I've been driving mine for 2600 miles and from my experience, if I'm on partial throttle and then floor it, it will downshift maybe 50% of the time or even less. It's left me dissapointed a few times.

Just recently, I noticed that if I release the throttle, then quickly hit it at least half way, it downshifts.

Otherwise, I just shift it through the 1,2,3,4 myself if I need to.

Has anyone ever thought about modding the gate pattern of the auto shifter? What I'm thinking about is a staircase pattern from 1 through 4. That way, if I'm shifting from 1st to 2nd, I dont accidentally shove it up to 3rd.

 

You guys need to learn how to drive your autos

But yes, try double tapping your pedal (let go, stomp, let go, gas) and I get a downshift everytime. Shifting 1-2-3-D is completely useless and places strain on your tranny due to the excess heat it will generate. Its pretty simple if you take the time to learn how the tranny/ecu will act.

The only thing I'm disappointed in the stock auto wrx is the low end. but thats no problem. I don't race people at stoplights and thats illegal anyway . But from a roll, the auto is good enough for me. Just be happy of the fact you guys don't have the tranny problems those mannies have

 

You guys need to learn how to drive Manuals

 

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... jerry jerry jerry ....lol

 

Oh mighty Dan, how can I? I have an ruptured ACL years ago and it still bothers me now. I wish I could still drive a manual but priorities first and I rather keep my knee than my car. My last three cars were manuals.

 

In terms of generating too much heat what's the difference if you shift it yourself or just floor it and let it shift near redline. I feel it shifts ~500rpms too early like around 6500rpm. I like to let it go to 7000rpm. As for strain and abuse, so what, like constant downshifting and WOT doesn't hurt the car? Don't take this the wrong way, I actually do want to know if there's any difference and why there's a difference.

I like to shift the auto myself sometimes cuz I want to hold 2nd or 1st during corners. It's a much smoother drive than double pumping the gas.

And I DO know how to drive manual, it's just certain circumstances and priorities prevent me from getting one at this time. I'm sure most people with auto WRXs actually want the manual but are in similar situations like myself.

 

Do you have a tranny temp gauge to see the difference? I've seen the difference

 

ive got an auto, and although its slow off the line, it picks up afterwards. and if i want some more speed i just jam the gas twice and it downshifts by itself. i havent done this much, but the times i wanted it to downshift, it has.
as for manually shifting, i hardly do it, ive heard too many horror stories about it. one of the main reason for tranny failure is heat, and if you manually shift too much it causes too much heat. id recommend getting a tranny cooler and some synthetic before hand.
if you really want some quicker shifts and less lag, id recommend the tc upgrade. i dont have one, but a buddy of mine does. hes running near 12 sec auto without any laughing gas. he was telling me that with the stock turbo there was virtually no lag at all.
just my $.02

 

Everyone has to remember the auto tranny will *never* be as responsive to the throttle as a manual is.

The torque converter acts as a buffer for any kind of sudden throttle difference. That's probably the only real performance downside to the auto tranny.

 

one of the fastst wrxs is auto, so i dont agree