Has anyone noticed a fairly loud clicking/clanking sound when using the manual shift mode to downshift? It seems to happen most if you are doing some pretty aggressive downshifting on slowdown and the drivetrain bucks slightly. At first I just thought it was loose brake bad/clips, which is a nonissue, but now I can't decide if it's something more sinister or not. Perhaps I have an exhaust bracket loose? Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

 

It also seems like it's possible to make this noise just by having the car in a low gear at 15 mph or so and intentionally causing the drivetrain to buck a little bit by being less than smooth with the gas pedal. I'm guessing I'm the only one with this particular problem?

 

I have not noticed any noise downshifting, except revmatching. Also, I did not notice this when I was driving the xkr on the race track at R academy and i was manually shifting the entire time.

 

I know this isn't what you asked, but quite honestly, I don't think I've ever been in 1st gear.

 

First gear is quite useful for making awesome sounds when you are coming to a stop at a light! Also, I think 2nd gear is a little bit too tall for starting from a stop, at least for more enthusiastic driving. First gear is pretty useless beyond starting from a stop though, as it is in any car, manual or automatic.

 

I don't use 1st gear at all. It's difficult enough to get the power down in second gear from a stop. If there is any moisture on the road, 3rd gear gear can also be a challenge.

 

Well, this thread is getting offtrack, but that's ok! I always wondered if in the magazine 0-60 and quartermile tests if they used first gear or not. I imagine it would be faster to use first gear if they could get the power down, but I doubt magazine testers even realize that the only way to get into first gear is to use the paddles. What do you think?

 

I assumed it pulled away in 2nd as well in D but took the car for a drive specifically to find out when I first got it and could hear 5 gear changes and see the rev counter drop 5 times.

I also found this in the owners manual:
D = Drive – All six forward gears are changed automatically.
S = Sport – All six forward gears are changed automatically with modified gear shift points.

 

Interesting. I wonder if it only uses 1st gear if you floor it. It definitely doesn't feel like first gear when you're just accelerating at a leisurely pace. How could the car know to use 1st gear in advance of you pushing the gas pedal hard?

 

When I did my tests I just pulled away at a leisurely but steady pace and counted the gear changes. It took a little while to drop in to 6th but it got there eventually.

The fact that if you use manual mode it doesn't drop in to 1st when you come to a stop probably confuses the issue.

I think my old X308 XJR used to pull away in second unless you floored it which is why I assumed the XKR was the same.

 

Are you positive the "shift into 6th" isn't just the torque converter going into locking mode? I will have to try the same test on my XKR on my commute home.

I suppose another way to discover which gear it is starting out in is start in drive/automatic mode, accelerate and before the first gear change occurs, hit the upshift paddle which will force an upshift (assuming you are going fast enough). If it shifts into 2nd, you will know it starts in first. If it shifts into 3rd, you will know it starts in 2nd!

 

I did wonder that but do the revs drop when the torque converter locks up because the revs dropped by over 1000 when it 'dropped in to 6th'?

I tried playing with the paddles as well but it was really hard to be sure because it shifts so quickly in D unless you floor it. I had my son with me and he was as confused as I was so I would be interested to hear what you find.

 

Aha, I tried my paddle experiment. In one instance, I started from a stop, then at about 15 mph I hit the upshift paddle and it went to "2" on the display and shifted. This means that it really does start in first gear, even in D!