2009 Ford Flex: Downshift Already!

You could just hit the O/D off button on the side of the shifter to get it to kick down quickly. It's also useful when you want some engine braking.

I agree though that Ford needs to offer more choice than just O/D off and L though.

The same transmission in the Lambdas has a thumb rocker for just such duty. Why Ford doesn't do the same is beyond me.

I was going to say that at least an "overdrive off" button would be a big improvement. Then I saw one in the picture and read carguy's post. Maybe they figure that's enough. Maybe just keep it out of OD in town.

James, very well done! You're really getting good at this!

Am I correct in assuming that the photo depicts the gear selector lever of the Ford Flex?

Thanks in advance!

I actually think having a manual mode on automatics is pointless for "driving fun" but very useful for every day situations like calling up a moderately speedy downshift to merge. It may not be good enough to carve a canyon with precision, but it should do just fine to get some grunt without having to floor it.

I'm a manual driver (though my GTI has the DSG as i can't stand VW clutches...but I will NEVER buy a n auto/dsg again). This is not a Ford thing. This is an everybody thing the last couple years, and it makes automatics even worse than they used to be.

Used to be you'd get a nice, low-tech 4 speed auto. Nice wide gear spaces so the car would fall out of its powerband. However, those cars would actually downshift when you pushed the pedal down a bit, no need to floor it to get it to do something.

So finally we start getting up-to-date 5 speed and 6 speed automatics. Great! Now there are more gears to choose from, so it should be spunkier and hold speed better, and smaller pedal movements should result in gear changes right? Bzzzzt. in the name of ultimate EPA fuel efficiency numbers that can be printed on the window sticker, these 6 speed automatics are really mostly 3 speeds. First, secondthirdfourthfifth, and sixth. They're AWFUL. Unfortunately, here we're again seeing that the customer thinks they know what they want (the highest fuel efficiency possible) but they don't realize they're getting a car that drives like poo because of it. These 6 speed autos should be more responsive than a GM hydramatic 4 speed of 15 years ago. But they're not. I have no doubt that with a little tweaking in the software they could be excellent, but seems nobody wants to sacrifice that extra 1 MPG they can advertise on TV. Nobody gonna advertise "responsive automatic transmission!"

At a minimum it would be nice if there were a setting or button to push to get more response. My GTI has "sport" mode, but mostly this is too aggressive. Holds revs too long and won't fall into 5th or 6th when you actually do want it to. Be nice if there was a tweener where you would just get more response on downshifts but the car wouldn't hold 5K revs and not drop into the overdrive gears.

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aww geez... is that guy back?!

Whats up with the chrome obsession? It seems Ford and GM believe everything sold be adorned with chrome. Dipped in more chrome.

redliner, it would be nice if it was actually chrome. Sadly, all too often it isn't.

Jerome has the right idea on the real issue. Modern automatic transmissions are programmed for ultimate economy. Increasingly, they are offered with sport and/or manual modes to take it out of econ mode and respond like it should and be in the gear appropriate for the situation, not the highest gear possible. Unfortunately, Ford has not gotten around to including this work-around yet.

Good post, Jerome. I wouldn't have considered "downgrading" to the Aura XE with the 4-speed hydramatic -- until I drove one back-to-back with the then-new 6-speed auto in the XR. The paddle shifters in the XR were nice, but the XE's old-school tranny just felt smoother to me. Plus, I had an excuse to save a few thousand bucks.

That was in 2007. The 4-speed is no longer offered on the Aura, and I *know* that a software update could make the 6-speed a really excellent transmission...if only GM would make it happen (and Ford, too -- both automakers use this transmission, am I right?).

P.S.: Nooooo!! Kissel1 is back!

Somehow, I've managed to rent 3 separate 4-cylinder Malibus with the 6 speed auto. The 3rd one had completely different transmission (and electro-steer) programming than the first two, and I will say that the transmission was significantly improved from both a responsiveness and smoothness standpoint with the update (acceptably responsive and smooth until torque converter lockup). However, it still didn't feather the throttle between gears, and its utter refusal to unlock the torque converter in 4th, 5th or 6th gears was downright herky-jerky and irritating on any 55+mph road with any inclines or a headwind. Evidently Ford and GM need to figure out a good happy medium for their shared transmission.

The horrors of a 6-speed automatic.

Return to the righteous fury of the 5-speed goodness.

Why do people want a god awful 6-speed? Marketing. 6-speed is junk. Can't shift right.

In my accord, full throttle application from cruising at around 40-50 mph will confuse it to no end. It takes about a second for it to decide whether to downshift from 4 to 3 or 2 and then when it picks 2, I'm only about 300 rpm from redline. It then immediately upshifts to 3. The only way to accelerate from 40-50mph is to use 3/4 throttle until it picks third gear and then floor it once I get over 55mph.

On a 2008 civic, there's also a way to confuse the transmission. On a moderate uphill grade, doing about 30mph, apply very light pressure to the gas and the car will upshift. Increase throttle slightly and it immediately downshifts. Repeat for endless shifting.

Badly calibrated automatic transmissions immediately disqualify a car for me, so I guess this car is out.

I have an 07 Aura XR that my family and I just took from San Diego to Las Vegas and back. I was laughing at some of the comments, they are so true.

Jerome81 that is so true of the shifting in normal driving. Got to get into 6th gear asap.

Misterfusion, you are also correct. I am happy to report that on this trip, with a full compliment of 4 adults, the car ran great and after the first downshift on a hill, it seemed like my XR figured out to go from 6th to 5th on each of the long hills. I think it helped that I was going around 75-80 mph most of the time. In 5th, the car is still turning 2500 rpm around 70-75 mph.

The only part that was slightly annoying was coming back out of Vegas, they have a one lane hill at 55 mph. Imagine that 6th, 5th, back into 6th. The obvious problem is that 55 mph is about 1400 rpm in 6th, so no torque for the hill, drop to 5th, now any slight drop of pressure on the gas pedal, back into 6th.

I will state as before, it seemed after the first hill, the transmission figured it really well, to the point that most of the time I noticed the downshifts were much smoother. The problem is of course, one the downshift occurs, the car wants to go 80 and the CHP doesn't appreciate that at all. Overall, my mileage was 24-27 mpg, not bad. On the way up, lots of 80-85 cruising as traffic permitted. On the way back, lots of wind.

This reminds me of the Windows habit of asking "are you sure?" Are you sure you want to change those settings? Are you sure you want to delete those files? Are you sure you want to turn your computer off?

The transmission just wants to make sure you're committed, so it waits until certain criteria are met. Gently pressing to 3/4 throttle will elicit a different response than stabbing to 3/4. Going to full throttle will give a different response than 3/4. Flooring it for 3 seconds will give a different response than half a second. Are you sure you want to accelerate? You are? Ok, we'll do this as economically as possible.

Automatics from 5-10 years ago were calibrated better, from a normal driving standpoint. 3/4 throttle would yield 3/4 acceleration. Not so anymore, so I'm just going to stick with manual transmissions. The rental Aura XR I had a couple years back may have been quicker, but my 5-speed Focus is much more fun to drive.