Auto Trans paddle shift issue
 

Car has roughly 800 miles on it, was cruising not using paddle shifters doing ~80 mph. Got off the highway and decided to swap over to manual for a bit on the back roads to have a bit of fun. Shifting around 2800rpm eventually hitting 6th gear at around 60mph. Problem is I found myself stuck at 60 unable to accelerate further, I didn't completely open up the throttle but I did put a decent amount of pressure down without seeing any response from the car. It felt as if I had no more power left. Swapped the car back into automatic and immediately felt the Horsepower kick in.

Am I shifting too early? I'll be driving home again on the highway and will try shifting nearer to 4000 rpm. I'm going to the dealership on monday to have lojack installed along. I'll be bringing it to their attention either way, but I wanted to see if this is a known issue or I'm the only one.

When you put it back into D it probably downshifted. 6th is great for fuel-efficient cruising but is terrible to try an accelerate in especially at 60 or above. At freeway speeds I'll typically drop down to 4th for passing or any kind of quick increase in speed.

Gear ratios for AT below. 6th is pretty weak - it's there for fuel economy, not power.

1st - 3.538
2nd - 2.060
3rd - 1.404
4th - 1.000
5th - 0.713
6th - 0.582

You should be hitting 60 around 3rd gear. 2nd tops out at 60 IIRC.

Check out Acceleration in gear pic:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10629

Thats for MT. AT's have slightly shorter gear ratios for efficiency so you have to shift a little earlier than stated values

Thanks guys this really cleared this up, if my account was mature enough to thank I'd thank you both!

Also, be aware that the paddle shifters are VERY sensitive; it's easy to accidentally "double-click" the paddles and essentially skip a gear. I don't believe it actually skips a gear, but it shifts so fast that it feels like it if you aren't careful.

Same thing happened to me today, except I had it in 4th. Was stop and go traffic on the highway, so downshifted from 5 to 4, then when the road opened up a bit, gave it some throttle, but revs stayed around 1500 no matter how much throttle. Put her over to auto, immediately revved higher and got power. Then back to manual, and problem was cleared. Too identical to be coincidence.

The car has rev matching downshifting so most likely you were in 4th at a very slow speed (stop and go as you said) 20-25? Which is too much strain on the tranny to produce any power.

Next time this happens down shift even more and test it out. OP should try it out as well!

Don't treat this real paddle shifter like logitech wheel at home :). Switch to "D" mode till you know some basic MT gear and then go from there.

Anyone else have an AT BRZ? I kinda wish I got the AT version. Ive seen people get over 45+ MPG and I wouldn't doubt that considering I get around 35 MPG in the highway.

I kinda like the paddle shifters better than the stick shift too :( I find myself rocking the car when downshifting... maybe I need to apply more power so it doesnt rock back and forth? lol.

Nope, I was in 4th at around 60kph. The concern is not that it wasn't producing power, it was that the tachy wasn't moving at all, even with half throttle. That's not right.

I drove a manual before this car, got AT bc it's DD and Toronto traffic is probably only second to LA traffic. Plus, this AT is really sweet for a slush box.

Engine and the tach not revving? Or just the tach? I'd say its probably the ECU kicking in and keeping you from destroying the drivetrain.

Keep this in mind you are in 4th... which in MT has a top speed of 109 MPH.. AT is slightly lower than that but still way off from where your shifting at. You should be looking at 2nd or 3rd max at that speed.

Why are these people putting their lugging cars into D instead of just downshift is my question? Have you ever had an issue after one or two downshifts?

You're lugging the car. Downshift it again...