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Questions about Shiftronic

73K views 72 replies 34 participants last post by  itguru4u2 
#1 ·
Maybe I missed something, but the owner's manual seems to be woefully inadequate concerning the Shiftronic.

I browsed a Genesis forum today and someone said that you really only understand Shiftronic if you've driven a manual. Well, I have, and I don't. A manual has 6 gears with specific gates (7 if you include Reverse). The Shiftronic only has a + and -.

One of those people said he almost never drives in Auto. He's always in Sport mode. So how do you do it? How do you go from first to second to third...etc.? Start in +, then move to D, then back to +, then back to D? Or is there a middle ground between the + and - where you can hang out while you want to stay in that gear?

If you're in Drive, and you want to pass a car by downshifting one or two gears, do you hit the - and then go back to D? Or stay at the - until you need to upshift, and then go to +?

This is more confusing to me than a manual, because a manual isn't confusing at all. And shifting without a clutch really bothers me... :confused:
 
#2 ·
The simplest answer I can give is it's basically like driving a manual transmission without the clutch pedal. From a stop with shiftronic engaged, you will be in first gear. You accelerate a little, just like a manual, then bump up the shifter to + and it will shift to second gear. It's as easy as that. The car will downshift for you as you slow to a stop to prevent the engine from stalling. But, other than that, it's all under your control. The only reason I see to use it is to forcibly red line the engine. I use it very occasionally if I'm stopped at an intersection and am about to turn onto a road where the cars are traveling very fast and I need to get up to speed quickly. But as for driving in shiftronic all the time because you think you know better than the car, you're probably wrong. It's just for of a fun factor I think.

Yes, you can downshift one or two gears by switching over to shiftronic and doing it manually, but the same thing will happen if you step on the accelerator hard enough with it in drive. Whatever makes you happy.

The transmission will stay in its current gear if you leave the shifter in the middle. It's only momentary up or down that shifts.
 
#3 ·
When the lever is moved to the right from D over to the ShifTronic gate, you move the lever forward to upshift and rearward to downshift. As was mentioned above, the car will downshift automatically if you forget to downshift while slowing. If you do come to a stop and leave the lever in place instead of moving it back to (D), the car will start in first gear (from a stop) and stay in first gear until redline.

Tip - According to the owners manual, you can use ShifTronic while stopped and bump the lever forward so the display in the dash cluster says 2, and you can start off in second gear. This is intended to allow startup on slick surfaces with less wheelspin.

As a manual-trans driver, you're used to being able to select any forward gear by just moving the lever forward/rearward and side to side. Any M/T driver can shift first to sixth if they wanted to stall the engine, and they could shift from sixth to first and cause engine damage. What ShifTronic does is allow the driver to request an upshift or downshift by nudging the lever toward the + or the - position. The result is linear shifting 1->2, 2->3 etc going up, and 3->2, 2->1 etc going down. There is no way to skip shift. While a true manual takes skill due to the clutch application and the chance of damage or stalling if the wrong gear is selected, ShifTronic accepts "requests" to shift up or down, but will ignore requests that would lug the engine or exceed the redline. For example, you can bump the lever forward while driving at 30mph to try to get to 6th gear, but it will go to 5th and refuse to upshift from there until speed is over 40. At 50mph, pulling the lever backward repeatedly will only select the gear that keeps the engine under the red zone - it won't go to 1st.
 
#4 ·
I think you over complicating this its definitely easier than driving stick and when you get tired of it you can bump back into D from any gear and let the car take over. I was not aware that it auto downshifted but have only used mine a few times. Maybe tomorrow morning I will experiment with mine a bit if traffic is light.
 
#5 ·
So it sounds like there's a middle zone between the + and - where you can stay in the current gear, barring any stupidity.

I think the car does a great job of choosing the gear (not to mention I can barely feel the shifts), so I wouldn't be using this often. I thought it was strange that that one guy used it all the time. Must have really been missing his M/T. But there have been a couple times where I wanted to try it. There's an uphill cloverleaf entrance ramp where sometimes the car is a little slow to downshift and I need to pick up speed. Also, when I want to pass someone in front of me rather suddenly, it could be helpful.

I'm still driving gently--just passed 400 miles--so I'm not even completely aware of what this car is capable of. That's kind of my norm, but I do like to know what is possible in a pinch, or even an emergency. I'll start experimenting soon.
 
#7 ·
There's an uphill cloverleaf entrance ramp where sometimes the car is a little slow to downshift and I need to pick up speed. Also, when I want to pass someone in front of me rather suddenly, it could be helpful.
When you find yourself using manual mode because a 0.3-second downshift delay is just too darn long, you know you're headed for trouble. I went tearing around an on-ramp in manual mode the other day, and when I pinned it on the curve I actually managed to engage the ESC. Oops. Dead gas pedal and a flickering dashboard light is not what you want to see just as you're merging in front of a truck.

