Any way to stop the transmission gear braking down hills?
 

My X does some serious gear braking down hills - I would say I drive it semi aggressive but it downshifts a couple of gears downhills to the point that it actually slows the car down and I have to press the accelerator to maintain speed, then it thinks I'm trying to accelerate so downshifts and the car starts accelerating away and I have to brake again, and depending on how long the hill is this continues back and forth numerous times........

It's annoying and whilst it makes sense with cruise control activated I can't understand it

I just keep 10% throttle input when driving down hills and when approaching stoplights, it seems to avoid the aggressive gear-braking you speak of. I agree, they seem to slow awfully quickly when off throttle.

this is engine braking - i stumbled across this feature and asked the similar question... just need to search the forum to see what the answers were to my own question - i am getting to old to retain all the info...

are you driving in regular D at the time or in S mode?

Following on the heels of TX5 above...if the adaptive "downhill program" is kicking in and you would desire a different shift pattern...there are 2 ways to eliminate this automatically selected transmission programming...which is by using the manually selected "S" mode...or using the "M" (manual) transmission gear selections of STEPTRONIC.

You can read about the HILL RECOGNITION PROGRAM (the uphill & downhill recognition programs are 2 of the 9 adaptive modes of ATC) in the image below. The 9 adaptive programs that are automatically selected by ATC based on driver influence or environmental influences are:

adaptive driver & environmental influenced shift selections:

1. extreme economy
2. economy
3. sport (auto/adaptive when in "D"...not the manually selected "S" program which is slightly more aggressive)
4. Stop-n-Go
5. Winter
6. Uphill
7. Downhill
8. Curve recognition
9. Cruise Control Drive Program

Thanks guys - I know that it is engine braking and I understand the downhill recognition however my X doesn't hold gear it downshifts sometimes 2 gears. If it were trying to maintain speed ala cruise control I would understand it but I am coasting downhill and it seems like it is hell bent on not accelerating at any cost.......

Crazy how intense that programming is. I can only imagine the double clutch or Porsche PDK programming...

Ah...but it still sounds like the adaptive programming is kicking in to prevent the car from speeding up as it descends...so I'd still try using the "S" programming...and if that programming still isn't to your liking , then the manual (STEPTRONIC) mode is an answer to your initial question ("Any way to stop the transmission gear braking down hills?")...it allows you to pick whatever gear you want the transmission to be in...all on the fly.

Ahh touche'. I guess I was looking for a more permanent solution. However no one has suggested that there is anything wrong so that is a positive :).

Thanks everyone :)