How to use manual/Autostick?

[MrPopular]

Just curious about the Manual feature on my Cx-9. I have driven a stick shift car before, but not very much. I was curious if anyone could give me some insight on how to use the Manual shift on my Cx-9. Is there any changes in shifting up? and what about down shifting, like when approaching a red light/stopping.

[vikefan7]

It's pretty easy to use. You pull down to shift to a higher gear and push up to choose a lower gear. It won't let you go into a lower gear unless you're in a particular speed range for that gear. You don't have to downshift when coming to a stop, it will automatically put itself in 1st gear when you stop.

Using the manual feature makes driving the CX-9 even more fun once you get the hang of it.

[ceric]

The only major difference from a stick shift is that you can't downshift 2 gears (when passing aggressively). You have to do it twice and there is a delay for each.

[sjg]

I'm 2 days into owning my CX-9 and am pretty amazed with the transmission. First, it's incredibly smooth. The shifts under normal driving/acceleration are barely noticeable and faster acceleration isn't too bad either. I would say its luxury car smooth. I also am noticing that in normal (non-manual) mode, the transmission is definitely tuned for maximum fuel economy. I'm coming out of a manual transmission subaru legacy GT so I'm pretty aware of what gear I was in throughout my drive/commute. I wasn't an aggressive driver but nowhere near as conservative as the CX-9 wants to be. The thing gets itself into 5th and 6th really quickly. It doesn't spend any more time in lower gears than absolutely necessary. I've even seen it start in 2nd a few times (usually when going downhill). The mileage on this car is nothing to write home about but we can thank the transmission for it not being much much worse.

[ceric]

Just FYI.
Aisin (the transmission maker of CX9) supplies transmissions for Toyota/Lexus (and Volvo, probably others as well)
In fact, Aisin is owned (partly owned) by Toyota and is considered as one of Toyota's "satellite companies" (from part supply chain perspective).
Aisin is the also 3rd largest transmission make in the world by units. (Sorry, don't know who are the first two)

[CX9 SportOwner]

I'm 2 days into owning my CX-9 and am pretty amazed with the transmission. First, it's incredibly smooth. The shifts under normal driving/acceleration are barely noticeable and faster acceleration isn't too bad either. I would say its luxury car smooth. I also am noticing that in normal (non-manual) mode, the transmission is definitely tuned for maximum fuel economy. I'm coming out of a manual transmission subaru legacy GT so I'm pretty aware of what gear I was in throughout my drive/commute. I wasn't an aggressive driver but nowhere near as conservative as the CX-9 wants to be. The thing gets itself into 5th and 6th really quickly. It doesn't spend any more time in lower gears than absolutely necessary. I've even seen it start in 2nd a few times (usually when going downhill). The mileage on this car is nothing to write home about but we can thank the transmission for it not being much much worse.

Just an FYI, the transmission isn't tuned at all for a particular type of driving. It's adaptive, so it will adjust for your style of driving.

As far as using the manual mode, I do regularly. I use it like this:

On rolling hills to avoid gear hunting and let the cruise do it's job better.
Heavy traffic to avoid overshooting slower cars and heavy braking.
Winding mountain roads.
Wet roads. I can shift into second to start to avoid slip.
Snow and ice. As with wet roads, if you stop, and shift into second you avoid a lot of tire slip. The added benefit is that even when you stop again the trans stays in second gear if you drove slow enough to not have to shift. This is VERY handy on ice as it improves control while letting you focus on the road.

[joebar]

I have lots of experience with real manuals, but I've never driven a tip before... I see above that it wont let you downshift into an inappropriate gear, but what happens when you hit redline while accelerating? Does it auto shift up, or cut off the accelerator, or something else?

[ceric]

It also auto-shifts down when you slow down to prevent stalling.
correction: Not sure about auto-upshift at redline. Never try it myself yet.

[Touring9]

Mine does not upshift at redline. The cutout engages instead.

[Davicho]

Yup mine also auto-downshifts when slowing down...goes from whatever gear I have it on directly to 3rd at about 20mph and then all the way to 1st once you reach about 4mph or less.

It also auto-downshifts if you are say in 5th or 6th gear and your crusing but all of a sudden you press on the gas pedal as to quickly speed up, it will quickly downshift a gear or two depending on the throttle input, unfortunately after it does kick down you will have to manually shift up yourself.

For the record, I have never seen my CX9 upshift by itself in manual mode when reaching redline.

[sjg]

I notice the dash readout tracks the gear currently in use (I kind of like this vs. the generic "D" displayed on many other cars). That said, there are times when I hear the engine rev in a way that would indicate a downshift (6->5 or 5->4) while the display does not reflect the drop in gear. Anyone else notice this? Can it be explained?

[Davicho]

I know it is difficult to do and perhaps dangerous, but, have you constantly looked at the display while you speed up and the engine revs as if it downshifted? Reason I ask is because I know for a fact that the gear display changes before the actual shift is done by milliseconds, meaning that by the time you actually feel/hear the engine rev up because of the downshift the display has already changed. Just a thought!

[sjg]

Yes. I have. More of what I'm referring to is going up a long grade. It might downshift to 5th and I see the display change. Then there might be another downshift with no change. It's possible the engine is just revving higher without a shift but I doubt it because the change in engine pitch is somewhat abrupt.

[Davicho]

Okay understood. I believe that certain CX-9s had an issue with what you are describing about perhpas erractic shifting when going up a grade. I believe there is a TSB by Mazda...if someone with more knowledge can chime in...

[ceric]

I thought the TSB of CX9 on hill climbing is about loss of power, not erratic gear shift?
Could you find the TSB you referred to?
Thanks in advance.

[Touring9]

What you are describing is the torque converter locking. Engine rev with no gear change.

I use manual on hilly terrain because the car will hunt a lot having 6 gears. Older cars didn't have this problem simply because they didn't have another gear close enough to change to.