Hi, I am new to this forum and this is my first post here. I hope you can help me with the following Issue about the transmission.
As I am a potential buyer of a MP4-12C I was doing a test drive with this incredible good car. There is only one concern I have compared with other cars I experienced. It is about the kick-down function in automatic mode.
Usually, the kickdown is to provide maximum acceleration. Therefore the gearbox shifts down one or more gears. That's what I experienced with many cars I drove before (Ferrari, Porsche, BMW M3, etc.).
But in the MP4-12C I experienced the following:
- When driving in automatic with low revs and pressing the pedal down just before the kickdown threshold, it shifts down one or two gears to about 4'000 revs. Thats fine so far.
- When pressing even more over the kickdown “threshold”, the car does not downshift again. But I expected at least one more downshift to get maximum acceleration. Therefore pressing the kickdown threshold had no additional effect. In all oder cars I drove, the kickdown has the effect, that there was at least one more downshift if the revs are at low at 4000. This is somewhat strange, because in the MP-4C user manual is written, that kickdown provides max acceleration. But I only get the max acceleration if I downshift manual one gear more down.
I tested this on two mp4-12c, both with the same behavior of not taking kickdown signals into account. Do you have an explanation if this is normal? How is it in your cars.?
Both cars where updated with the newest software. One car was a new test car at the official mclaren dealer. The mclaren could not answer my question.
Please don’t argue, that a sports car is intended to shift manual. There is an automatic mode that I expect to work properly or at least as described in the user manual.
Beside this issue, this is the best sportscar I ever have driven!!
Best regards and thanks for an answer.
Olaf
As I am a potential buyer of a MP4-12C I was doing a test drive with this incredible good car. There is only one concern I have compared with other cars I experienced. It is about the kick-down function in automatic mode.
Usually, the kickdown is to provide maximum acceleration. Therefore the gearbox shifts down one or more gears. That's what I experienced with many cars I drove before (Ferrari, Porsche, BMW M3, etc.).
But in the MP4-12C I experienced the following:
- When driving in automatic with low revs and pressing the pedal down just before the kickdown threshold, it shifts down one or two gears to about 4'000 revs. Thats fine so far.
- When pressing even more over the kickdown “threshold”, the car does not downshift again. But I expected at least one more downshift to get maximum acceleration. Therefore pressing the kickdown threshold had no additional effect. In all oder cars I drove, the kickdown has the effect, that there was at least one more downshift if the revs are at low at 4000. This is somewhat strange, because in the MP-4C user manual is written, that kickdown provides max acceleration. But I only get the max acceleration if I downshift manual one gear more down.
I tested this on two mp4-12c, both with the same behavior of not taking kickdown signals into account. Do you have an explanation if this is normal? How is it in your cars.?
Both cars where updated with the newest software. One car was a new test car at the official mclaren dealer. The mclaren could not answer my question.
Please don’t argue, that a sports car is intended to shift manual. There is an automatic mode that I expect to work properly or at least as described in the user manual.
Beside this issue, this is the best sportscar I ever have driven!!
Best regards and thanks for an answer.
Olaf