sDrive 35i DCT shift pattern

[Marcoose]

It seems more and more to me that your car is operating as intended. And that it doesn’t match your taste of driving.

I too hated a few things about my car when I first bought it. Suspension and steering were massively disappointing. So was downshifting in Sport+. It cost money, but they’re considerably more acceptable now.

It’s peculiar you put your car in manual and let it shift at the red line. It’d surprise me BMW wanted for the DCT to run like that all the time. I wonder if it’s causing premature wear.

That’s all I have to offer. Good luck with your quest.

[jingai]

It’s peculiar you put your car in manual and let it shift at the red line. It’d surprise me BMW wanted for the DCT to run like that all the time. I wonder if it’s causing premature wear.

I don't, though. I was only saying it only does that if I manually shift gears at least once. If I push the lever to the left (for manual mode), it will automatically shift normally (albeit later, as I said I prefer). It is only when I manually select a gear at least once that it will do as you describe, until I push the lever back to the right again.

The crux of the issue I think for me is that intuitively, I thought the Sport button was kind of a Stage 2 shift program, and pushing the lever left to manual was kind of a Stage 3. I think I was just thinking about it backwards (or, non-German, lol): Stage 2 in terms of shift program seems to be pushing the lever left, and Stage 3 seems to be engaging Sport button while also having the shift lever in manual mode.

I'm pretty curious though about your description of selecting manual mode. It seems you are describing that it will only shift at the limits for you. For me, that is not the case. Of course it will if I'm WOT, in any mode, but at lower speeds it will happily shift up and down prior to the limits. It just only does so in a fashion that I like if I have the lever in manual mode, whereas I was always expecting the Sport button to do that.

In usual BMW fashion, the nuance is really confusing to relate to others succinctly, but to sum it up after all this back-and-forth, it seems that there are essentially 3 shift programs in these cars, or at least mine:

1. Comfort/Sport
2. Comfort + M/S
3. Sport + M/S

What threw me off is that I wanted the stiffer steering and suspension all of the time, and I assumed I needed to press the Sport button to get that. It appears that #2 in the list above does both of those things, plus the shift pattern of #3, but the shift timing is in between 1 and 3. That was what I was originally asking for, but it was very much not intuitive to me how to achieve that until I realized there was one combination I had never tried...

[B21]

Comfort mode…lazy gear program, slower throttle response, lighter steering, adaptive dampers soft..

Sport mode ..sharper response to throttle, different shift pattern at high end, heavier steering, adaptive dampers on firm

Sports+ mode as above but DCT doesn’t shift automatically into next gear if in manual mode, relaxed stability control

Independently moving DCT to left changes to sharper DCT mode..different from Sport mode..does not affect any other variables in the mode that is selected..

There are hidden impacts on cooling , oil pressure etc but these are not observable

[matsmith749]

I was playing with the 'lever to the left' mode on mine yesterday.

Quick question - if you touch the paddles, it then stays in manual only mode.

I tend to use auto mode most of the time, with a manual paddle input now & again when overtaking.

Is there a way to flick it back to being auto changing even though the lever is to the left?

[B21]

I was playing with the 'lever to the left' mode on mine yesterday.

Quick question - if you touch the paddles, it then stays in manual only mode.

I tend to use auto mode most of the time, with a manual paddle input now & again when overtaking.

Is there a way to flick it back to being auto changing even though the lever is to the left?

AFAIK..once you’ve left shifted it and you put into manual mode it will only shift up as it hits max rpm..and then stay in that gear …I think it will downshift as it reaches the lower limit..but it’s not functioning in ‘proper’ auto mode…your other option is I suspect as you are doing is to leave it in normal mode and select comfort / sport mode..

I don’t think xHP offers such an option but it overcomes that by offering multiple (7 levels) of ‘behaviour from each of the 3 modes…comfort , sport left shift..

[Chippie]

Is there a way to flick it back to being auto changing even though the lever is to the left?

Only way is to knock it into centre and then immediately back to left.

[Marcoose]

Independently moving DCT to left changes to sharper DCT mode..different from Sport mode.

In my car, I don’t feel that manual mode changes the sharpness of upshifts. It will stay in the selected gear until the programmed upshifting point, and upshift the same way as all other modes. Conversely, it will stay in high gear until the car stops, then automatically downshift to first. But you’ve done numerous mods on your car and feel it differently than I’d feel mine.

Richard’s xHP map sharpens up and downshifting in Sport+. Much better than stock maps.

[Marcoose]

(1) Quick question - if you touch the paddles, it then stays in manual only mode.

(2) Is there a way to flick it back to being auto changing even though the lever is to the left?

(1) No, it will revert to auto as soon as your throttle input revert to ‘mellow’.

(2) No, if the lever is in manual, it will stay in manual until you push the lever to auto. Or turn off the car or push park.

[Chippie]

shift pattern at high end, heavier steering, adaptive dampers on firm

I find mine even under light throttle will tend to drop a gear when switching from comfort to sport, and then pushing the gear leaver over drops another one. It also revs higher before changing up in sport.

[B21]

shift pattern at high end, heavier steering, adaptive dampers on firm

I find mine even under light throttle will tend to drop a gear when switching from comfort to sport, and then pushing the gear leaver over drops another one. It also revs higher before changing up in sport.

Remember the box uses adaptive logic..which reflects your behaviour over the preceding journeys …

So shift points will vary between drivers..another variable is not only the amount of throttle but also how fast the throttle is opened…

So for many reasons the box will behave differently in different cars with identical gearboxes..

Re-mapping adds a whole new box of spanners..

[mcbutler]

If you can contact the previous owner and ask if the box was mapped with Xhp.
The stage 3 map on the DCT is similar to some of your description.
Failing that you could pop it to BMW and get the DCT ECU reflashed.