Hi Everyone -

Fresh new owner of a VO F56 Cooper with a manual transmission. My previous cars have not had the shift indicator information.

When I was driving the other day, I noticed the car worked very well in telling me when to upshift (1-2-3-4-5-6), but only would occasionally throw up a downshift indicator (6-5, 5-4).

The rev-matching functionality works great, just not the indicator information. Was there a software related issue that was causing the screen to suggest downshifting only intermittently, or is this how it was intended to be implemented.

I don't necessarily need the information to know when to downshift the car, but I wanted to know if I was running an older version of the engine software that I should take in to the dealer to have flashed up.

Thanks!

 

The indicator tells you when to shift based on your use of the available power when in gear, if you are barely pressing the pedal and it's turning over higher than ~2000 rpm it's going to tell you to upshift, if you have it in a high gear and floor it, 90% of the time you will still have it running above the magic torque rpm, which is 1250, so it won't need you to downshift, so you wont be asked to downshift

 

^^ +1

You can ask the dealer to check your base level software next time your in, but it sounds to me it's working as designed.

Besides the engine management of available power/torque based on the current gear it's also monitoring and suggesting for the best fuel economy. You'll notice some skips from 3-5 and 4-6 when your not "on the throttle" as the fuel management system is trying to save you a few pennies in fuel by suggesting a gear skip. Downshifting works in reverse effect suggesting a downshift to keep the power/torque in the sweet spot while not burning excessive fuel because your in a gear 1 to high according to the fuel management system. Both management systems work in harmony for optimum power and fuel economy.

 

Whatever that is I'm glad I don't have it lol. The last thing I need is the car telling me when to shift. IMO the F56's auto tranny wants to be in one gear higher than I want it to be in. My friends' car shifts into 5th at about 40 MPH. My car is in 4th, and I used to be in 3rd in my 2007 MT MCS. And I got 30 MPG in town in that car, so it's not saving gas. I think they do this to tweak the MPG ratings to help with Obamamileage lol.

 

The shift indicator is just a suggestion, often to help save gas.

 

Also, it almost only focuses on power if you have it in sport mode.

 

I've never noticed the suggested downshift gear on the speedo, only the suggested upshift gear. It's only a suggestion anyway! I drive by feel & ear and shift when I want to! LOL! This is a huge advantage of a manual transmission! I know some of you love the automatic but its stuff like this that makes me smile I have a 6 speed manual & I control all the shifting! :-)