Regrets on Automatic?

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Ernest72

Love my AT, only issue is it shifts too fast in D. Sure I can shift in manual, but let’s be honest. We all work and are tired and sometimes we just want to get home. Not every ride are we in the race car mood. I also have an 04 WRX in AT and the 4eat shifts much better for straight line. Wish there was a TCU programmable shift kit.

My experience has been that it does shift quickly if you are easy on the throttle, but it responds pretty well if you are putting your foot into it, and even better in Sport mode. You may want to try that. I probably drive in regular AT mode 70% of the time, sport mode 20% and manual 10%.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Halo_2

I hate that I barely put my foot down and it jumps to 6K, is there ECU updates to fix it revving its arse off?

I'm sure you can get the throttle tuned however you want if you have money for it.

[416isToronto]

‘14 brz...my first auto car in over 20 years of driving...gave up the Mazda3 GT 6-spd for it last month, put a couple thousand km on it already and i couldn’t be happier. Snow button works well too...

[Halo_2]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

There are necroposts for good reason like when somebody has new info or a new question on the subject (such as this one) and then there are ones that usually are just "me too". Many are obvious that the poster didn't know or care that the thread was old.
In fairness to some if they make a new thread on an old subject they just get barraged with "SEARCH NOOB" so they can not win no matter what they do.
At least Halo had a question that somebody may be able to answer with more than "learn how to drive".

I searched and this is what I got...search is broken google does a better job.

[mrg666]

I drive in manual mode almost always, automatic only until I get out of the parking lots and neighborhood. Very reliable and smooth transmission, shifts very quick. Sport mode is useless to me as I shift manual.

[Cole]

Originally Posted by Spuds

I'm sure you can get the throttle tuned however you want if you have money for it.

Part of the problem is that the AT and MT throttle maps are different. I used OFT to import the MT throttle map to my car, and it’s much smoother. Couple minutes of effort and it was done.

The AT has been great for me, for the majority of my driving, it’s perfect. For the one or two days a month I do autox, it’s still fantastic as I’m having too much fun to worry about not having a third pedal.

[Ernest72]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

My experience has been that it does shift quickly if you are easy on the throttle, but it responds pretty well if you are putting your foot into it, and even better in Sport mode. You may want to try that. I probably drive in regular AT mode 70% of the time, sport mode 20% and manual 10%.

Yes this is true. My issue is with my commute the car is cold so I baby it in the beginning. When you do that it shifts so fast. By the time the car is warm I am on the highway where the car is not really shifting.

When I take it for some spirited runs in the mountains it works very well in normal mode, but manual or sport are a bit more fun.

Makes me wish I had some paddles for my 4eat. They had them in Japan for the 5eat, but it’s an expensive and tough mod.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Halo_2

I searched and this is what I got...search is broken google does a better job.

I think Tcoat was just referring to what certain folks would have said if you started a new post on the same topic.

Yeah, the best search of this site is entering into Google "FT86 [something]". The forum search page should just say that lol.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Ernest72

Yes this is true. My issue is with my commute the car is cold so I baby it in the beginning. When you do that it shifts so fast. By the time the car is warm I am on the highway where the car is not really shifting.

Agh, OK. Well I never wait for the car to warm up, but then the climate here is not as extreme as in your parts.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Spuds

I think Tcoat was just referring to what certain folks would have said if you started a new post on the same topic.

Yeah, the best search of this site is entering into Google "FT86 [something]". The forum search page should just say that lol.

Yep. I thought I was clear that this was a case of a warranted resurrection where a legit question was raised for an old question. Much better than starting a new thread.


I have not used the site search since my second day here. Always just Google "topic wanted FT86club". Even that can be tricky since it generally search thread titles and the tiles often do not reflect the content of a thread. There are some very good old threads on subjects that I know had excellent info but can't find anymore because it was titled "Help" or "Weird Noise".

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Agh, OK. Well I never wait for the car to warm up, but then the climate here is not as extreme as in your parts.

Ya some of us have to wait just so we can see if nothing else.
The fun part of warming up a car for the tranny to loosen up is that you can let it run for hours and the tranny is still stone cold and no better. There is no combustion going on in there to create heat and the engine can not heat up the ambient air enough to make any real difference. Yes, it may be spinning a little and circulating the fluid but will not actually start to warm up until you are moving anyway. Sitting at idle to warm a tranny is just a waste of time.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

I have not used the site search since my second day here. Always just Google "topic wanted FT86club". Even that can be tricky since it generally search thread titles and the tiles often do not reflect the content of a thread.

You'll get better results by using Google's "site" tag, like so:

site:ft86club.com automatic transmission regrets

The "site" tag restricts the search results to just the URL you include after it. This searches all site content and returns page results, not just thread titles. It also strips out results where people on other sites are referring back to this site. For example, if you want to know about automatic transmissions, you may not want results from some Australian clickbait site that refers to discussions here as a source.

[mrg666]

Originally Posted by 416isToronto

‘14 brz...my first auto car in over 20 years of driving...gave up the Mazda3 GT 6-spd for it last month, put a couple thousand km on it already and i couldn’t be happier. Snow button works well too...

My second car (or main from kids' view) is a Mazda 3 (2017 Touring). The AT transmission of Mazda 3 is the best transmission in the price range (that I know). Did you know Mazda 3 AT has a single clutch that engages after torque converter is used for shifting? It shifts very quick and smooth ... miles ahead of those CVT transmissions in other Subaru/Toyota/Nissan cars.

[Ernest72]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Ya some of us have to wait just so we can see if nothing else.
The fun part of warming up a car for the tranny to loosen up is that you can let it run for hours and the tranny is still stone cold and no better. There is no combustion going on in there to create heat and the engine can not heat up the ambient air enough to make any real difference. Yes, it may be spinning a little and circulating the fluid but will not actually start to warm up until you are moving anyway. Sitting at idle to warm a tranny is just a waste of time.

This is true and why I drive easy at first and don’t hammer the tranny right away. Its because it is worse on my 04 WRX, that 4eat will hold onto second and slam into 3rd if it has not reached temp. Ask me how I know.