If you go and find a long road, leave the car in drive and count the gear changes, you will find that it started in 1st.

By touching the right paddle you are telling the car to change up a gear so you are putting it in to 2nd yourself.

 

That's the great thing about the little feature. It allows you to see the gears changes and still automatically shift.

I have tried the method at different speeds. The last time I tried it was traveling on the highway at 65mph. Placed the selector in S and touched the upshift paddle. The car was in 6th gear. I just left it that way and drove for miles. Eventually when came to a stop, the transmission stopped at 2nd gear. I started rolling and floored it. The transmission went from 2-1-2-3-4 and up.


And, the car is 2012 XF.


Last I drove the XKR, seemed to do the same.

 

Yup, that is correct but in drive they will start in 1st.

 

thanks, always something new to learn. Wished it would clutch when you pulled both paddles ... for quick rev blips.

 

I wish the same thing.

I also wonder how the automanuals work on other cars these days. It seems like when the X150 came out, the blipping rev-matching automatic was pretty unique with the paddle shifting. But now, I imagine many other cars do it. Even a Mazda6.

 

I know for a fact my XF starts in 2nd in D as well.

It's all done for gas savings purposes. Most new cars in todays market are set up that way, even something like a Porsche Panamera.

Not a problem. It's a nice little feature. Until I discovered the feature, I would have to put it back to D and back to S like you mentioned.

 

Can a Jag tech please jump in here and put rumors of 2nd gear starts on the X150 to bed already?

 

Like Bruce, I'm game to try Exec's tip - however, from experience, any time i've briefly touch a paddle in the XK, I've end up in manual mode, not in a 'selection display' mode.

Anyway, all this discussion has lead me to do some more research on the ZF 6HP28. Interesting things to know:

• The TCM will determine the 'target gear' at any time based on a combination of parameters (speed, pedal position, engine torque/rpm, selector mode, steering angle, etc.) - within 100 milliseconds.
• It completes switching to the target gear within 200 milliseconds (below the level of human perception).
• It will skip up to 3 intermediate gears if necessary, without the need to select & then deselect them (as was the case in the 6HP26). That means it will jump direct from 6th to 2nd if necessary.
• It can lock up the torque converter from 1100 rpm in any gear, directly connecting the engine to the wheels and thus avoiding loss of power through torque converter inefficiency (minimum 8% loss in this 'box).
• It can hold off gear changes during cornering or ABS/DSC operation.

Since the TCM can determine & select the best gear for the moment, in a time that's about the same as my reaction time, I think my meatbrain is going to have its **** handed to it on a plate in most real-world performance tests. To make it worse, if I want to whack it down 3 gears, I have to pull the paddle 3 times - TCM is already in the right gear and accelerating before I've finished playing with the lever. I think I'll continue to save paddle use for making loud noises in tunnels and for situations that the TCM can't anticipate.

 

I have only driven an XF once and that was when they were first produced so can't really comment on them but I would be interested to know what your 'fact' is based on. It wouldn't be hard to test - just pull away gently in drive and pull the right hand paddle. If a 2 appears, you were in first, if a 3 appears you were in 2nd.

The S-Type, X350 and XK's with the ZF 6HP26 gearbox all pulled away in first in drive.

This is from the adaptation routine for those models and that gearbox:
NOTE: This process must be carried-out with the transmission in 'normal' mode (not sports mode) on a flat road.

'C' Clutch (1-2 upshift) Using light throttle, accelerate from rest, ensuring the torque band is within the indicated bar graph range.

Once the 1-2 upshift is completed and the correct torque conditions have been met, the next vacant box adjoining 'C' clutch will turn green with a 'tick' to show 'C' clutch has adapted. The highlight will move to 'B' Clutch.

My 07 XKR had a very obvious and harsh change from 1st to 2nd when I first got it but after clearing the adaptations and following the above routine it returned to normal.

 

OK, I'm fresh in from my drive home and tested it extensively in D only. These are approximates for RPM and KPH, but it was very consistent over easily 6 starts, probably more. I even blew off my wife who was wanting to talk over the phone to concentrate. At the risk of killing any romance prospects, I add. The things I do for science...