I find manual mode most useful for controlling speed on long downhill descents. The rest of the time it's just a toy for 44-year-old teenagers. :rolleyes:
 
#6 ·
I also do feel that the transmission is one of the smoothest that I've driven. The shift points and transitions are pretty well balanced. As for me, it's very rarely that I use the shiftronic feature. In fact I can say right out that I forget about it as much as I forget that I breathe air.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Because this car wants to always be in the highest gear possible regardless of mode I find supplimental use of the Shiftronic to be very useful under a variety of circumstances, mainly for the downshift ability and I do not find stomping the gas pedal and letting the car do it automatically to be anywhere near the same as manually doing it.

Example: I'm traveling in the middle lane on the highway doing 65ish, I suddenly start coming up on a car several lengths ahead that for some unknown reason finds it desirable to drive in this same lane doing 55 and making impatient drivers pass him on the right instead of simply moving over to the right himself. I have numerous cars passing us on the left doing anywhere from 70-85 mph with few openings and I am determined to properly pass on the left. If I decide to wait for my opening and then stomp the pedal the car will rev very high rpm's in 6th before it decides to downshift to a more apropriate gear, it sounds horrible and is a waste of energy. If instead I move over to the shiftronic in the middle zone where I stay in gear and the D on the dash changes to the number 6, wait for my opening and then tap it down twice to 4th, my speed and rpms adjust in tandem giving me a steady and normal sounding rate of acceleration instead and is far more efficient IMHO. Once I have reached my speed, passed the car or whatever I simply move it back to drive (as opposed to manually shifting up) and the car automatically goes back to 6th on it's own.

I also find it useful to downshift a little some times when I want to scrub off a little bit of speed and don't want to hit my brakes instead. Far to many people on the highway seemingly ride their brakes because they drive too close to the car in front of them or maybe dangerously keep their left foot on it at all times I don't know but the brake lights seem to come on far more often they need to or than anyone is actually slowing down and the domino effect it causes down the lane for miles makes everyones ride longer than it needs to be, when I see that I often downshift instead and make the wave effect stop with the car in front of me rather than continue down the line.

As previously mentioned I have also found starting in second on a wet and/or inclined surface to be handy and will likely do this more often in the winter months to come since after the drive gear there is no L or 2 or 1 to choose like many older style automatics without shiftronic used to offer.

One thing I found different about this system compared to others though, if you are using cruise control and move to manual it will shut off. I rented an Impala last year with paddle shifters on the wheel and they could be used at any point without shifting out of drive and the cruise control remained engaged. Since this was a rental car I found it very fun to set the cruise on a hilly windy road and negotiate the curves with downshifting instead of the brakes. I would never do this in my own car of course but I also wouldn't do 180 reversal spins or pull the hand brake to drift or any of the other fun things rentals are fun to beat on with.
 
#12 ·
Because this car wants to always be in the highest gear possible regardless of mode I find supplimental use of the Shiftronic to be very useful under a variety of circumstances, mainly for the downshift ability and I do not find stomping the gas pedal and letting the car do it automatically to be anywhere near the same as manually doing it.
Those times you describe using manual mode are exactly when I've wondered if it wouldn't be better. I appreciate your going into detail about how you do it. Those are the kinds of details they needed in the manual! Maybe I just haven't found it yet.
 
#11 ·
Pakrat:
Im surprised cruise shuts off for you when switching to manual.

I've switch back and forth with the cruise engaged and it doesn't disengage. I was using manual mode to hold 6th longer on some hills on 495. It didn't make any measurable difference in fuel economy, but i did notice the torque converter would sometimes unlock when changing modes.

I didn't try changing gears to see if that disengaged cruise, but will try it next time I have it on the highway.
 
#15 ·
On the way in to work I confirmed i could chang to manual mode and also change gears while in cruise and it stayed engaged.

I had cruise set around 65 mph and was able to switch back and forth between manual and auto without having cruise disengage. I was also able to change from 6th to 5th and back using manual mode and not have cruise disengage.

If I touch the brak or hit cancel cruise control disengages as expected.
 
#16 ·
Hunh, well I'll have to check that again for myself tonight and if it is disengaging then I guess I'll have to bring it back to the dealer becasue I am pretty sure I recall that happening which is why I haven't bothered to try it again. I do also know that once or twice when I hit an enormous pothole or bump in the road that the cruise shut off on me too so maybe it's all an issue with something wrong on my car.

diinIndy: let that shiftronic rip brother, that's what it's there for. It will not let you do anything the car can't handle if you try to shift too low or high it will ignore your request, it's about idiot proof in it's design and even if god forbid you managed to do something you shouldn't and broke it the warranty will cover you but that's not likely at all to happen.
 
