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I have a new xB with just over 1K miles on it and I'm sure everything is working great but I thought the behavior was interesting and I'm not accustomed to it so I thought I'd post my observations here and see what your guys' responses were. Let me say this my first 4 cylinder and first non-Ford or Pontiac.
No coasting:
It slows down after I let off the gas (I'm sure this is not news to you guys). It doesn't coast. And I'm not talking about just air drag. This seems to be something that would hurt MPG, would it not? Is it downshifting pretty quickly after letting off or what exactly is it doing?
My wife's MINI (with CVT) does this as well except it is definitely more pronounced. It will slow down moderately after you let off the gas, and then at a certain point it will feel like you are braking, and then eventually it will release suddenly and you'll coast freely until you stop the car. If you're not used to it, you'll pull up to a parking spot or you'll pull up to a traffic light and basically stop way early. It's a bit odd having that happen and you have to hit the gas a little more to make it all the way into your parking spot. I'm accustomed to it now though. Just go in hard, lol.
My previous cars would coast freely for a long time and gain speed on downhills moreso than this car does.
Now why is this? Is this done to save brakes? It could very well save you in the long run with brakes. Is this generally how automatic cars behave now?
Up and down revs when lightly pressing gas to maintain speed:
Now this one is a little more concerning as it's a strange behavior. Since coasting is different, I will sometimes depress the gas very lightly to maintain speed. Sometimes I will notice the RPMs start to go up and down like the transmission is confused and I feel it too. There is a particular downhill I took today where I'm going 45 and it's pretty obvious. Maybe I'll try it again and make a video. It doesn't seem healthy. Is it shifting on me or what?
Untimely downshifts:
This car downshifts a lot more than my previous cars. Ok it's a 4 cylinder, no big deal. I don't yet have the shift points ingrained in my being. I knew exactly when my previous cars would shift and I drove with them. I notice when I'm taking a turn oftentimes as I accelerate out of the turn it has to downshift to get me going. That's fine but it would have been great if it downshifted earlier when I was braking or coasting (or not downshift at all) because it causes a noticeable delay in acceleration right when you're gassing it. I'm not racing here either. The same happens if I have been coasting up to a traffic light and then when I can go I start hitting the gas again lightly, it downshifts causing a little pause. I would prefer it keep it in the same gear and then downshift if needed by me pressing a little harder.
2nd gear, sluggish, then zoom:
Again 4 cylinder ok, I have no problem dealing with it and the car is really fun to drive. If I hit the gas harder after the shift to 2nd, it won't respond much until it gets to 3500RPM. At that point it feels like an imaginary rope starts pulling the car on faster. Woo, fun. My other cars didn't have any surges like that.
Now I notice that the first gear is pretty short. What I mean is the xB can jump nicely in 1st or if you're not gassing much it skips to 2nd pretty quickly so perhaps they geared it for power at lower end there. If you are gassing it from 1st and into 2nd, then it starts in 2nd already pretty high in the RPMs so it picks right up and you don't experience sluggishness.
What are your thoughts? Perhaps my car will continue learning and adjust this behavior over time based on my driving.
By the way, the auto-stick is pretty darn cool. Thanks to Tartan Jack for the info in the sticky about it. I probably won't use it normally being a flatlander but it's fun to play with.
No coasting:
It slows down after I let off the gas (I'm sure this is not news to you guys). It doesn't coast. And I'm not talking about just air drag. This seems to be something that would hurt MPG, would it not? Is it downshifting pretty quickly after letting off or what exactly is it doing?
My wife's MINI (with CVT) does this as well except it is definitely more pronounced. It will slow down moderately after you let off the gas, and then at a certain point it will feel like you are braking, and then eventually it will release suddenly and you'll coast freely until you stop the car. If you're not used to it, you'll pull up to a parking spot or you'll pull up to a traffic light and basically stop way early. It's a bit odd having that happen and you have to hit the gas a little more to make it all the way into your parking spot. I'm accustomed to it now though. Just go in hard, lol.
My previous cars would coast freely for a long time and gain speed on downhills moreso than this car does.
Now why is this? Is this done to save brakes? It could very well save you in the long run with brakes. Is this generally how automatic cars behave now?
Up and down revs when lightly pressing gas to maintain speed:
Now this one is a little more concerning as it's a strange behavior. Since coasting is different, I will sometimes depress the gas very lightly to maintain speed. Sometimes I will notice the RPMs start to go up and down like the transmission is confused and I feel it too. There is a particular downhill I took today where I'm going 45 and it's pretty obvious. Maybe I'll try it again and make a video. It doesn't seem healthy. Is it shifting on me or what?
Untimely downshifts:
This car downshifts a lot more than my previous cars. Ok it's a 4 cylinder, no big deal. I don't yet have the shift points ingrained in my being. I knew exactly when my previous cars would shift and I drove with them. I notice when I'm taking a turn oftentimes as I accelerate out of the turn it has to downshift to get me going. That's fine but it would have been great if it downshifted earlier when I was braking or coasting (or not downshift at all) because it causes a noticeable delay in acceleration right when you're gassing it. I'm not racing here either. The same happens if I have been coasting up to a traffic light and then when I can go I start hitting the gas again lightly, it downshifts causing a little pause. I would prefer it keep it in the same gear and then downshift if needed by me pressing a little harder.
2nd gear, sluggish, then zoom:
Again 4 cylinder ok, I have no problem dealing with it and the car is really fun to drive. If I hit the gas harder after the shift to 2nd, it won't respond much until it gets to 3500RPM. At that point it feels like an imaginary rope starts pulling the car on faster. Woo, fun. My other cars didn't have any surges like that.
Now I notice that the first gear is pretty short. What I mean is the xB can jump nicely in 1st or if you're not gassing much it skips to 2nd pretty quickly so perhaps they geared it for power at lower end there. If you are gassing it from 1st and into 2nd, then it starts in 2nd already pretty high in the RPMs so it picks right up and you don't experience sluggishness.
What are your thoughts? Perhaps my car will continue learning and adjust this behavior over time based on my driving.
By the way, the auto-stick is pretty darn cool. Thanks to Tartan Jack for the info in the sticky about it. I probably won't use it normally being a flatlander but it's fun to play with.