For you guys who always drive in Sport?
 

Do you feel like its to harsh on the car?
Or do you feel that's what the car is made for? :icon_naughty:

Mine doesn't accelerate as well in sport versus just drive. It's also not as much fun versus manual. It is nice for decelerating when getting off the interstate.

I always leave it in sport, 100% of the time. The one difference that I notice is that the upshifts are harder (and crisper) with the paddles than the smooth upshifts in Drive. I have over 150,000 miles on mine, so if it's harsh on the car, I'm still waiting.

Yep, I'd think that as long as the trans fluid is changed every 50-60k miles everything would be just dandy.

Very interesting discovery you have made on our 5l SC engines.
There is no question that the rpms are twice as much in some cases, and needlessly.
And many have argued that a life of an engine is the revolution it makes and all else is inconsequential.
On the other hand lugging an engine (which the regular drive mode has a tendency to do) is considered the only thing bad for an engine. (so I guess there is something gained there)

Even the shifts are twice as many and twice as hard.
Are you on the original trans?

My takeaway is that both the engine and the trans are really well built, well we knew that about the trans from other cars.

I normally drive in sport and change manually. Its only harder on the car if you don't pay attention. I find I often change up sooner than the auto would in sport.

Sport mode + manual shift mode = Traction control off right?

I've used sport more once or twice. Felt too aggressive at the time but I've been meaning to get it out in sport mode again. By default, I prefer Dynamic mode and manual shift on occasion.

You guys with the 5.0 s have a lot more modes to choose from than us 4.2 guys. We have sport mode and regular mode. And we can take traction control down a bit or turn it off. We can paddle shift - in regular mode the car reverts back to auto if you don't shift for a while or if you hold the paddle for a few seconds. In sport mode, once you paddle shift once, it remains in paddle shift mode.

So since the OP has a 4.2, his question may mean something different to the 5.0 crowd.

Personally, I mostly drive in regular mode, since my daily drive consists of heavy traffic followed by interstate driving, but if I am feeling sporty I will switch to sport mode in the stop and go areas of my commute. On the interstate I just leave it in regular mode. I rarely use paddle shift and even more rarely take off traction control. I will sometimes hit the downshift paddle to pass someone.

Q&C,
I am on my original transmission, only having changed transmission fluid two or three times. I'm still amazed at its longevity. After having a series of Chrysler products years ago, where the day the odometer passed 60,000 miles, the transmission failed, and after a Buick Enclave that has had 5 rebuilds along with our Lincoln MKX which is on its third, it's a great pleasure to have a car that's reliable. Now if I could just say that about the water pumps....

Agreed on transmission longevity - my recent cars have this history:

Honda Odyssey - 100K
Nissan Pathfinder - 100K
BMW 328i - Twice after 60K each

This will make you feel better.
I have a Lexus/Toyota with legendary reliability. They say the second best design Toyota ever did. I have changed the water pump in it more than the plugs.

I very very rarely am in sport, and not for long.

Drive or Manual.

I will often lock it in one gear down from wherever drive would have put it.

The difference in RPM is not a lot, but will raise fluid pressures.

I haven't driven a 4.2 but I would assume the 4.2L regular mode = 5.0L dynamic mode. I am assuming they added an "Eco" mode to the 5.0L to save fuel that can be disabled using dynamic mode. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. When dynamic mode is OFF (default), the throttle response is not as good. With dynamic mode on, response is quick and noticeably more aggressive.

You mentioned SPORT mode on the 4.2L cars. I have a 4.2 Xk but have only seen traction control OFF and manual mode. Where is this sport mode you are referring to? Thx

Shemp, in drive it selects between different profiles for you based on the driving it sees.

If I do a battery reset I get nice fast shifts, and a responsive throttle and downshift.

However, because I tend to hyper-mile in my driving style, it just goes dead over time.

Badicedog, move the shift lever from drive, to the left, into sport.

I'm under the impression that on the 4.2 cars, using sport mode only changes the gearbox behaviour, but has no effect on CATS behaviour at all. Is this correct?
Well, of course more aggressive driving is more likely to trigger CATS, but there is no direct relation?

Most of the time I use sport mode with manual shifting, rest of the time D. I never use sport mode in automatic mode.

If you move the shift lever to the left once in drive, that is sport mode. The display will show DS instead of only D.

Sport sould also make the trans downshift 2 gears when passing instead of one for faster acceleration

I have never liked the Sport mode on any Jaguar I own. Hold the gear too long and just doesn't feel natural. Doesn't really seem to do much. The Sport mode on my Aston or Lotus is like kick in the ass. The car just lurches forward as soon as the button is pushed. Sales guy at the Lotus - AM dealer near me said Lotus equates their Sport mode to a 25 hp boost when pushed! Sport mode is dramatic enough that I don't like to drive in it around town. How Jaguar didn't do much with it is beyond me. I like Jaguar Adaptive Mode. On the XE it's needed or the car feels lazy.

Esattamente!!!

Reminds me of a middle-age guy (our age) trying to be a youngster at the club.

No sport driver would drive that way, using the braking feature of an engine for enjoyment and thereby being in the wrong gear should the light turn green.

Then I realized, it does what it was designed to, offer a consolation prize to someone in a midlife crisis stuck behind a minivan.