Now that I've been driving my new 545i with Steptronic for a few days and getting used to the handling, I've noticed something that I'm curious about. It seems that when I let off the gas, such as approaching a red light or going down a hill, I feel the car slowing down rather than coasting like most conventional automatics. Is it using engine braking, and is this normal?

 

I also have the same issue, I guess its a sport mode. Car rides great abd is so fast. I got the euro lights on 3 weeks ago, nuch nicer

 

I noticed that last week on some steep country roads, when going down a steep hill and braking, the car detected that I need braking help and started to kick down several gears.

 

I too have noticed the slowing down of the car, glad to know its not unique to my car.

 

It?s a feature of the Steptronic transmission. Very good and convenient IMO.

 

I've noticed it too. It can be very harsh when going around a corner and all of a sudden I find myself in a gear lower then I expected. Causes some rather un-perdictable situations.

 

I notice that when I go down my long driveway with my 545i, I get a substantial amount of engine braking due to the fact that it stays in a very low gear. I don't have to press on the brake to slow down the car to get to the street. With my other cars (Acura and Toyota), they both move quite fast down the driveway and I have to brake to slow down the car. Because of the braking, going down the drive way is much slower with my 545i than with my other 2 cars. Somewhat objectionable but I can live with it. Once I get to the street and step on the gas, everything in OK.

On another note, I took the car on a trip up to San Luis Obispo last week on Highway 101. Outside of Santa Maria in the straight stretch between Santa Maria and Shell Beach, I was going about 80mph and then I floored it. I got to 120mph in a flash, then quickly braked to 80mph. Amazing how responsive the car was. No lag at all.

 

My Mercedes auto used to do the same thing soon after startup. It would hold on to low gears early on. This is by design as it warms the catalyst up quicker to improve emissions control. After the engine had warmed it would assume a more 'normal' profile. I assume this is what the BMW is doing (in your case) as well.