouga]

Driving in sport mode, the car holds rpms higher i believe and it has torque ready to go so as to minimoze any delay, thats what i think ay least. As long as they dont do what other brands havr done to their cars im good

 

[Socalstinga]

@TwistedOrca ha a fellow G owner on here (well, just sold her and miss that car). I got the tsb and was so disappointed. Permanently neutered... unless Kia comes out w/ something more aggressive, I’m staying away from any updates. But I do have to admit, I’m starting to like the smooth stinger... might just be getting older lol smh

 

[TwistedOrca]

@TwistedOrca ha a fellow G owner on here (well, just sold her and miss that car). I got the tsb and was so disappointed. Permanently neutered... unless Kia comes out w/ something more aggressive, I’m staying away from any updates. But I do have to admit, I’m starting to like the smooth stinger... might just be getting older lol smh

Traded the G in for the Stinger. Just miss the brutal downshifts the auto had...did you have the typical debadge of all but Mt. Fuji.

 

[Socalstinga]

Traded the G in for the Stinger. Just miss the brutal downshifts the auto had...did you have the typical debadge of all but Mt. Fuji.

Yup. But I ended up putting the g37 back when they came out w/ the g25 smaller engine. I was a snob lol.. never been a small engine kind a guy. I would’ve drove that thing until 200k but adding a second kid so needed the functionality of the hatch. Miss my custom coilover set up tho... sold it to my uncle so she’s in good hands

 

[upsidedown]

So in sport I would classify the downshifts as "harsher than I think they should be". But I should be clear in what I mean - they probably aren't as harsh as this topic might make it sound. In reality the extra stopping force that happens on each downshift does make me lurch forward in my seat a bit - but not in terrible manor.

My primary issue is that I have never driven an automatic that lurches at all when coming to a stop - let alone behaves like this. I suspect a decent part of this is simply due to the engine size (not driven any automatics this powerful) - but some of it seems to clearly be due to poor rev matching.

So I wouldn't classify them as objectively harsh. But I can feel them in comfort and would classify them as unbearably annoying in sport

I think patriotsfan82 and I are on the same page when it comes to our perception of the behaviour. But clearly there are many owners that love the calibration and don't want a change via a tsb. Apparantly one calibration does not suit all which would be quite difficult to please 100% of the people 100% of the time

 

[rocket23]

Kind of a late bump, but I'm hoping there might be some more input on this.
For me - regardless of mode - attempting to come to a smooth stop in this car is impossible. E.G. apply light but steady brake pressure and the car will hit at least two really jerky downshifts on its way to a complete stop. The jerk is worst is Sport, and best in Eco, but it is there in all modes.
I will hopefully have this looked at on Friday, but I have relatively low hopes with my local dealer.
My google searches have primarily turned up complaints on BMW forums - and in most of those cases it is explained away as a problem with certain types of transmissions and how they handle the downshifts. Either way, not impressed.

I usually keep my car in sport mode at all times and I definitely notice how the car jerks as I'm breaking. Pretty annoying at times smh.

Next time y'all in sport mode...drive it like you're in sport mode......That's the way it is supposed to behave,imo.....case in point put it any other mode and see if it still does the same thing.....if not.....put it back in sport mode and have a heavy foot both in acceleration AND braking.......I bet you won't feel the transmission instead you will feel the car, like sport mode is intended.....bottom line. Don't bother with sport mode if you insist on driving like it is ''eco''.

 

[TwistedOrca]

Next time y'all in sport mode...drive it like you're in sport mode......That's the way it is supposed to behave,imo.....case in point put it any other mode and see if it still does the same thing.....if not.....put it back in sport mode and have a heavy foot both in acceleration AND braking.......I bet you won't feel the transmission instead you will feel the car, like sport mode is intended.....bottom line. Don't bother with sport mode if you insist on driving like it is ''eco''.

Delete

 

[rocket23]

no, use the ''disagree'' icon........I have an opinion...and here it is....you delete the delete,lol

 

[TwistedOrca]

no, use the ''disagree'' icon........I have an opinion...and here it is....you delete the delete,lol

My dumbarse responded on an earlier date...overlooked, so I deleted today's...same verbiage / opinion.

 

[rocket23]

lol, ok I'm a follower now!!! Ha ha .....thats pretty funny.

 

[Jwolf]

I'm pretty sure that in sport mode it downshifts at the point where the current gear falls below peak torque and the next lower gear would fall into peak torque. This is to help with engine braking and to be in the ideal gear for acceleration if you want it, as it should be in a sports car. It will also help prolong the life of your brake pads, and actually, engine breaking is good for your motor (at mid rpms, not crazy high like at redline).

If you want to feel jerky, go test drive a Mustang GT with the 10 speed in race mode. If you brake in race mode it will downshift 3 or 4 gears back to back and kick you up to 3 to 4k rpm. I wish the Stinger did this, but with our stock turbos and tune, going that high on a downshift would mean we are already above a significant portion of the torque curve for the chosen gear and acceleration would suffer a little bit.

If you read this far, please don't complain to Kia. If you don't like the behavior of sport mode, then drive in comfort mode around town. For those who actually plan to use the car for sporty applications (track, autocross, canyons, etc...), if Kia changes the downshifting behavior to be more comfortable, we will be forced to use the paddles to be able to remain competitive.

 

[rocket23]

I been using the paddle shifters.....helps the arthritis.....

 

[MerlintheMad]

No hard downshifts here either. Smooth "as butter", as someone already said. I can change that by "spirited" driving habits. But for the most part I like to behave myself in polite rush hour company. Hah.

 

[StingerNYC]

The downshift are too hard sometimes. The entire car jerks.

 

[OnTheRoad]

I had this issue in Comfort mode. Jerky downshifts every time when coming to a stop. Engine braking was very aggressive and seemed to kick in at the wrong moment. I asked the dealer if they could run the gear logic TSB update, but they said my car did not need that.

They did reset the TCU though, saying the car would re-learn my driving style. Smooth as butter stops on my drive home, so fingers crossed that solved the issue.

 

[MerlintheMad]

They did reset the TCU though, saying the car would re-learn my driving style.

This is what I was talking about. The car (I was told) does not LEARN/remember anything. It anticipates in Smart mode, based on your current or recent driving style; that's it. There is no history of driving style that modifies the tranny logic or anything like that.

 

[OnTheRoad]

This is what I was talking about. The car (I was told) does not LEARN/remember anything. It anticipates in Smart mode, based on your current or recent driving style; that's it. There is no history of driving style that modifies the tranny logic or anything like that.

Well TCU reset + Comfort mode = smooth stops. All I really care about for now. There's no way the aggressive/badly timed engine braking was normal before the reset.

 

[OnTheRoad]

Well TCU reset + Comfort mode = smooth stops. All I really care about for now. There's no way the aggressive/badly timed engine braking was normal before the reset.

This is what I was talking about. The car (I was told) does not LEARN/remember anything. It anticipates in Smart mode, based on your current or recent driving style; that's it. There is no history of driving style that modifies the tranny logic or anything like that.

Could bedding the breaks a few months ago when they replaced the rotors have tweaked the TCU somehow then? The dude seemed confident the system self adjusted after initial use.