[Spikito]

So every once in awhile, when im puttering around town, I like to step on it, usually to scare the wife.

This is the first auto car I've had in quite awhile, and my first auto sports car.

But Ive noticed, at low speeds, 35-45, if i step on it more than about half throttle, it feels like it jumps all the way back to first and runs up atleast 5500 RPMs. I guess I can put it in sport mode and see, but when it does, it about jumps inside out. Ive even had the low-trac light come on a few times at 50+.

Is it normal for the car to downshift 3 or 4 gears when I step on it? on the highway it only drops one or two gears, jumping up to about 4k.

Stock GT, 50k miles, owned for a month. probably soccer-mom owned before me

 

[courtroom19]

Sure, If it needs to & it is safe to do so from an RPM stand point, then why not.

 

[Spikito]

I guess I'm just having to get used to the 6 speed auto....its just crazy when it goes from 5th to 1st. I haven't hit the rev limiter and def no slipping.

 

[Agose25]

Do some searches regarding shift flare and you will learn all about the unique character of our transmissions. An aftermarket tune is really a great edition and will solve most of your problems. Stock TCM tuning is very weak and neurotic.

 

[DanSVT03]

That's how tight the stock converter is. These cars have a crappy balance of power when you're cruising at those speeds. You get into it a little bit to accelerate and it's not really enough. You get into it more and it gives you too much.

 

[zepcom]

If you can replicate the speed and characteristics in "sport" mode (shifter slid to the right, but not bumped forwards or reverse... bottom center of DIC would show S# where # is 1 through 6) .... then you can prove this.

With the V8 cars, yea, when you tromp it it aggressively downshifts (should be 2, downshifting into 1 I think is not really happening, you can verify/validate via the test above) ... as this 6-speed transmission is set up so that you can drop multiple gears, not necessarily sequentially, to get in the powerband quicker.

Redline is like 5800+ so if it's downshifting when you're flooring it from that speed to 2nd and it rapidly accellerates, then it's done it's job properly.

Many find that once the car is tuned professionally (I have livernois for example on my ECM and TCM tunes) the "hunting" or "confusion" that sometimes plagues the stock transmission logic is resolved and shifts are quicker and correct.... 6-->2-->3 at WOT is perfectly normal and will get you up to speed quickly.

I prefer not to have as much driveline shock, so when I'm anticipating to pass, I go into manual mode and pre bump to a higher revving gear (like third gear), then when I tromp it, I can downshift once more (to second) and she takes off like a bat outta he77. then I bump forward to lower my RPM's after I'm out of WOT and continue normally. It's quite fun actually, and I believe there's less "Driveline shock" than taking it from an overdrive gear like 6th down to second where stuff slams into gear to get you going quickly. Of course, all depends on timing, driver preference, and what feels good to you, but I thought I'd suggest this to you.

By shifting to Sport mode, you can instantly look down and see that S6 --> S2 is where you're going to when you tromp it around 35mph. When in Drive mode, it just says "D" in whatever gear you're in, unless you have a datalogger hooked up (like Dashboss) that can tell you specifically what gear you're in. Or I suppose engineering mode can be utilized also (hold down left scroll wheel on steering wheel upon startup, DIC contents will be replaced with scrollable (use same wheel to change option display) data... you can see "current gear" as one of the engineering mode deals. I personally love the "RPM" digital readout value, as well as the ever-so-tempting "Throttle Percentage" one near the bottom... but whatever you do, use SELF TEST sparingly. ha ha ha. Don't knock it till you've tried it.

--zep

 

[Gavine]

Here are the max speeds per gear (stock) -->

1st = 40mph
2nd = 68mph
3rd = 105mph
4th, 5th & 6th = 140mph

So, if you're over 40mph, it'll go-down to 2nd gear at WOT but under 40 and it'll go down to 1st. I use manual mode whenever I drive aggressively. I find that there's enough torque to get-up and go without having to wring it out to redline like DOHC engines require. I can decide if I need to go down one more gear or not.