steptronic question. If you are in the manual mode does it downshift???
 

On the stereophonic transmission on the e53. I know if you are in the manual mode say M3. You are in the 3rd gear and will not upshift (to M4) until it redlines, right???? Please confirm.

My question is if you are in M4 and you start to slow down does it down shift????

If it does not and if you stop or slow down to a dead stop then you are starting the car or going very slow at 4th gear??? Is this right???

Not sure about the upshift (haven't deliberately run my 3.0d up to redline!) but it certainly downshifts if you get too slow and haven't changed down manually. It can be a pain actually, as if you leave your down shift a little too late, the auto downshifts just before I do, then I end up going down TWO gears, one after the other. THAT gets the revs near redline! :rofl:

Honestly, if you're not familiar with how manual trans works then I wouldn't even mess with it. Could cause some trouble for you if you don't understand gearing & matching the revs with the proper speed.

Yes, it will certainly downshift for you if speed/revs drop too much to keep the car running.

so it downshift but does it down shift to 1???
 

So it downshift but does it down shift to 1 (1st gear) in a dead stop??? So if you are in M3 and go to a dead stop. Are you at M1 starting on first gear in a dead stop or do you start in 2nd or 3rd???

If you are in M3 and go to dead stop, I think you start at 2nd. IIRC
I dont normally drive it in M. I very rarely do now anymore

The transmission will automatically downshift to M3 when coming to a dead stop. The lowest it will ever downshift to is M3, assuming that the factory software has not been altered. It will not shift down to M1. Also it will automatically up-shift to the next available gear at red-line so you do not over-rev and cause damage to the engine.

Thanks for the info. Mine will downshift to M2 by itself, but I believe mine has Dinan software installed on the trans. I forgot about that when I posted above... so my experiences may differ from the "norm" or factory settings.

The gear which will be selected on a stop depends on your engine I think: the V8 will shift into the 3rd gear by default... If you switched to sport mode it will shift to the 2nd gear.
My experience - may be subjective: if you drive it sporty the time directly before a stop or the transmission "thinks" that you may need some more power it will shift to 2nd on a stop...

"Smaller" engine models will shift to the 2nd gear on a stop (at least this was the behavior on the e39).

Mine as I recall will downshift to M1 at a dead stop. I'll confirm tomorrow.