Auto selecting too high gear driving me mad

[johnsoncp]

My P300 is great when it's being driven down fast roads and accelerating but when it's 'commuting' at 30 mph the gearbox is always changing up to the highest gear that it can. It therefore drives along at about 1100 rpm. It changes down quite easily when I press the accelerator but I'm fed up of the labouring sound from the engine and find myself using the paddles all the time as the car loses it's immediate response. I assume the V6 does the same thing but being a larger engine, does the V6 pull OK at such low revs? I also own a V6 diesel XJ which does the same thing but the difference is that at 1100 rpm, the XJ pulls without hesitation.

I'm seriously considering getting rid of the car and I've only owned it a couple of months. It looks great but the gear change is driving me mad. A manual version would obviously not suffer this problem.

Thanks, Chris

 

[scm]

Have you tried driving it in dynamic mode and Sport? Or use the paddles and drive it in manual. I have to say I've never found the gearbox an issue - it seems to predict what I'd do with a manual gearbox, using high gears when pottering about and hanging on to the red line when I'm pushing on.

 

[dbv6s]

Dynamic mode will sharpen up throttle response so kick down will be quicker but if just cruising a lot it will end up resting around the same gear/rpm as normal drive mode

S on the gearstick / sport will hold the car in a higher gear even when just cruising so that’s probably your best bet

I have a V6 and engine has plenty of grunt low down, is the lack of power / labouring low down on the revs not just a characteristic of the 2L?

 

[johnsoncp]

Have you tried driving it in dynamic mode and Sport? Or use the paddles and drive it in manual. I have to say I've never found the gearbox an issue - it seems to predict what I'd do with a manual gearbox, using high gears when pottering about and hanging on to the red line when I'm pushing on.

Thanks. I haven't tried a full drive in dynamic or sport. I have experimented driving it manually but I lose the paddles when the steering wheel is not straight I will try dynamic on my drive home tonight and let you know.

 

[johnsoncp]

Dynamic mode will sharpen up throttle response so kick down will be quicker but if just cruising a lot it will end up resting around the same gear/rpm as normal drive mode

S on the gearstick / sport will hold the car in a higher gear even when just cruising so that’s probably your best bet

I have a V6 and engine has plenty of grunt low down, is the lack of power / labouring low down on the revs not just a characteristic of the 2L?

Thank you. I would say the engine is hopeless less than 2000 rpm. All this max torque at 1500 rpm seems nonsense to me as the engine does not pull rapidly at that rev range. I'm seriously regetting not going for the V6 now.

 

[johnsoncp]

The weird thing is that around town, my 275hp 3 litre V6 diesel XJ feels much faster.

 

[scm]

That's the low end torque of a diesel.

 

[johnsoncp]

That's the low end torque of a diesel.

Yes. Perhaps I should just hang on until they bring out the electric FType. That will have amazing torque.

 

[Anonymous]

From reading the thread I would say that is a characteristic of the 2L engine (which is turbo charged?). V6 pulls well and is instant from low revs.

 

[cj10jeeper]

What you're experiencing is due to the challenge faced by manufacturers. Smaller engines, capable of higher output for the acceleration, but the need to raise MPG, hence holding highest possible gear in any 'cruising' situation. I had direct comparable issue when my 3.0S V6 XF would drive beautifully, but 2.0 courtesy cars droned, felt laboured as they held high gears. They also gave incredible MPG..

Bottom line is your issue is the 2.0 engine. V6 and V8 just don't do this, so for what you expect, sorry to say, but you probably do have the wrong engine

For sure you can put it in sport and it will in most situations be a gear lower, but will drink more fuel
Paddles are the alternative, which I use all the time for the fun of it, but 'losing' them when turning means you're doing something wrong. If you turn so much then you really shouldn't need to be changing gear at that point, unless you're in a car park

 

[johnsoncp]

From reading the thread I would say that is a characteristic of the 2L engine (which is turbo charged?). V6 pulls well and is instant from low revs.

