We purchased this car new. It has always been miserable to drive because the automatic transmission is set to downshift only if the driver punches the gas pedal almost to the floor, or manually downshifts. The only possible way to maintain speed on hilly roads is to manually downshift. When pulling hills, it stays in high gear and won't downshift even after the driver has depressed the gas pedal nearly to the floor and continuously slows. After you've slowed down 10 or 15 mph and all the other drivers around you are angry at you for not maintaining speed, it will sometimes downshift then accelerate dramatically because you've got the pedal almost to the floor. Unless shifting is done manually, the only choices are to slow dramatically as there isn't enough power to maintain speed, or punch the pedal to the floor and accelerate hard. There is no in-between. It's amazing that cars with the 1st automatic transmissions built 50 or 60 years ago could shift so much more appropriately than a 2007 model with computer controls.
We purchased this car new. It has always been miserable to drive because the automatic transmission is set to downshift only if the driver punches the gas pedal almost to the floor, or manually downshifts. The only possible way to maintain speed on hilly roads is to manually downshift. When pulling hills, it stays in high gear and won't downshift even after the driver has depressed the gas pedal nearly to the floor and continuously slows. After you've slowed down 10 or 15 mph and all the other drivers around you are angry at you for not maintaining speed, it will sometimes downshift then accelerate dramatically because you've got the pedal almost to the floor. Unless shifting is done manually, the only choices are to slow dramatically as there isn't enough power to maintain speed, or punch the pedal to the floor and accelerate hard. There is no in-between. It's amazing that cars with the 1st automatic transmissions built 50 or 60 years ago could shift so much more appropriately than a 2007 model with computer controls.
- zimmermankeith, Seven Valleys, PA, US