Originally Posted by wag123
Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by wag123
Some people are claiming that the shifting problems are being caused by Toyota's programming the transmission to skip up tp 3 gears on upshifts. To this I say... what's the point in having all of those speeds if they are not all being used? IMO they would have been better off just sticking with the less complicated 5 or 6 speed transmissions. These 8, 9, and now even 10 and 11 speed automatics offer nothing more than bragging rights as far as I am concerned.
Fair question. Reason is, downshifts. Instead of a "big" jump in rpm when a slight hill is encountered, a "small" bump in rpm can be obtained. Better FE (perhaps) but probably better NVH (less rpm, less motor noise).
Maybe the other manufacturers program their 8-10 speed transmissions to act this way, but not Toyota. Besides the upshifts skipping gears, they have the transmission shifting programed in such a way that getting the transmission to downshift
at all is also problematic. A little added throttle to accelerate... no downshift (not even 1 gear), a little more throttle... still no downshift, even more throttle... still no downshift, a LOT more throttle... THEN it will downshift, but not 1 or 2 gears, more like 3 or 4 gears with a lurch and a LOT of engine noise. I am not a fan of the way that they are programming the transmission shifting now days, it is irritating, even dangerous if you are trying to change lanes into faster traffic. It isn't just Toyota owners who are complaining about this either, Ford owners are complaining about their 10 speed's shifting.
Programming does seem to up commonly here. FWIW I still often control shifting in my autos, one is 6AT and one is 4AT, I guess I still wouldn't be happy with the newer stuff. I very often will just click down a gear (or 3) if I know I want it to do that (passing, driving up a hill, whatever).
I've tried to tell my wife how to manually lock out gears in my truck. She refuses to do so. Her belief is, if we paid for an automatic transmission, then it should do its job--automatically. And when it doesn't she automatically complains about it.
As a result, she rarely drives my vehicles... not sure but that might compensate for me being stuck with automatics.