Yes agreed. The 2 litre is a great engine but like most small engines, needs working hard. I think I just don't like the gear change mapping. I know they are thinking economy but I don't think the engine should ever be allowed to drop down to such low rpm as sudden need for acceleration requires and couple of gear drops and then spinning up the turbo instead of instant response. This catches me occasionally.

 

[johnsoncp]

What you're experiencing is due to the challenge faced by manufacturers. Smaller engines, capable of higher output for the acceleration, but the need to raise MPG, hence holding highest possible gear in any 'cruising' situation. I had direct comparable issue when my 3.0S V6 XF would drive beautifully, but 2.0 courtesy cars droned, felt laboured as they held high gears. They also gave incredible MPG..

Bottom line is your issue is the 2.0 engine. V6 and V8 just don't do this, so for what you expect, sorry to say, but you probably do have the wrong engine

For sure you can put it in sport and it will in most situations be a gear lower, but will drink more fuel
Paddles are the alternative, which I use all the time for the fun of it, but 'losing' them when turning means you're doing something wrong. If you turn so much then you really shouldn't need to be changing gear at that point, unless you're in a car park

Very good points. Agree that I really need to learn how to drive with paddles properly. I'll give it a while and see if I can trade it in for a larger engine.

 

[dbv6s]

I wouldn’t consider trading in just yet, just adapt your driving style a little

The 2L needs to be worked harder so try a few things;
Driving in S / Sport (gear stick to the left) - will certainly hold a higher gear but this will effect economy, not sure if that’s an issue for you?

Driving in Dynamic - sharper throttle response, will still drop down to the same low gear but take less movement of throttle to drop down a few gears and give you a quicker response, shouldn’t effect economy too much

Both will improve what you are experiencing, the 2L is a great car, a chunk cheaper on list price, people have reported around 20-25% better economy, and a lighter engine to potentially a better drive (?)
Don’t chop and change just yet. I have a V6S and all I want is a V8 - you’ll always want more!

 

[scm]

I have a V6S and all I want is a V8 - you’ll always want more!

I don't want more. Well ... SVRs look nice.

 

[SOLDES]

I feel exactly the same. I only use D on the highway when there's not much traffic. It has gotten a habbit. Start, turn off start/stop put it D and click to S. It makes things a whole lot smoother. The normal D gearshifts are to soon and to sluggish.
Nick

 

[johnsoncp]

I wouldn’t consider trading in just yet, just adapt your driving style a little

The 2L needs to be worked harder so try a few things;
Driving in S / Sport (gear stick to the left) - will certainly hold a higher gear but this will effect economy, not sure if that’s an issue for you?

Driving in Dynamic - sharper throttle response, will still drop down to the same low gear but take less movement of throttle to drop down a few gears and give you a quicker response, shouldn’t effect economy too much

Both will improve what you are experiencing, the 2L is a great car, a chunk cheaper on list price, people have reported around 20-25% better economy, and a lighter engine to potentially a better drive (?)
Don’t chop and change just yet. I have a V6S and all I want is a V8 - you’ll always want more!

Thanks. I will experiment with different settings. I don't care at all about fuel economy and if I could have afforded a V8 I wouldn't have hesitated for one second.

The 2 litre was heavily discounted and in addition Jaguar gave a large finance allowance. I bought mine new with a few options and it cost about £44k. I didn't drive a V6 as I didn't want to tempt myself. The finance allowance on the V6 was about £5k less and the car was about £3.5k more.

I'm getting about 30mpg on a 17 mile, mostly 60mph roads which is similar to the economy of my ex 240 XE.

 

[johnsoncp]

I feel exactly the same. I only use D on the highway when there's not much traffic. It has gotten a habbit. Start, turn off start/stop put it D and click to S. It makes things a whole lot smoother. The normal D gearshifts are to soon and to sluggish.
Nick

Excellent thanks.

 

[johnsoncp]

I think this says it all.

 

[santoshlv426]

I've driven my V8 in dense stop start traffic and it seemed OK compared to any other Auto box.
In manual mode it will hold the gear you select.

 

[santoshlv426]

@ Johnson,

I've been seening these graphs for 30 years and I still battle to interpret the data.