With the manual transmission, I've noticed it is important not to depress the clutch while the driveline is providing braking for the car. While I don't get violent clunks or slams, I can hear and feel the energy being transmitted back through the driveline. I make sure that the driveline is producing positive energy right before I depress the clutch at low speeds.

Perhaps blipping the throttle just prior to an expected downshift might help alleviate this behavior with the steptronic? I agree this sort of thing should be programmable with an automatic.

 

Heh - I found this whilst searching...


I found a TSB referenced for a certain model of Cadillac. Looks like some Cadillacs are having a similar issue - fixed in firmware, but this explanation coincides with my own lay understanding of things - it needs positive torque before disengaging the driveline:


"The TSB is #1576962 for the ECM reflash. This will re-condition the engine calibration to keep a little bit of positive torque on the driveline. The clunk you're getting is a result of the total lash in the driveline (transmission, transfer case, and prop shafts). However, there's also a hardware change (low-lash transfer case) that also needs to be installed if your SRX was built before a certain date. That date is 5/14/04. Looking at the last six digits of your VIN, is it greater or less than 192515? "