Question for Automatic BRZ owners
 

Took the BRZ for a fun road rally with friends. I had the car in Sport, Also had the traction control button off via the 6 second hold. Selector in D, Did not have track mode on. I came around a corner going about 50 and the back in slid out and that was fine, I was powering on. It felt like it downshifted to 1st and the rear tires chirped, you could feel the nose dive down like hitting the brakes.

After that I turned on Track and Sport, didn't do the 6 second hold on the traction control. Didn't experience it the rest of the day.

I wondered since it was traction control off and not track that some of the computer nannies are still in the background. The car thought it was crashing and may the chirp was the ABS braking. Or because the slide with the tires sliding and the downshift went further then next or two gears down.

Kinda weird.

I tried manual shift in the tight stuff, it was ok. Need more torque. When I take the Camaro I just leave it in 3rd the whole time.

The buttons don't turn off the ECU controls for the transmission. Sport mode will adjust the shift point rpms, but it still calculates the "correct gear" for the conditions it senses. If you ease off the throttle enough or touch the brakes while recovering the ass end, it will downshift sometimes. It depends on the deceleration speed and breaking pressure...doesn't happen every time.

This has been my experience anyway. I am not a professional racing driver nor do I play one on tv. Your mileage may vary.