Lazy Sport mode...........

[AzNMpower32]

On my way home from weekly orchestra rehersal, I decided to take the twisty, curvy, two-lane backroads in the X3 for some extra fun. Knowing full well that there were wet patches and the X still wears snow shoes, I decided to just drive "moderately" sporty, about 7/10ths and leave it in SD.

Problem is, SD really didn't do a good job at all. It felt like normal Drive. It upshifted too early and was reluctant to take the lowest gear possible when powering out of corners. As a result, I was left in a not-quite-sweet spot of the rev band when I really wanted to GO right NOW hittin the loud pedal. For example, I'd push the pedal 80% of the way down when I exited a (20mph ) corner at 40mph, and the best it would give me was 3rd gear which is like 3500rpm. Okay, that's peak torque, but 4750rpm in 2nd is much better! I didn't feel like using kickdown, but I really thought "Sport" drive would behave better.

Is anyone else's Sport Drive mode as lazy as mine, or should I ask for reprogramming?

[xnsf]

yes. i recently upgrade my transmission and it drives so much better now. no more hesitation. although i think there's less mpg...

[Rick in Prescott]

I've had the software update and found it to be no different than the old. If there's one thing that I can say I dislike about the X3, it's the horrible transmission software. Unless I am on the pedal 90%, it doesn't ever shift when I want it to, or think it should. When driving on long trips I drive in Manual Mode. When driving in the twisties, I drive in manual mode. When I'm driving in town, I drive in SP. I wonder how many other owners out there feel the same way.

[judybe83]

Originally Posted by Rick in Prescott

I've had the software update and found it to be no different than the old. If there's one thing that I can say I dislike about the X3, it's the horrible transmission software. Unless I am on the pedal 90%, it doesn't ever shift when I want it to, or think it should. When driving on long trips I drive in Manual Mode. When driving in the twisties, I drive in manual mode. When I'm driving in town, I drive in SP. I wonder how many other owners out there feel the same way.

I AGREE 100%

Just 1 thing bothers me...for the 1st 2 years everthing was pretty much ok
up/down shifts ok

Then a few months ago started noticing a few times going uphill from a stop it would not shift into 5th gear then started seeing a few posts on here about not shifting uphill, then suddenly here comes a TSB??
We had the TSB and now it almost never shifts correctly, cruising on the interstate a little rise (not even close to a hill) will cause a down shift with no up shift after getting over the hill??

ab is

[Rick in Prescott]

Other than getting a couple of replacement transmissions on the 00 328, I liked the way the transmission shifted. I've disliked the shift patterns on the X3 from about 2 miles away from the dealer when we bought it and still find it very annoying 25k miles later. Getting ready to drive to Utah next week. A 1700 mile round trip, 90% of it will be in manual mode. I have the same issue that on just about any slight up-grade it downshifts to 4th gear and not until you start to decend does it shift back to 5th. It's a POS.

[xnsf]

do you guys know if it's the same transmission on the X5 3.0? because i assumed so. and after my recent update, the car drove a lot smoother and brisker

[AzNMpower32]

Originally Posted by xnsf

do you guys know if it's the same transmission on the X5 3.0? because i assumed so. and after my recent update, the car drove a lot smoother and brisker

Same transmission, but the unit itself is not the problem. It's the idiot computer program that tells it when to shift. Sure, it's great if you drive aggressively because it holds gears to the redline. But there are just various situations where it's stupid.