Handbook doesn't seem clear on this. If you're in sports mode, and pull the stick/paddles the wrong way to accidentally change down rather than up at, say, 6000rpm, will it do so and blow the engine up, or refuse to change gear? I believe in non-sports mode you're "safe"
In a similar vein, in sports mode, if you slow down to a crawl in, say, 6th, will it stay there and damage the motor or will it change down anyway?
Thanks in advance for any help

 

The car in all modes, won't let you shift down if it "thinks" the revs will be too high and potentially harm the engine. I do believe it's overly conservative.

EDIT: This is not for those V6's that are manuals.

 

Thanks mahjik, reassuring! What about the second scenario - leaving it in 6th while you slow down to a crawl? Will it change down anyway?
driven manual cars all my life and would never do this in a manual, but just seems like a possible driver error when you're switching around modes

 

This transmission is programmed to protect against these events, it will not downshift if the resulting RPM is higher than factory set limit, now i'm not sure if that's exactly 6500rpm or there are some leeways, but it is very close. It will also not stall if you slow down on high gear, it will auto downshift to the previous gear in all modes.

Possible ways to "accidentally" break these would be pressing "P" in motion, it does let you do it until certain speed and if you foot is on the brake, idk what that speed is as I will never try it on purpose.
Another would be changing from D to R at speed or vice versa, again, it does let you do it until a certain speed, exactly how much is something I wouldn't want to find out myself.

Another one is manually down shifting from 2nd to 1st at lower rpm(say, under 2500, above 3k rpm it is buttery smooth), it jerks a lot more than it needs to and happens to all cars I have driven with the zf8hp. I don't know what causes it, nor do I know if it is "hard" on the transmission, if anyone knows, I'd be more than happy to know!

 

Thats great Ray, thanks a lot. So much to learn!

 

Yes, if you are driving in (say) 5th in manual mode and then stop at some lights, it will go back to 2nd by itself. It wont go back into first by itself, the only way to get the car into first is to use the paddles, or I think if you are in auto mode and mash the pedal at launch it will go back into first, but it usually launches in second.

 

Thanks Bruce, all making sense

 

Er, or select S and push the stick forward ....