[MassNerd]

I'm so annoyed at BMW's implementation of kickdown. I like the idea a lot. I drive my F22 with the ZF8 auto manual mode 98% of the time. I think it's a useful idea that when I floor it and hit the downshift paddle, that it skip gears and goes directly to the "optimal" gear.

The problem is, it doesn't go to the optimal gear! I know others have complained about this and I've experienced it many times where kickdown picks a gear that puts the rpms around 6500rpm (which means you are immediately upshifting). What really ticked me off yesterday was I did kickdown shift and I swear it put me in a gear that had the engine right at 7000rpm. How dumb is that?

It seems like with the B58's torque curve, picking a gear that would put the engine at ~5000rpm seems like a smarter gear to choose.

Is there a solution for this, like one of the transmission tunes such as xHP?

[Liandri]

I don't recall seeing any setting about this in xhp. I would like a less aggressive kickdown as well.

I wish as well there was a way to downshift 2 gears at a time in manual mode. In auto modes it can skip shift, but not in manual it seems

[harma24]

From what I understood, kickdown selects the lowest gear that won't exceed redline. What's "optimal" would greatly depend on a number of factors that the computer doesn't know.

[Xavier Seynave]

I have not tried it in a long time, but I think that pressing both paddles at the same time engages the lowest possible gear available given the speed. There is nothing about "optimal", but wouldn't that have the desired effect?

[MassNerd]

Originally Posted by Xavier Seynave

I have not tried it in a long time, but I think that pressing both paddles at the same time engages the lowest possible gear available given the speed. There is nothing about "optimal", but wouldn't that have the desired effect?

It does not have the desired effect when the gear selected puts the engine RPM >6500. Presumably the reason for dropping gears is to accelerate faster, yet the car would be accelerating faster if it had dropped 1 less gear and landed around 5000rpm. Dropping to 2nd gear and 6700RPM is a waste of time because almost immediately you've it the redline and need to upshift.

[Ron Jeffries]

Yes, the feature is essentially useless. With the wide flat torque curve dropping to middle RPM would be better for most purposes. Perhaps not for racing, I don't know.

[Mark.h]

May or may not be directly related, but this happened to me and blew my charge pipe. Stepped on it when merging on the freeway, it downshifted close to redline and the charge pipe blew. Car was stock at the time.

[msendit]

Originally Posted by Ron Jeffries

Yes, the feature is essentially useless.

Yeah, I don't get it either. If OP's in manual mode already, why not just push the paddle twice? It's not like you need to move your hands or anything.

That reminds me, should remove the kickdown switch on mine. It's pretty annoying on track when the pedal doesn't feel linear.

[babaikram]

It seems this feature is not available in DCT. I actually like it as the next gear change is usually playfully jerky.

[MassNerd]

Originally Posted by babaikram

It seems this feature is not available in DCT. I actually like it as the next gear change is usually playfully jerky.

I've heard DCT can't skip shift. At least as friend's RS3 can't.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by MassNerd

I've heard DCT can't skip shift. At least as friend's RS3 can't.

The issue with DCTs is that they have to have the next gear pre-selected on the other clutch than the current gear is using to get the fast shift speed, using separate clutches and shafts for odd and even gears. This is why they are often slow to shift when you require a gear in the opposite direction to the next gear that is already selected.

[babaikram]

Originally Posted by aerobod

The issue with DCTs is that they have to have the next gear pre-selected on the other clutch than the current gear is using to get the fast shift speed, using separate clutches and shafts for odd and even gears. This is why they are often slow to shift when you require a gear in the opposite direction to the next gear that is already selected.

Could we then agree that ZF8 is superior to the DCT in this aspect?

[Ron Jeffries]

i have the zf8 on my m240i, had dct on my 135is, and can think of only one way the zf8 is superior: smoother starts. two ways if you had to pay to replace them.