I don't know if it's normal operation or just mine, but when I come to a stop it NEVER shifts down into 1st gear. Always takes off in 2nd. When starting uphill the vehicle lags at first, then hard shifts to accelerate. Also if I slow down say on a highway to make a turn by just slowing down it never gets into a low enough gear to not bog down. Sometimes it prevents me from accelerating quick enough to get out of the way. Very poor transmission design in my opinion.