#17 ·
I do also know that once or twice when I hit an enormous pothole or bump in the road that the cruise shut off on me too so maybe it's all an issue with something wrong on my car.
I think cruise is supposed to shut off if the car is seriously upset. You don't want it barreling through something like that!

diinIndy: let that shiftronic rip brother...[/quote]

You mean Sista, right? :D

I haven't gathered up the courage to try it yet. If only I had a clutch...

Have run into a couple more times when I wanted to use it though, so I will soon.
 
#18 ·
Di (or should I say 'sista'), just think of the ShifTronic as a regular automatic transmission gearshift quadrant (PRNDL) of PRND654321. You can see PRND and then to get to 654321, you move the lever to the right. And then where you used to move the shift lever up/down (column shift) or forward backward (console shift), you now bump the lever forward or backward where you used to move the lever one postion to go from (D) to D to 2 to 1 or 1 to 2 to D to (D).

Another unique aspect of ShifTronic is that when you move the lever over to that gate, your gear selection of + or - begins from the transmission's current applied gear, which appears in the dash cluster in place of the "D". Then you can upshift and downshift from that gear.

You don't need courage to try it. Just give it a whirl, and if all **** breaks loose (which couldn't actually happen with the computer controlling everything), move the lever to the left, back to D, and the transmission will select the proper gear. The worst you can do is burn some extra gas from revving the engine, since the car will still downshift on its own to prevent lugging/stalling. The ShifTronic function merely offers 'requests' to the transmission computer, so there is no way to get into trouble.
 
#19 ·
Okay, I am going to try it tomorrow. I'll be going on that graded on-ramp where I'm always wanting to try it.

I think part of my fear is because the first time I test drove with the sales guy in the car, I was entering the interstate, and the guy thought he'd show me how cool Shiftronic was. He shifted from the passenger's seat, must have been to 2nd or 3rd gear when I was already probably in 5th. I'm just glad I had my seatbelt on. Otherwise I would have been pinned to the windshield. I thought, "Wow, that was so not cool."
 
#20 ·
I was racing my father the other day in his 2011 civic....we wer epulling on to the highway where we live: Eastern SHore of Nova Scotia in the boonies so noone was around. I knew my dad was going to try to "kill me on the highway" since he thinks his car is better than mine sometimes. (he does have a 5 soeed and he did blow me away) but I can use this as a good example. I left it in automatic and was neck and neck with him for the first 30 seconds...about 30km - 150kmh i was literally only 5 feet behind him and sort of holding back because i didnt want to pass. We then slowed down and a passing lane came up...i put it inot shiftronic and pinned it....to my suprise this worked well, except for the fact that when i was close to redlining in 3rd, the engine automatically shifted to 4th and when I hit the shifter to go to what I thought was 4th it evidently put me into 5th because the car already put it into 4th.....I then got blown away by the 5 speed civic and my dad will never let me live it down. I tried to tell him what happened and that if I left it in Auto I would have beat him but he wont have that :p.

Has this happened to anyone else? the car automatically shifting up when you redline or get close to redline when in shiftronic? sort of like it automatically shifts down when in shiftronic? It caused me to skip a gear is what happened which caused me to have no acceleration compared to what I expected to have.
 
#21 ·
Oops, Sista, sorry.

Confirmed last night BTW that my crusie did stay on when going to shiftronic and changing gears, I know it did not before though, maybe I did it at the same time I hit a pot hole and it shut off for that reason instead. I'm still probably not going to play with it on the down hill slolom like I did with the rental though.
 
#24 ·
I have a 2011 Elantra basic package - which means it did not come with the Shiftronic... Is there any way I can have it activated by a mechanic or dealership? How much do you think something like that would cost?
If you have a US-market Elantra with an automatic transmission, you have ShifTronic. The shift lever has the zig-zag pattern with P-R-N-D and then when in D, the lever can move sideways. When you move it sideways to the ShifTronic gate, you will note that the lever can be bumped forward or backward, and doing so will request a higher or lower gear. In the dash cluster, you will see the "D" change to a number between 1 and 6, corresponding to the gear selected.

Note that the computer always has the final say in gear selection, and so you can't request a gear that would damage the powertrain. So don't be surprised to find that you can't shift up to 6th at 30mph. And if you leave it in 6th on the highway and slow down, it will automatically downshift as needed to prevent lugging the engine. Overall, it's more of a sunny day toy than a powerful tool to allow complete control over shifting. The most use I see in it is the ability to start in 2nd gear when driving on slick surfaces. For best fuel economy, you just leave the lever in D and let the computer work its magic.
 
