Quote:
As Photo Editor Niebuhr pointed out, many of the Cruze's transmission issues have been resolved with the TSB service. He also mentioned that it tends to stay in second gear for an unusually long time. I found that to be true too, if you gave it any more than a light throttle application. So, problem solved, right?
Well...
I drove the Cruze on the highway at actual highway speeds yesterday. I was in the number one lane (left/fast lane) and spotted a slower car ahead. I decided to pass the car on my right to get ahead of both cars. I gave the pedal a little more and not much happened. Time and distance to pass was dwindling. A little more pedal, and the Cruze slowly gained speed. Finally, I had to floor it.
A brief pause and a downshift resulted -- but only a single gear downshift. There was nowhere near the amount of power needed to pass. It was as though the Cruze was towing our Raptor. I finally gave up, slowed way down and slotted in behind the car that was on my right.
I didn't get the opportunity to drive the Cruze on the highway before the reflash, so I can't say if this is a new issue. I can say, however, that it's an issue now. In the future, I suppose I'll have to slap the gear selector to manual mode and drop the gears down a few cogs by hand.
Mark Takahashi, Associate Editor
http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/20...h.html#comments
In the recent years, a number of auto publications have criticized GM's transmission programming to be too economy-oriented. That is, the transmissions are hesitant to downshift, are unresponsive and often shift into the highest gear at the earliest opportunity. I understand that GM is doing this to maximize fuel economy, but it seems like other manufacturers are still able to obtain good fuel economy without having to resort to such horrific programming.
I've driven a few GM vehicles myself-- the current gen Malibu I4 and V6, and found the transmissions to be a bit slow to downshift, but not nearly as awful as how Inside Line describes the Cruze to be. They also had similar issues with their long-term GMC Terrain.
So, has anyone found GM's transmission programming to be exceptionally poor in their recent models, especially on their cars with smaller engines?
As Photo Editor Niebuhr pointed out, many of the Cruze's transmission issues have been resolved with the TSB service. He also mentioned that it tends to stay in second gear for an unusually long time. I found that to be true too, if you gave it any more than a light throttle application. So, problem solved, right?
Well...
I drove the Cruze on the highway at actual highway speeds yesterday. I was in the number one lane (left/fast lane) and spotted a slower car ahead. I decided to pass the car on my right to get ahead of both cars. I gave the pedal a little more and not much happened. Time and distance to pass was dwindling. A little more pedal, and the Cruze slowly gained speed. Finally, I had to floor it.
A brief pause and a downshift resulted -- but only a single gear downshift. There was nowhere near the amount of power needed to pass. It was as though the Cruze was towing our Raptor. I finally gave up, slowed way down and slotted in behind the car that was on my right.
I didn't get the opportunity to drive the Cruze on the highway before the reflash, so I can't say if this is a new issue. I can say, however, that it's an issue now. In the future, I suppose I'll have to slap the gear selector to manual mode and drop the gears down a few cogs by hand.
Mark Takahashi, Associate Editor
http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/20...h.html#comments
In the recent years, a number of auto publications have criticized GM's transmission programming to be too economy-oriented. That is, the transmissions are hesitant to downshift, are unresponsive and often shift into the highest gear at the earliest opportunity. I understand that GM is doing this to maximize fuel economy, but it seems like other manufacturers are still able to obtain good fuel economy without having to resort to such horrific programming.
I've driven a few GM vehicles myself-- the current gen Malibu I4 and V6, and found the transmissions to be a bit slow to downshift, but not nearly as awful as how Inside Line describes the Cruze to be. They also had similar issues with their long-term GMC Terrain.
So, has anyone found GM's transmission programming to be exceptionally poor in their recent models, especially on their cars with smaller engines?
