Coming from the thread that deals with preference for the types of gearbox, I have noticed some people suggesting that there can be a delay of up to a second before the Z4's auto/steptronic 'box changes down to the desired gear. This is so alien to me, I actually went out ant did some research in my car today.
Basics. The 'box has two modes: normal and sport. Sport mode locks out fifth gear, and is more ready to change down. Sport mode can be engaged by moving the selector lever to the left. It is also engaged when the "Sport" button is pressed.
More subtle, is that the 'box will change its shift pattern in the short-term in accordance with your driving style. It will go for lower gears if your throttle pedal input is rapidly changing. Even more subtle, the box may change its shift pattern to accord with your driving style over a long period; in other words, it will try to decide whether you are a cruiser or a tear-arse and adjust its behaviour accordingly.
Since I am looking to find a "wost case", here is what I did. I trundled around at about 50mph for a while, with no sudden movements of the throttle and using no more than a third of the pedal's travel. Then, I mashed the pedal to activate the kick-down switch. There was a delay before the engine began sailing towards the redline of no more than 0,5s. I repeated this a couple of times with the same result (which confirms my impression from normal driving).
Doing the same test in with the Sport button activated, of course, the starting point is from one gear lower, but the time taken to change down feels almost instantaneous.
Using the 'box in manual, I have never been able to discern any delay for downchanges: the box seems to react almost instantly to shoving the lever forward. However, I have noticed a reluctance to change up sometimes. By that I mean, the 'box seems slow (up to 1s) to respond to a manual request to change up, and it will occasionally ignore the request altogether.
That is my experience in a UK-spec 3.0 Z4 with some sort of sports package (it has 17-inch wheels, rides very low, and has a rock-solid ride). I do wonder whether the automatic 'boxes are set up differently in different countries and in different spec cars.
Maybe that is why my experience of the automatic gearbox is hugely positive whereas others might not find it so satisfactory.
A
Basics. The 'box has two modes: normal and sport. Sport mode locks out fifth gear, and is more ready to change down. Sport mode can be engaged by moving the selector lever to the left. It is also engaged when the "Sport" button is pressed.
More subtle, is that the 'box will change its shift pattern in the short-term in accordance with your driving style. It will go for lower gears if your throttle pedal input is rapidly changing. Even more subtle, the box may change its shift pattern to accord with your driving style over a long period; in other words, it will try to decide whether you are a cruiser or a tear-arse and adjust its behaviour accordingly.
Since I am looking to find a "wost case", here is what I did. I trundled around at about 50mph for a while, with no sudden movements of the throttle and using no more than a third of the pedal's travel. Then, I mashed the pedal to activate the kick-down switch. There was a delay before the engine began sailing towards the redline of no more than 0,5s. I repeated this a couple of times with the same result (which confirms my impression from normal driving).
Doing the same test in with the Sport button activated, of course, the starting point is from one gear lower, but the time taken to change down feels almost instantaneous.
Using the 'box in manual, I have never been able to discern any delay for downchanges: the box seems to react almost instantly to shoving the lever forward. However, I have noticed a reluctance to change up sometimes. By that I mean, the 'box seems slow (up to 1s) to respond to a manual request to change up, and it will occasionally ignore the request altogether.
That is my experience in a UK-spec 3.0 Z4 with some sort of sports package (it has 17-inch wheels, rides very low, and has a rock-solid ride). I do wonder whether the automatic 'boxes are set up differently in different countries and in different spec cars.
Maybe that is why my experience of the automatic gearbox is hugely positive whereas others might not find it so satisfactory.
A
