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My BMW drags when I take my foot off the gas pedal - is this normal?
I think this is what is making me have motion sickness with my 2011 328i sedan, especially at slow speeds. When I take my foot off the accelerator, the car slows down dramatically very quickly. This is despite BMW advising to save gas to coast to stop signs and lights.
I called All American Tire about changing tires, he said it would make the ride less harsh, but the sudden deceleration was a characteristic of the BMW cars. I had hoped it was caused by the non-flat tires and contributed to by the wide, low profile tires (when I told him that BMW service rep I was considering changing tires, he stated that wider tires will create more drag on the vehicle). My friend has a $90,000 Lexus that does not do this. He think it is caused by the engine compression of the BMW.
My car is in the right gear (drive, and not the sports drive which is achieved by shifting to the left). I particularly notice it when I go or come from the fifth floor of the parking lot at work. Quite jarring. Have others experienced this? Does it bother you? Do you get used to it? Thanks!
My car will drop back a gear if I start braking, but if I am just coasting it pretty much just rolls slowly down through the rev range.
Does it make any difference to the rate of deceleration if you change into neutral?
What if you manually select the gear that you comfortably go through the car park in (2nd or 3rd)?
My car will drop back a gear if I start braking, but if I am just coasting it pretty much just rolls slowly down through the rev range.
Does it make any difference to the rate of deceleration if you change into neutral?
What if you manually select the gear that you comfortably go through the car park in (2nd or 3rd)?
Just to make sure we are on the same page, my car has an automatic transmission. Are you quering or advising that I experiment with putting the car in neutral or second or third prior to removing my foot from the accelerator? Is this OK for the car? Thanks.
P.S. I still think the problem may be the tires. American Tire has offered to replace the tires and give me a free 30-day return policy. Best bet to sell the original tires if I find the new tires are more to my liking? Probably deserves a second thread, but just wondering about effecting on tire pressure gauges, speedometer, warranty, and so on.
As an aside, I recall the a salesman putting the parking brake on at 50 mph just to show how this can slow the vehicle.
As far as I know there shouldn't be any issues switching from drive to neutral whilst you are moving. My point is that by doing this you'll remove the drive train from affecting your speed, and hopefull pin point or eliminate it as the cause of the issue. Alternatively by forcing it to hold 2nd or 3rd it shouldn't decelerate as heavily as it will when it engages 1st.
Auto boxes will "Try" to simulate engine braking, sometimes without effect!
But if yours' does "drag" then I think it is actually DOING it's job !
My understanding is that engine breaking is not found on automatic transmissions with the exception of the automatic transmission in the BMW's with the steptronic automatic transmissions. So, yes, it is apparently doing what intended; however, unfortunately, this engine breaking, rather than coasting until I apply the breaks, is jarring to my body and causes motion sickness for me.
Jeff,i dont get it,my old steptronic does not exibit this,it also wont go into 1st unless i put it into manual mode.its either auto or sport,but always moves off in 2nd gear. 1st is only available if you choose to go semi auto and do it yourself.
i have traveled in newer cars that seemed finr to me,ie no unnatural lurching,i think if its as bad as you say there has to be a problem with the car.
what does you dealer say?
So would that mean upshifting into second? I believe that would cause the car to drag any more. Thanks.
In sport mode the gear will display on the dash. What I meant was, if the display is showing the car is in 4th gear as you are slowing, try up-shifting into 5th.
I can tell you with a fair amount of certainty that its not your tires. At low speeds, such as in a parking garage, mine does the same simply because you are moving at the high end of that particular gear range. So the car hasnt shifted up yet, you left off the gas and that low gear "drags" the car down. Now if this is happening at highway speeds, then you definately have a mechanical issue. Either the car is not shifting into 5th/6th, your brakes are dragging, or possibly DSC is engaging in error.
A great way to test this would be to shift manually and see if it exhibits the same behavior. If so, try turning DSC completely off and see if it does the same. If so, in both cases, I think that points to either a brake issue or your just a little over sensitive.
Heheh.... I didnt mean he's oversensitive as in crying during sappy movies, I meant oversensitive to the sensation of the car dragging. Or maybe both, hell I dont know.
BTW, I unintentionally tested this yesterday in heavy traffic and yes, in full auto mine does the same 'dragging' because it is not getting enough speed/RPM's to shift up. Switching to semi-manual and shifting myself resolves the problem. So I really think this is nothing more than the normal gearing of the car.
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2011 BMW E38 728i
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