How to Kick-down the Gear

[Exotic Hadron]

Howdy,

Could somebody please explain how do I shift the gearbox down by kicking it with the throttle pedal? My X1 is the fist ride equipped with automatic gearbox I've ever driven so I am quite new to it. The reason I am asking is that it's hard to take over the other car by just pushing the gas--it leads to overrevs. Am I trying not to spin the engine over 3500 rpms cuz I still haven't completed my fist 1.000 km. when taking over and pushing the gaz, the Engine sometimes spins over 3500 like up to 4.000. What I do is I forcibly stop pushing the throttle when the indicator reaches 3.500 rpms and a few secs later I hear the gearbox shifting to higher gear and the revolutions fall down to like 2.800 rpm. After that I can continue taking over the snail-car. If however I skip doing that and continue pushing the throttle, the engine will spin up to the 4.000. How do I avoid this? I know this could be a stupid question to ask but...

I think I could first kick the gear down. The problem is... I don't know how to do that. The dealer rep told me there's no kick-down in the BMW, the kick-down is supported on Mercedes only (!). I wonder if it's true? In the manual however it reads that I should "Depress the accelerator beyond the resistance at the point of full throttle". As I said, doing so just leads to extreme overrevs and I do not see gearbox shits.

Thrilled waiting for your responses.

TIA.

[niknik]

Yes, the kick down is there and is activated by pressing the gas pedal to its full extent - "forcing it" a bit after the full throttle point as stated in the manual.

However, how the engine/gearbox reacts will depend on the current conditions.
As this is intended as an "emergency acceleration" manouver, it will indeed rev up the engine to its maximum power point, and the gears will shift down to provide maximum acceleration.

A common scenario would be, driving at 80Km/h at low revs.... Fully press the pedal, the car will rev up, shift 1 or 2 gears down, and accelerate vigorously. That's what it should do.

Are you sure you're not trying to do the kick down while in manual mode? (I don't know it would act in that mode)

[mario486]

Originally Posted by niknik

Yes, the kick down is there and is activated by pressing the gas pedal to its full extent - "forcing it" a bit after the full throttle point as stated in the manual.

However, how the engine/gearbox reacts will depend on the current conditions.
As this is intended as an "emergency acceleration" manouver, it will indeed rev up the engine to its maximum power point, and the gears will shift down to provide maximum acceleration.

A common scenario would be, driving at 80Km/h at low revs.... Fully press the pedal, the car will rev up, shift 1 or 2 gears down, and accelerate vigorously. That's what it should do.

Are you sure you're not trying to do the kick down while in manual mode? (I don't know it would act in that mode)

Hi,

My X1 is also my first Auto...ever, so like you getting used to it. I am also still running mine in but have tried various methods for the "gear down" when I need the acceleration.

1. Floor the gas pedal. This produces a kick down after a brief (about 1 sec) delay but to be honest it takes me as long to gear down in a manual car like my Mini. I think because its an auto and you don't do much it feels to me as if there is a delay but it would be the same in a manual as you go through the different actions. Anyway, this then produces the required acceleration and then I back off the pedal after a few seconds. Revs climb of course but this is what you want.

2. Moving the auto shift into sport mode works better for me. I am still playing around with it but am quite impressed with how clever it is. If I do not shift the auto sport manually it still tends to stick to gears longer. In particular when you are accelerating it will keep to that gear far longer than in basic auto mode. If I need to accelerate I just bump it down ( ie the - ), gears changes instantly and I accelerate. If you do not accelerate it will gear up again after 10 s or so. The other thing that also impresses me in the auto sport mode is how well it uses engine braking when slowing down fast. Very impressive.

In short, I am liking my first auto a lot. Takes a bit of getting used to...and yes I did hit the brake a few times in the beginning thinking it was the clutch

For this type of car I think it was a good choice. For my Mini Cooper the manual is too much fun.

[mozdal]

Originally Posted by Exotic Hadron

Howdy,

Could somebody please explain how do I shift the gearbox down by kicking it with the throttle pedal? My X1 is the fist ride equipped with automatic gearbox I've ever driven so I am quite new to it. The reason I am asking is that it's hard to take over the other car by just pushing the gas--it leads to overrevs. Am I trying not to spin the engine over 3500 rpms cuz I still haven't completed my fist 1.000 km. when taking over and pushing the gaz, the Engine sometimes spins over 3500 like up to 4.000. What I do is I forcibly stop pushing the throttle when the indicator reaches 3.500 rpms and a few secs later I hear the gearbox shifting to higher gear and the revolutions fall down to like 2.800 rpm. After that I can continue taking over the snail-car. If however I skip doing that and continue pushing the throttle, the engine will spin up to the 4.000. How do I avoid this? I know this could be a stupid question to ask but...

I think I could first kick the gear down. The problem is... I don't know how to do that. The dealer rep told me there's no kick-down in the BMW, the kick-down is supported on Mercedes only (!). I wonder if it's true? In the manual however it reads that I should "Depress the accelerator beyond the resistance at the point of full throttle". As I said, doing so just leads to extreme overrevs and I do not see gearbox shits.