Every time I launched (very quietly, mind you, there was traffic and I was wanting to watchg the speedo and tacho, listen to the engine, and not run up someone's ****), the car would change gear at about 1400rpm (20kph) then again at 1600rpm (35kph), then 1600rpm (50kph), then at about 60kph. If I then flicked the upshift, it would change gear and show 6th then immediately change back to 5th, so clearly the 60kph shift was for 5th. Working backward, that meant that 50kph was 4th, 35kph was 3rd, and 20kph was second. Which all makes sense.

But then while I was stationary I fiddled with the paddles a bit. Flicking the upshift paddle when stationary in D gave a noticeable lurch (not a big one, but it was there) while the car shifted gear. It then shows 2nd on the dash. But shifting the downshift when stationary in D gives no lurch, and shows 1st on the dash. Conclusion? No lurch because the car didnt change gear, it was already in 1st.

And if you are struggling with the conversion, 1 kph is about 0.6mph. So 20kph is about 12mph, 35kph is about 20mph, and 50kph is about 30mph. I'm guessing by this stage, I'm a lawyer, not a statistician.

Admire my enthusiasm.

C'mon, admire it.

 

Just reading through:
"At the risk of killing any romance prospects," = Admired!

 

Did some tests myself this morning. If I touch the '+' paddle while driving in S mode, it goes into manual mode, not a 'show me the gears' mode. However, to avoid stalling, it will drop down the gears if I don't touch the '-' paddle as I slow down, and it does end up in 2nd when I come to rest. When I accelerate again, it just stays in 2nd until I pull '+'; I guess it would have changed up at the redline, since I wasn't in Dynamic mode, but I didn't want to scare the locals.

However, that's just the TCM making sure I don't stall when I'm not using the paddles properly. What does it do when it's in auto mode? I don't know, since I didn't have the opportunity to get up to a sufficient speed to count it going through all the gears.

It's entirely possible that it does default to 2nd when at rest, since it can have 1st preselected, ready for a quick switch if you plant boot. If you don't, you've just avoided potential wheelspin & used less gas. But I really can't be sure without the opportunity to go from rest to a decent speed. Probably need someone else to watch the rev counter, too.

 

Ngarara,

Thank you for the perfect explanation.

 

This is actually the only thing I really hate about my XKR, the fact that the gearbox reverts to 1st gear when in D. Why not just let it start in 2nd, like all other ZF boxes do? I ask the same question when I visited the ZF factory i Germany, and they actually agreed that it was a huge miss from Jaguar.

A 2nd gear start would make for a smoother start and better fuel economy.
Still with the possibility to downshift to first if the occasion should demand it

Well my 2 cents..

 

Why are so many people clamoring for a 2nd gear start??? This is supposed to be a performance car. At least I thought it was.

 

I've noticed that in S when the car automatically drops to a lower gear it is definitely noticeable and sometimes jerky which I assume it characteristic of the S mode. It can get funky on upshits as well. In drive I can feel the pulling when dropping to a lower gear but less noticeable. I felt nothing in my G35 transmission when it dropped to a lower gear. Is all of this normal for our transmissions? I know the DCT (PDK) in other cars such as the Porsche has it's own unusual characteristics but the XK is still using a slush box and I assumed the shifting would be more linear.

 

I think, either way, if you stomp on the gas, you get a 1st-gear start. From my experience in manual mode today, the car is quite happy pootling off the line in 2nd - and when you have a shopping trolley in front of you, that's all you need.

 

In S, I suspect that it locks up the torque converter quicker, so you get more engine braking without the converter diffusing the effect. But I have no written evidence of that, just the feeling I've had when going at it in S.

 

That's what I think.

I think that's a good feature, because it really makes the drivetrain more responsive, as if you were driving a car with a manual transmission.

 

The gearbox function in manual mode is pretty well documented in the owners manual so there shouldn't be any surprises there

What isn't obviously documented is what gear the cars start off in D so for the arm chair theorists and disbelievers, here is a video of my 07 XKR going up through the gears from 1st to 6th in D.


BruceTheQuail has also already confirmed that his 2011 XKR pulls away in 1st by counting the gear changes.