I have been riding around with the sport mode engaged on my 03. I like it as it does up the performance of the car. A friend was with me Saturday and he even commented if I did anything to the car as he could feel the difference in performance, and we were in city traffic.

My questions are is it OK to use the sport mode all the time. There is nothing in the owners manual saying not to. I was online trying to find an answer myself and during my Google search I click on Edmunds.com Jaguar X type forum on X type transmission problems. One person had their transmission go at 29,500K, and needed a complete rebuild or new tranny. The person who answered his question also said the JATCO transmissions are the weak spot on these cars especially early models and failure can be expected. My mechanic replaced an 05 X type tranny with 60K miles on it, but the car was a flood car so the water probably screwed up the tranny.
So my friends, is is OK to drive with sport mode engaged all the time or not? And what are your thoughts on the tranny? Thank you as always. and Bah Humbug to all.

 

I live in the Washington DC area, I have Sport Mode on 85% of the time. I've had my Jag since Aug of 2007 without any adverse impact - touch wood

 

someplace I read, or was told by the dealer that SPORT mode is gopod in almost all situations, EXCEPT for snpow and Ice. I drive that way, and live in very high snow load conditions. it works for me
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Adam, I keep my sport mode on all the time. As for the tranny being the weak link, I would call the transfer case more of a weak link than the tranny. As long as you are not taking it up to 6000+ RPM and then expecting the tranny to shift and hold itself together time after time, then all will be good. Drive sensibly and all will last you a nice long time. You drive it like you stole it and well, it is going to be a very expensive car to own.

 

>I keep my sport mode on all the time.

Ok, but what benefit do you get out of doing that? Not trying to be a jerk, just wondering...

Over the years I switched it on frequently but never really noticed any difference so I just leave it off. My style of driving is mostly local streets and then on the highway and I never was able to feel or notice any differences.

Thanks
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Jaguar: Grace, Pace, and Space - Sir William Lyons

 

It holds the gears longer before upshifting, and is quicker to downshift with less throttle input compared to normal mode. It definitely makes a difference if you have the 2.5 which has less torque than the 3.0 and needs to be in the mid-range RPM in order to get anywhere quickly.

 

pab, like AML said, when you are harder on the gas, it tends to hold the gear longer, letting you build up more power. The amount above the non-sport shift point is relative to how far you are into the gas. Normal acceleration, may hold it an additional 100-200 RPM. You put your foot into it a lot, may hald it another 1,000 RPM or so (general numbers given for demonstration only).

 

Why would it be on the car if you couldn't use it all the time? I've driven over 50k miles in my X and have the sport mode on probably more than 95% of the time. I only really turn it off when I'm low on fuel and want to stretch out the last 20 miles or so until I can get to a gas station.

 

I would like to thank everyone to gave me very good answers about riding around in sport mode. I am not a aggressive driver, I do at times like some crisp acceleration like going on to the interstate. But at a 7K redline I would thinking hold a shift to 5K RPM shouldn't do any damage to the car or running gear unless the transfer case is really weak. So I will follow that advice also and kept the shift below 5K RPM


OH, the weather outside is nice!