Thrilled waiting for your responses.

TIA.

I think in your situation the gearbox downshifts 2 gears "this is what it does most of the time if you kick-down" and when you ease the pedal it upshifts once, so you end up with downshifting once. You may try taking the gearbox to manual mode and adjust the rev accordingly. Maybe 1 shifting down and full throttle(without pressing the kick-down button) may help keeping the rev under 3500 as well as benefiting max torque of the engine. Additionally, from my observations, I can say that the gas pedal is also responsive how fast you push it. If you make a fast move for example from 1/4 gas to 3/4 (this is without pushing the button) you'll most probably see that the gearbox downshifts.

Kick-down button under the pedal works the same regardless of being in auto-sport-manual mode.

Also your sales representative seems like an idiot. Kick-down only in mercs

[Exotic Hadron]

niknik

Are you sure you're not trying to do the kick down while in manual mode? (I don't know it would act in that mode)

Yeah, I used the manual shift just once when I got stuck in the mud. This didn't help at all, btw. It was just a small greasy pothole on the road. I've been unable to get out of it, the wheels were just sliding over the hole. Lucky me, I had the jack at hands, so I lifted the rear wheel and put the board under it. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to get out of there.
I blame sleak Pirelli's runflats, they have weak threads. Also, I saw DTS/DSC signs displaying on the dashboard --- these did not help as well. I felt sorry I have sDrive, I think the extra 2 wheels could help there.

[Exotic Hadron]

mario486

My X1 is also my first Auto...ever

Much interesting with me... my fist car ever.

I think because its an auto and you don't do much it feels to me as if there is a delay but it would be the same in a manual as you go through the different actions.

Agreed, I don't see there's a need for manual gearbox on the modern cars unless you are hard-core street-racer or whatever. But in this case you should have at least the 2.8L engine with its 260+ PS. My 1.8i is too weak for any racing. Mazda 6 1.8i with 120 PS starts faster. However, I am no racer in no sense, so I am happy with how my X1 speeds up.

Moving the auto shift into sport mode works better for me.

Good idea, thanks for the tip. I was talking with dealer about the sport mode and they didn't tell anything concrete. I was interested in getting to know why don't use the sport mode permanently.

[Exotic Hadron]

mozdal

I can say that the gas pedal is also responsive how fast you push it.

Exactly! And the problem is that when you drive for the long period of time on a constant gas, it's hard to take over since the pedal becomes less responsive, you floor it and... no response.

Kick-down button under the pedal works the same regardless of being in auto-sport-manual mode.

Thanks!

Also your sales representative seems like an idiot. Kick-down only in mercs

Oh, man, it would be just polite to say this. They even didn't know that X1 has the daytime driving lights. It came to an utter surprise to me. However, checking the manual has just shown that they were just incompetent.

I don't know... first they didn't know that they are selling X1 (the first time I came to the dealership to order my X1 they starred at me saying they don't know what I am talking about, this was back in April). Second, they didn't know about daylight lights, they didn't know about kick-down, they don't know the difference between the sport and normal mode, they didn't even know that I can order automatic gearbox for my 1.8i, firstly they've told me that it's impossible. And quality of translation is even not below par. It's outrageously low!
Duh, I think BMW headquarters should take control over their dealership in Russia.

[mario486]

Originally Posted by Exotic Hadron

mario486

Much interesting with me... my fist car ever.

I meant it was my first automatic gearbox, all my previous cars were manuals.

Is the X1 the first car you have bought?

[Exotic Hadron]

mario486
Yeah, that's because I am saying that my case is much more interesting --- the X1 is the first car I've bought.

[Exotic Hadron]

Duh, this reminds me of these lines by Lennon
People say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing...
I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,
I really love to watch them roll

[mozdal]

Originally Posted by Exotic Hadron

mozdal

Exactly! And the problem is that when you drive for the long period of time on a constant gas, it's hard to take over since the pedal becomes less responsive, you floor it and... no response.

As you say, the gearbox adapts to your style of driving after a certain time of driving. To my knowledge, it shifts based on your driving characteristics of last five minutes. Try giving it a very fast kick, like waking the car up Push all the way down to the kick-down button and quickly hold back to its old position. Do that too fast and you'll probably see that it downshifts and since you ease the gas, the car does not sprint. That works most of the time for me, but I've been driving the car for a year now and I know how the gearbox will react to my actions. And I've been driving autos since I got the licence, I only drove a 6mt astra 1.3cdti for a year and still miss the joy of manual despite the car being only 90hp. And it is also a matter of getting used to the car, you'll better control the car in time I think.

[Exotic Hadron]

mozdal

Push all the way down to the kick-down button and quickly hold back to its old position. Do that too fast and you'll probably see that it downshifts and since you ease the gas, the car does not sprint.

Thanks! I'll try it out.

And it is also a matter of getting used to the car, you'll better control the car in time I think

Oh, yeah, agreed to full extent.