Awesome first drive--Auto trans question
 

Took an FRS out for about 15 min. Fell in love in the first 30 seconds. What a nice car to drive!! So precise and tactile. It felt like an overpowered go-kart--nothing but fun, and like my lifted jeep, you forgive it all of its faults because of that. I was really impressed with the auto tranny--shifted wicked quick and the sport mode was actually a sport mode. This leads me to my question--just how many modes or ways of shifting this tranny are there? I counted normal, sport, snow, paddles, and then the shifter itself. Am I missing any? Traction control seemed to have a couple of settings, too. Also for the record, it didn't feel short of power--it's not a Mustang GT, but still very quick I really get why people love this car!!

WELCOME, @Patman, to ....... The Forum .......:clap:

Yep, that's what happens when you drive one ....... :D

I don't know about how many combinations there are with the AT ......but, I have read that there is a "pedal dance" thing you can do (at least with the MT) that will free you up all the way from most of the nannies.


humfrz

Welcome to the club! I drive an auto myself. Wasn't planning on auto originally but ended up with one and love it! So you have normal mode, snow mode (shifts ever so slightly smoother at lower rpm as well as launches in second gear) sport mode keeps the rims a bit higher so your closer to the power band and shift much faster .3 seconds or somthing like that. Then you have manual mode where you make all the decisions. It will down shift for you if it gets close to the stalling rpm point but you get hit the Rev limiter if your not careful. I am on my phone so I apologize for any spelling errors. I do know a fair bit about the autos so quote me or pm me if you got any more questions

Basically what he said. I test drove the MT, and ultimately went with the AT for practical reasons. Either transmission choice will not let you down. After driving manual for a few years, the only thing you really miss is launching the car and clutch kicking for drifts. Which, for most of the owners of these cars, aren't a big deal. Both are plenty fun and I very rarely find myself missing a third pedal. But, then during drives in traffic, I can make the woman happy by throwing the car into drive and holding her hand, once we're out of traffic, I can throw it in manual, hit some back roads and go fast and get a little sideways and make her smile.

Normally when I'm driving, it's in manual mode, unless I'm on the highway or stuck in traffic and with VSC on (or is it off, whatever you call it when you push the VSC button). Winter time,I have TC off, unless on the highway

Sorry if this doesn't make sense or is incoherent. Been hitting the sauce.

i actually like the automatic. I personally own the Manual. But the Auto is much more practical

its a twin win!

Cant go wrong on both trans, i driven both, on auto though i only use sports mode. 86 for life!!!!!!

I think it feels short on power for folks coming out of powerful cars. I came out of a GT and yes it falls short of that way short, but its a more fun car to drive than my GT. You have a Jeep so yes you won't feel the power lul. The worse part of it is around 3grand, so you gota keep the revs high

I drive a manual

There is normal, sport, and snow shifting modes and this has already been covered. Traction control has on, hit the button once and it will be disabled until you get up to speed, hold it down for 3 seconds and it is off. Stability control has normal, hit the button once and you have VSC Sport which will allow some slip, but, will attempt to catch you if it thinks you've gone too far, and then holding the button down for 3 seconds it will be off and other than ABS, the system is off and you are on only your abilities (or lack thereof). If you want no intervention then you have the pedal dance or you can pull the ABS fuse.

Here's more variations:
- manual mode using only the paddles
- manual mode using only the stick (handy when driving with winter gloves on)
- manual mode using either paddle or stick depending on circumstance
- auto mode, but use left paddle to grab a gear (or two!) for passing or to jump into a hole in traffic

Here's another tip - replace that factory air filter with a performance drop-in. The improvement in feel is quite noticeable, especially in (regular) auto mode. It ups the low-end torque just enough to avoid downshifting every time you goose the throttle a bit - which I found kind of annoying with the factory filter.

I have an auto and I typically drive it in manual mode. I like that I don't have to take a hand off the wheel to shift which helps me keep a little more control of the car in turns. Like I've said in other threads, my FR-S is my daily driver and I live in the SF Bay Area which means commute traffic can be terrible and it's nice being able to slip it back into automatic and not have to worry about a clutch while doing the bumper-to-bumper crawl.

It's like I told someone who was bagging on the power in these cars: I didn't buy it for raw power. If I wanted that, I'd have gone for a Mustang GT or Challenger. I bought the FR-S because my preferred driving is done on twisty turny winding 2 lane roads in the hills of Western Marin and Sonoma counties. That's where I have fun (since it's an alternate way home some days when the highways are backed up). I wanted a car that would feel stuck to the road that I could throw around those curves so that's precisely what I got.

Awesome--thanks for all the replies. Quite the community here--reminds me a bit of the jeep crowd, only with better mpg and less breakage!!

Ha I was gona get a Wrangler but it was impractical as a daily and utility. Just gona get a truck.

I bought it because I had a mustang for a daily driver lol. It was an expensive daily

Press sport button at a stop first, and then engage in manual mode. This way always felt a bit faster than just using manual mode. Maybe it's just me but most noticeable during downshifts.