[minimoonie]

I need help with Steptronic. Simply put, I have no idea how to use it and the owner's manual sheds very little light on it.

1. How are S1 and S2 supposed to be used? Are they OK to use under any speed? How do they affect the RPM? etc.

2. The manual says the car will upshift automatically but says nothing about downshifting. Obviously, you can up/downshift manually but does Steptronic up/downshift automatically for you based on speed? Meaning, once I put the gear into M/S, there is no need for manual up/downshifting. Is this right?

I'm afraid I'll damage the transmission or rev the engine too hard if I don't use it right (though I've read postings that say it's not possible as the computer prevents dummies like me from doing that.)

 

[Hat]

in M/S mode the car will upshift & downshift fully automatically the same as it does in normal auto mode. the only difference at this point is that now you are in Sport mode the shift points will change so that the car revs a bit harder through each gear. Also you will notice the display in the rev counter change from 'D' to S1/S2/S3 etc as it changes through the gears.

if you decide to, you can also use the steptronic sequential with the gear level in the M/S position to change gears yourself by pushing or pulling the gear level. Once you have selected a gear (any gear) the box will switch to Manual mode. The display will change to show M1/M2/M3 etc & you have full control of the gearbox. The car will not automatically upshift (from 1st to 2nd to 3rd etc), but it will automatically downshift if you come to a stop to prevent the car stalling.

The box will now stay in manual mode until you move the gear lever back across to the right into fully auto mode.

so in effect you have 3 options:
- fully auto
- fully sport auto (S)
- sequential manual (M)

i'm assuming from your post that you don't have the steering wheel paddle shifters?

 

[minimoonie]

Thank you for the explanation. I got a base model with no paddle shifters. I'm gonna have to try the S mode next time.

One more question about sequential manual. If I don't shift correctly in M, can I damage my car?

 

[Hat]

i've read that it has overrides to prevent damage if you pull a wrong gear but i've never had it upshift for me if i'm in too low a gear so i'm not 100% sure how true that is.

if you have a base model i'm also not sure if you really get a Sport option, it might be in reality that its just auto or manual. I think its just the S that gets the sport auto box

 

[caveman dave]

If the gearbox is anything like the one I had in my 1 series BMW in manual mode the box will auto shift to prevent you damaging it or stalling.

 

[jamesahy]

I like using Manual mode to keep it from changing so soon in traffic, it loves to go straight into 2nd gear, so... If you're bored rev up first gear (M1) let it hold just below red-line for a fraction of a second and then change to M2 whilst applying throttle.

I found that this is a very effective way of getting a really loud fart parp out of the exhaust if you're just stuck in <2nd gear traffic or between lights ^_^

 

[minimoonie]

I drove about 7 miles in S mode today. I didn't notice a huge difference between D and S. But it felt like the suspension and the steering wheel seemed stiffer. Was it my imagination or does putting the gear into S mode change the behavior of the car? I understand putting the car in Sport mode via the ring lever increases the go-kart feel, but so does Steptronic S mode? Has anyone tried using both Steptronic S and Sport mode?

 

[Hurbert II]

Right, so, Sport mode (on the ring) does "chassis and engine" so stiffens up the steering, tightens up the suspension (if you have the special "adaptive" dampers), increases the throttle response and, if you have it again, makes the exhaust louder. The "S" mode in the gearbox, holds gears for longer, keeps the car generally in a higher "rev range" to keep you more readily "on the power".

When we want to hoon about, we do both S & Sport.

 

[Hat]

Double sport - fart, wizz, bang