Steptronic Question

[Budask8r]

So my mom got her a 325i with the steptronic tranny. My question is, is it normal for there to be about a one second delay from when you shift up to when the car actually changes gears? My friend has a Z3 with the steptronic and his is insantanious.
Thanks

[KillFox]

My 01 325ci steptronic seems to have a one second delay as well.

[pmolfese]

Yes, the delay is normal when you are in step-mode. The process still has to go through teh computer and the converter.

[2001BMW325xi]

Actually with the steptronic the manual sez that the shift yu do is immaterial cause the computer deicdes what is to hapen anywez. The delay is because mebbe yu have shifted where the computer thinks yu shud not have and waits for the appropriate time (and then the delay could be longer) or a short one..........like someone already said........its the computer that rules.......kinda puts a dampner on the ridin it yurself thingy.........:-)

[EcianIce]

true. even if your in step-mode .. the computer still thinks and shifts for you. the only differance is that it will run to red-line before shifting. drive shifts based on your throttle and speed.

also, if your running say .. 65 in 3rd gear. the computer won't let you downshift to 2nd.

one more thing. the only reason i find step-mode useful is in conjunction with turning your DSC off. anytime your taking corners hard, being able to controll what gear your in through the turn greatly improves your speed on the out. drive tends to shift up and, then you have to step on it and wait for it to recalculate what gear to put you in. i've lost over half a second before in turns just because i wasn't using step.

so yea. im done.

[leftone]

have 04 325i i figured out real quick that the steptronic is only useful when ur sitting in 30-50 mph hour traffic and u want to pass somone... click it over get in the gear with the highest revs that the CPU will let u then pull out and stomp on it. other than that from the line its a joke. but its fun to have for traffic. my 2 cents

[Silver4evr]

I found that using the Steptronic in the manual mode and letting off the gas while shifting (just like a manual tranny) works pretty well. I haven't got the timing just right yet but I'll keep working on it to see if I can get it to shift a little faster.

[jehu3]

I haven't had the same experience with the Step in my 330i. I do alot of trackdays/driver's schools and it shifts when I want it to. Even if you're at pretty high RPM in a gear, if there is a few hundred RPM left in the lower gear, it will down shift.
I don't really mind the slight delay on shift as I'm spending 6 30min sessions every track weekend at or near redline and its better to take it easy on the car when you can.
Powering out of the corner is where you notice it. Multi down shifts at the end of a straight, or high speed upshift mid-straight, it doesn't really matter.