[Ironside]

Since getting my SuperBee a few days ago i've noticed something;while driving it seems like the car is kind of sluggish or slow to respond when pressing moderately on the pedal. When you stomp on the pedal or step on it, say, 75% of the way, you get a nice fast response but not so much when you only depress the pedal 0-50% of the way.

I thought maybe something was wrong with the car but today I was reading a big orange sheet that came with my car which explains all the unique features that come in an SRT8 and I noticed something interesting.

The sheet said that this car is equipped with a 1-4 shift skip feature which is intended to save gas/improve fuel economy. Apparently under 'normal' driving conditions the car goes from 1st gear immediately to 4th.

In order to test this, I drove away from a stop at 'regular' speed and as soon as the tachometre needle drops indicating a gear shift has occurred, I would click the autostick to the right. Sure enough, when I shifted to the right, I was in 5th gear!!!

So apparently the car DOES switch right into 4th gear which explains why when i'm driving and I give it a LITTLE gas it seems to not respond with the force I would expect from an SRT8 (because it's in 4th gear... d'uh!) ...and when I give it considerably more gas or stomp on it, the trasmission downshifts and takes off as per usual.

Is this a new feature in 2009's or does this happen with 2006-2008 SRT8's (I dont remember this happening on my 2008).

I guess auto-stick is less useless now as you will need to use it to moderately accelerate without stomping the gas and blowing away all your hard earned premium fuel.

The owners manual also warns that while the car is in autostick, it will NOT shift gears when the engine has reached maximum speed which leads me to believe you will bounce off the rev limiter?

The manual claims the only time the car will shift on it's own or over-ride you is when you want to shift the car into gears that are way too high for the speed you're going (it wont shift), or when the car comes to a stop it will reset to 1st gear.

It also states that the EVIC will display "UPSHIFT" when you are at optimal RPM and/or forget the car is in auto-stick mode.

Interesting stuff... what are you guys experiencing???

 

[Phanta5m]

I have an 08 and it doesn't do that... not that it's a bad thing though

I guess that's why the mpg went up on the 2009 srt's

 

[cplabaunza]

Like you said it was done for better fuel efficiency, possibly due to CAFE. They claimed the increased fuel efficiency also reduced the Gas Guzzler tax. My 2007's SRT8 Gad Guzzler Tax was $2,100 what was yours?

 

[Phanta5m]

Like you said it was done for better fuel efficiency, possibly due to CAFE. They claimed the increased fuel efficiency also reduced the Gas Guzzler tax. My 2007's SRT8 Gad Guzzler Tax was $2,100 what was yours?

damn...that's what I paid too for a 2008

 

[Grimlock]

Are you sure the automatic tranmission does this? I thought this was only with the M6 Challengers.

I am betting they supply the same card with Challengers and that your car does not do this.

Most companies who want better fuel economy out of automatics launch the car in 2nd, not first. Mercedes does this with their new transmissions unless you have them in sport mode.

 

[GLHS837]

Ah, might be the placard comes with all, but is meant for the manuals. Easy enough to test the upshift, if it dpoesnt do that, you'll bounce off the limiter, no harm done. AS far as the quick shift into 5th, as I recall, my 06 does that too, but I'll toss the old Dashhawk on there and see some numbers.

 

[Grimlock]

Yeah an automatic that shifts 1st to 4th makes zero sense. It has to be for the manual transmission only.

 

[Ironside]

Hmmmmmm... yeah, just re-read the stupid card. It does say that 1-4 shift thing is for manual transmission.

That's strange though since my car seems to be in 4th gear right after pulling away from a stop when I manually shift with auto-stick.

Like I said, I'll pull away and as soon as I feel/hear/see the car shift, I click the auto stick and i'm in 5th.... Why is it doing that?

 

[NinjaChargerSrt8]

mine does it & its an 06. this car indeed does shift at really low rpms during normal driving to such a high gear when left in drive. it bothers the shiat out of me especially that i have a high torque convertor. Thats why i love to shift manually always to drive this thing how its meant to be driven.

 

[afterburner]

Its actually quite interesting that you mention this. I have an '07, and even with regular resetting with the Predator to supposedly higher shift points, just a single roll cross-town of LA "parking lot" style freeways and the beast wants to shift at astonishingly low rpms. When away from the glut of LA traffic, the "learned" traffic jam shiftpoints rule. Bloody annoying! I would really prefer some way to turn off the ecu's proclivity to learn retarded "parking lot" experiences as "my" norm.

Does anyone know of a way to turn-off such errant education?

 

[GLHS837]

REloading my dashahwk software, so the log I did last night is wasted, but, I can watch the current and expected gear through the bus, real time. What I saw was that the first shift I felt was the one to 4th, at about 30mph. She did roll through the gears, but the shifts were so smooth at those low power levers, I didnt feel them.

 

[ramsterhemi]

I paid a $1700 gas guzzler tax on my 09.

 

[370 HEMI]

I paid 2,100 dollars for my gas guzzler tax too.

Rat Buzzard government.:slap:

Brian
BND Automotive LLC
440-821-9040

 

[PUREVIL]

I thought Corvettes did this all the way back to the early 90s manual models? But I remember under normal conditions it would lock out 2 and 3 so you were forced to goto 4th and people would complain about it.... i dont know if thats true every corvette i've ever drove was an auto.

 

[Grimlock]

I thought Corvettes did this all the way back to the early 90s manual models? But I remember under normal conditions it would lock out 2 and 3 so you were forced to goto 4th and people would complain about it.... i dont know if thats true every corvette i've ever drove was an auto.

Yep Corvettes did this, and I think the Viper may have too.

 

[Ironside]

My gas guzzler tax or ("Federal Green Levy") was only $1000. :bigthumb:

 

[Manicmechanic]

Yes the Vipers and Corvettes have done this for a while, it's not a lock-out per say just a solenoid that can block the shifter from going to 2nd when you shift and guiding it into the next gear in the downward motion (4th) and it was to help in the fight for gas mileage. It was also on Camaros and Trans-Ams that had the 6 speed option. You can buy a go around for this issue, not sure but I think it's an electrical plug in on the trans wiring.

 

[Ironside]

Yes the Vipers and Corvettes have done this for a while, it's not a lock-out per say just a solenoid that can block the shifter from going to 2nd when you shift and guiding it into the next gear in the downward motion (4th) and it was to help in the fight for gas mileage. It was also on Camaros and Trans-Ams that had the 6 speed option. You can buy a go around for this issue, not sure but I think it's an electrical plug in on the trans wiring.

Eeeeeeuw... I wouldn't like my CAR telling me how to drive if I had a manual transmission.

 

[JeepDodgeRam]

The owners manual also warns that while the car is in autostick, it will NOT shift gears when the engine has reached maximum speed which leads me to believe you will bounce off the rev limiter?

The manual claims the only time the car will shift on it's own or over-ride you is when you want to shift the car into gears that are way too high for the speed you're going (it wont shift), or when the car comes to a stop it will reset to 1st gear.

It also states that the EVIC will display "UPSHIFT" when you are at optimal RPM and/or forget the car is in auto-stick mode.

Interesting stuff... what are you guys experiencing???

Mine shifts automatically in autostick. :driving:

 

[TheBMan]

Ya I was going to say the same thing. Once it hits the red line it shift in autostick.I can't push it any farther then 6250 i think is the start.
Also I was wondering what is on the orange sheet and if you could scan that orange sheet in and send it my way. I did not get anything like that.:beerchug: