Wondering if this is normal. When you activate the sports mode by pressing the sports shifters, and then come to a stop at a light, it changes back to DRIVE and out of sports mode. Is that normal?

Also is driving in sports mode often bad for the transmission or the car?
Is it bad to use to sports mode to shift down to slow down the car instead of using the brakes?


Wat do you guys prefer using, the paddle shifters or the gear shifter while in sports mode.. I always used the paddle shifters but just this past week i discovered using teh gear shifter is more real like and fun/exciting.

 

You have to move the gear shifter from drive to the sport mode to keep it in sport mode. If u just activate the sport mode with the paddle shifters it will go back to "D" once u get going again after u stop.
I use the paddles

 

Mine doesn't go back to Drive on it's own... so that's kind of strange.

I hate the paddle shifters personally, I always just use the shifter when I'm in that mode.

Mitsu told me there's no way for the Sports mode to hurt the car. I've tested it lots of times dropping from 6th to 1st in like 2 seconds hah the car makes weird noises but it won't break it (so I'm told)

 

Make a long answer short

Its normal for the Sport mode to go back to D mode when talking to someone related to CVT systems, if the car doesnt have a LSD then as a safety consideration it would be wise to revert back to D mode. This is a consideration of the accidental triggering of the Sport mode. basically if you turned the car over to your mom or a friend unfamilure with the system. pulling over and coming to a stop will turn off the sport mode. haha its alot better then someone trying the car constantly in first Gear heheh and murdering your engine.

Sport mode driving in most situations are safe. In theory the less the gears move dynamically the less heat is generated. This fact has already has been the recommended choice of driving for CVTs with a Turbo.

It is also safe to use it for engine braking

I used the the shifters all the time when my car was stock. but after my exhaust upgrade and my intake, I felt it wasnt needed to rev higher to achieve more power. There is enough power there to get the car going no problem

 

haha when i first got my car i put the car in sports mode (by accident) and drove off the lot wondering why the car was revving so high...i did that for like 20 secs and didnt rev it higher then 5000 rpms and then i figured out wat i did wrong and moved the gear shifter over into drive....

im pretty sure i read its ok to change the gear shifter into sports mode in the middle of driving and then you can switch it back to drive in the gear shifter while driving.....you dont need to pull over and make those changes right?

 

well i dont know anything technical about CVT and the sports mode, but I've been driving CVT with sports mode for only a while and you definitely do NOT have to pull over to change into sports mode. From my experience you can change into sports mode whenever you want, and it already is in the appropriate gear for you, and you can play with it however you want from there on.

 

Yeah I can easily switch from sports to drive no matter what speed I'm going, it will automatically jump to 4th or 6th or 2nd or whatever "gear" you're in.

 

it's 2009, if they tried to sell a car that required you to pull over every time you wanted to change the "mode' of your transmission, how many cars do you think they'd sell?

 

there are no gears in a CVT, just software programmed ratios for rpms. all the "gears" talked about are just gear ratio held in that cvt position relative to the rpm. cvt is not like an auto tranny, the ratios are all software based. so doesnt matter what gear ratio it is in, it wont hurt the tranny, but the engine is another story..

 

In my Ralliart, if I’m driving in fully auto mode (D) and I pull back with one of the paddles (+), it’ll change over into the manual mode (even though the shift gate is in regular auto mode). I can drive it as if the shifter was in the manual mode. When I come to a stop to get back into auto model, I have to pull back on the upshift paddle (+) for about 2 seconds and the tranny will change over to full auto mode.
I’d be willing to bet the changeover from auto to “manual” and back in the CVT is the same as in the Ralliart.

I don’t think its bad for the tranny as long as you drive it in a reasonable manner and don’t redline+shift at every “gear”...as with most trannys. Same with downshifting to slow down, you’re just using the engine compression to reduce your speed, which the manual probably recommends for slowing down in a long descend instead of riding the brakes. If it was a manual tranny then it’s a different story…cheaper to replace pads+rotors versus a clutch.
However, I would double check the manual and see what it says regarding “downshifting” for slowing down, as I can see it putting higher loads on the belt as it runs on friction versus actual gears, and potentially overheating it.

In manual mode I can get better mileage as I’m upshifting earlier then if it was in full auto mode…lower revs = less gas used. In addition to being more fun as you can hold the revs longer for faster acceleration.