I am really impressed with the new sport automatic tranny (in my 550i) in regards to responsiveness and use when in a sporting mood. However in normal daily driving, I don't really like its shift patterns in auto modes and find myself having to use manual modes frequently to shift when I think it should.

I'd like to know if others find it to their liking or would want to see it behave differently.

In my opinion there is too much difference between "D" and S modes or when pressing the sport button.

In "D" it upshifts fine 1-2 & 2-3. Then, as soon as I reach normal traffic speed (40-50 mph) it short shfits and drops all the way into 6th gear (at 1200 rpm). At that rpm it struggles to accelerate if you have the opportunity or takes a good stab at the throttle to downshift to 4th (2000 rpms) for nice efficient acceleration. Of course it THEN takes off and flies.

If I choose sport mode in that situation (say 40-50 mph slinky traffic on the interstate) (whether by the shift lever or by the sport button), it drops to 5th (1600 rpm) which I want, but then drops all the way to 3rd (3500 rpm) with the slightest throttle when you do accelerate.

I just want a happy medium. IE, a mode that keeps it in a gear of at least 1600-1800 rpm and allows a smooth 1 gear downshift with moderate throttle.
I'd also like to see a sport mode that gives you snappy response when needed but allows 6th gear for efficent criusing when you can't. Maybe if all the sport button did was change the throttle sensitivity and force a downshift if below 1500 rpm (along with the tighter steering feel).

Here's the funny thing. I never noticed this behaviour when first owning the car. Is it possible that driving so much in traffic has caused it to learn the situation and think I do want to just piddle along in the highest gear? Could the 20 second transmission reset procedure fix this? Does it work with the new sport auto?

 

Interesting.

 

Your dealer would say no , but I think it's worth a try, it really smoothed out my shifts in urban driving and tightened up manual downshifting......... Good luck
PS I think it's 25 0r 30 secs

 

I wish I could add my experiences but to be honest, I drive mine in manual sport mode pretty much all the time. I'm pretty sure that the transmission is adaptive so it's a distinct possibility that it may have learned something that you'd like it to forget.

Try the reset procedure that good old sleepyca31 posted and see what happens. If nothing changes, the next time the car is in for service, have them reset the mapping and see if it readapts to things...

 

Sounds like the shift pattern hasnt changed from the prelci. I agree that the DS and D modes are on two extreme ends. The short shifting nature of D is annoying, and as you mentioned, can leave the engine luggng at times. The engine will make terrible lugging noise as well. Then if you try to induce a downshift, it requires too much input, and once it kicks in...boom you are fying off whether you intended to or not. In DS, the shifts are held too long, so I aso find myself needing to take full manual control when using DS.

Is my first bmw auto, and for "comfort" needs, its quite disappointing. Not to mention, the lurch when stopping (2-1 downshift) is a terrible oversight as well.

For performance situations, its great, but how often does one find themselves able to punch it near redline in town.

 

Sounds like a automatic transmission to me... thats one thing I DONT like about autos... the other is the spongy feel of the throttle...

 

Sounds like the old behavior of old transmission. I've learn to "left, up and up" to get to from 6th to 3rd, or left, up to get from 6th to 5th. Otherwise, the old tranny never fails cruising at 40-50 mph in 6th, shift it to DS, and redline in a split second with a pedal to the metal.

 

I too have found mine is a bit annoying in D mode, in a mild to moderate acceleration; it upshifts too abruptly or seems as if it dropped 2 gears rather than 1. DS mode is smoother, more reponsive and better imo. So I find myself slapping the shifter over to DS when approaching a corner or other situation where it seems more predictable. The car seems to have modified 'me'...lol

 

IMHO all late model BMW automatics behave like this. I hate auto mode as it never has the right gear I need other than when cruising. When I owned my E46 with AT, I always drove with it in Sport mode. In stop and go traffic I manually selected and stayed in 2nd gear. When wanting to downshift on the highway I manually selected 4th gear. Still do this with BMW loaners and such with AT. Now I have a manual transmission and I always have the right gear. BMW AT's are the best AT's around but till I can't push the clutch in, I'll choose the manual.

 

I am quite happy with my Sport Automatic Transmission.