Was hooning the car around the snow at a ski resort over the weekend. I had it in a higher gear towards the end to let the engine cool down, came to a small hill with some deep snow, and forgot to downshift when I hit it, the car bogged down and completely stalled out with my foot to the floor.

I thought the transmission, being automatic, would downshift or at least de-couple the clutches quickly enough to prevent the motor from stalling.

 

You put the pedal to the floor in a high gear at really low rpm.....on a hill?
Sir, that is the epitomy of idiocy

I'd be willing to bet it did that in a last ditch attempt at self preservation. If you are in manual mode it will downshift when the revs fall, i.e. coasting to a stop. What you did probably threw a ****-ton of safety bells.

 

Well I was running it at like, 4-5k, the turbo was probably glowing red hot.

So I took it easy, was in 3rd gear, the hill (more of a long ramp), not terribly steep but had a lot of slush and snow which really bogged it down. I stepped on it and forgot to downshift, is all. Nothing that idiotic, I assure you.

It's like driving a stick, you'd blip the throttle when you downshift to keep the magic flowing. Just imagine forgetting the downshift part of it, haha.

Didn't throw any codes, started right back up, powered up the hill sideways, and left it to idle while I unloaded the snowboards and luggage into the condo. 8 hour drive home two days later and the car's fine. These cars are pretty tough. *knock on wood*.

I've been flogging her around every weekend for 62000 miles. As long as you change all her fluids and filters earlier than expected, she'll keep running. *knock on wood more*