#27 ·
Has this happened to anyone else? the car automatically shifting up when you redline or get close to redline when in shiftronic? sort of like it automatically shifts down when in shiftronic?

TunedOut, I remember reading in the owners manual that the trans will shift into the next gear on its own so the car doesnt redline. As PakRat said earlier,(I think it was PakRat) The Shiftronic is pretty much 'idiotproof'
I guess its pretty smart on Hyundai, they dont want a lot of transmission repairs, thus the 100,000 mile warranty.
 
#29 ·
Yeah. Also Shiftronic doesn't allow you to upshift earlier than the automatic mode would upshift, i.e. shifting in 6th gear before reaching 62 kph. It also downshift automatically when you brake. So it's basically just for playing changing the RPM range between upshifts nothing more. It can also be used to start rolling in 2nd.
 
#31 ·
I use the shiftronic on the GLS somewhat like taking my older corolla's auto transmission out of Overdrive to D for Drive - as little as possible.;)

Like Don said, on long descents, or for taking off on a slippery road. It would be interesting to see what the lifespan would be on one that was used a lot versus one that wasn't.
 
#32 · (Edited)
So Im surprised nobody has mentioned this, or it might just be me. But I have recently started to drive with the shiftronic, exclusively for the past couple of days. The reason, is that it seems WAY more responsive and quicker. One thing I don't like about our GT is that its under powered, I feel like I have to smash the gas pedal to accelerate even slightly, I am still adapting to this.

Also I find it hard to cruise, I feel I have to constantly apply active pressure through the pedal to maintain speed. Where with my last ride, the weight of my foot resting on the gas would be enough to maintain the speed. Do you guys think the pedal can be adjusted for sensitivity? That alone would fix my problem...

BTW I drive, work and live in a super congested city (LA) 90% of the time.
 
#34 · (Edited)
Also I find it hard to cruise, I feel I have to constantly apply active pressure through the pedal to maintain speed. Where with my last ride, the weight of my foot resting on the gas would be enough to maintain the speed.
the gas pedal we have is what is called an organ pedal because it is attached to the floor. It has a spring behind it, meaning it will always want to return to its rest position when you release it. Also we need to note that it's not using a mechanical cable anymore, it's fully electronic. So it's not connected directly to the throttle.
On older Elantras, when using Cruise control, the gas pedal was staying depressed and you just had to apply some pressure to accelerate. Now with the spring, you have to depress it and nothing will happen until you go past the point where you apply more gas than the Cruise control.
I got used to it. The nice thing is you can rest your foot on the gas pedal while cruising.
 
#33 · (Edited)
Ha, so my comment re: the thread is that, yes I agree just try it. It seriously is idiot proof, I am evidence of that! My car is still running fine :) although you will waste some gas playing around with it. It does make driving more fun and more responsive imho. Also, you can still try it during the break in period just don't go past 4K RPM's if your that worried, but that would be boring...
 
#35 ·
I use it on a portion of my commute when I go through a neighborhood w/ a bunch of stop signs. I can stop and accelerate much faster when im using the shiftronic. I also use it when Im going up a steep hill say in a parking garage to keep it in 1st or 2nd gear, seems to go smoother that way.
 
#41 ·
Just keep in mind that you're transferring that wear & tear to your transmission gears, which are considerably more expensive than brake pads. That's fine if you're a frequent trader looking for the cheapest short-term maintenance costs, not so good if you're keeping the car beyond the warranty.
 
#38 ·
I live in the hilly San Fran Bay Area and use shiftronic when going down urban hills. While the car automatically holds lower gears pretty well when going uphill it does not downshift itself and hold the lower gear as readily as cars that I have had in the past when going downhill. Otherwise I have to brake too often to keep speed sensible.
 
#39 · (Edited)
@ajfinoak: I guess Lombard Street presents its own unique set of shifting issues, huh? Been on those streets back in 1971...too many years ago. For a standard transmission enthusiast, the Bay area's hills will test the best!
 
#40 ·
@ajfinoak: I guess Lombardy Street presents its own unique set of shifting issues, huh? Been on those streets back in 1971...too many years ago. For a standard transmission enthusiast, the Bay area's hills will test the best!
The risk on Lombard Street is more from running over tourists. I have had 3 stick shift and numerous automatics living here since mid 70's and if not for the fact that I hate driving a stick while stuck in traffic I would have one. Driving a stick on urban hills gives you much better control (learning to drive the stick on crowded urban hills is a whole different story!)
 
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