drjochen

I was making a left turn on a 55 mph road, where the average speed is probably 70.
I had to slow down (~ 10-15 mph) and I had downshifted with the SMG to 2nd gear. A small gap in the oncoming traffic appeared and I turned the wheel and stepped on it to turn. Would habe been no problem in 2nd at all. Exactly then, the SMG decided to shift into first! The engine reved up, but the car didn't speed up. It took ~ 1 second (felt like eternity) for the car to move again. The oncoming car almost hit me.

Scary!

Jochen

drjochen

Btw., I had just come back from a great drive with the car - I still love it!!!!!!!!!

EBMCS03

Wooo why? did you have it on automode?

realtyman

Were you in Sport mode?

subterFUSE

No..... SMG automatically shifts gears even when in manual mode.

Sport mode simply makes shifting faster.


I have had similar experience with my SMG. It shifts at bad times, and can put you in danger. I had it downshift from 2nd to 1st when trying to make a left turn while a car was coming fast. I barely made it.

realtyman

I know what you're saying.
My point in seeing if he was in Sport mode is that the shift from 1st to 2nd would be much slower if he wasn't.

In your case, if yours did hit 1st then a quick hit on the paddle or shift lever and now your in second. Your car was letting you know that 1st was the proper gear at that speed/rpm. If you were still in second, the car would have probably "bogged down" and you still would have gone nowhere probably even slower, no?

Rudy

Just to clarify, SMG, in manual mode, only downshifts automatically (never upshifts automatically) and then, only at the last possible moment. If the car automatically downshifts, you reached the point in the higher gear where any acceleration would be labored and not appropriate for the current speed.

If you've followed my SMG posts (or should I say "countless SMG posts"), you'll find that I'm a big proponent of forcing the downshifts all the way to first before the car thinks it needs to downshift. The main reason for this? Exactly what happened to Jochen and subterFUSE!

My car downshifts from 2nd to 1st by itself well below 10mph. (Jochen's post sounds like his car downshifted somewhere between 10-15mph -- if so, it might have been on a hill or there may be something wrong with his car.) I don't know the exact mph of the automatic downshift because I rarely, if ever, let the car do it. I always put it into first before the car does it by itself. I'm always in the gear I need to be in and I'm never put in a position where the car does something unexpected which, in turn, never puts me in a scary situation.

Did unexpected behavior ever happen to me early on? Yes, and that's part of the steep learning curve of SMG. I think most people feel they've tackled the learning curve when they've figured out how to upshift smoothly. I say that's just the beginning. Downshifting is part of driving a manual too. You can downshift into first smoothly by learning to modulate the gas and/or the brake, depending on the circumstances. The key is to never expect it to act like an automatic. It's important to anticipate what you are going to be doing -- staying a few steps ahead, etc. To do this well, you need to never rely on the car to do something that you can (and should) do yourself.

This also reminds me of a thread a few weeks ago where people were recommending that as you approach a stop in a higher gear, you should simulate depressing the clutch by moving the gearshift to neutral as you coast to a stop. My opinion is that this is a dangerous practice. It's much safer to remain in gear at all times and downshift up to the point where you stop. Again, it's all in how you modulate the brake pedal if you're using them to stop, etc.

Can you tell I'm passionate about SMG?....

fuenfer

I can tell that you're passionate about SMG! I didn't find it very difficult to learn to drive the car smoothly during upshifts -- but I often enjoy flooring it and "shifting-without-lifting." For one, my passengers head bob forward and back like the F1 drivers of the late 90s, prior to the mandatory use of the HANS device. For another, I enjoy the fact that only ten years ago, "Shift With Out Lift" was a big deal in motorsports, but now, I get to enjoy it in my personal car.

As for downshifts, I always practice heel-and-toe when I drive my manny-tranny car, and find myself doing it whenever I slow down. Old habits die hard, and even with SMG, I find myself downshifting way, way before the computer would.

KenTO

I drove the M3 with SMG and my first time with it took some experience. I found that occasionally I would downshift accidently when turning because my finger would accidently hit one of the paddles. It was usually a very subtle tap, I found I had to be very conscious of my hand position (3 and 9 o'clock with thumbs always in the rest position). Don't know if this was the cause for you, just a suggestion, although it may be electronics as others have suggested.

Jimbo

My steptronic used to have some kind of delay at low speeds. Seems to have disappeared after a couple of software updates.