sports mode operation
 

Hello,
Could someone please confirm how the sports mode works on the later post '09 cars? When you move the shifter over to the left, I understand it selects sports mode, but not manual mode until you nudge the shifter up or down. In my 08, when I move the shifter to the left it is immediately in manual mode - this is useful as I know it will then hold the gear it is currently in (until I nudge up or down). Useful for preparing to overtake e.g. I'm accelerating and approaching a slower car in auto mode, the gearbox is yet to change up, but I know it will if I slow down behind the car, perhaps to let oncoming traffic past before I overtake. So to maintain the gear it is currently in, I move the shifter left, whereby it holds that gear keeping the engine revs up at peak torque regardless. Presume in sports mode it won't do this, and will continue to change up automatically if I slow down. How do people find this? Or will it hold the gear anyway?

On my 2015 XC70 -

Moving lever leftwards from D to S only, still in auto but sport mode moving instantly to lower gear.

Using lever up and down puts trans into manual mode, selecting and holding gears as required.
When coming to a stop at junctions it will automatically step down each gear until in 1st at a standstill. It will still be in manual when setting off and will only change up if you do so unless revved to redline whereupon it will change up.

HTH

Sort of saying the above in a different way...

Early cars - sports mode activated by the rate at which the throttle is pressed, remains in sport mode until throttle lifted - manual mode (geartronic) by moving the gear lever left.

Later cars - sports mode activated by moving the gear lever left, remains in sport mode whilst gearlever is to the left. manual mode activated by first engaging sport mode and then manually selecting a gear - remains in geartronic mode until gear lever returned to the right.

On later models it's not just the shift points and kick down that's changed in sport mode, it's the speed of the changes as well which means they're not as smooth.

Thanks for the replies - confirms my understanding. I didn't realise sports mode would downshift upon moving the lever over to the left - and in the example I gave, I presume that because I am already in a low gear the sports mode won't change down again, but just maintain that gear until it changes up when I build enough speed overtaking.

I find in normal auto mode it frequently changes up prematurely, reducing the revs to below the torque band, which has caught me out on occasion when going for an overtake.

Well on my 2012 XC70 it doesn't. I wish it did as "sports" driving is about having the car in the right gear for an impending manoeuvrer. On my Geartronic when you push the lever left the car continues to career along in a high gear unless you nudge the manual change. If you apply the brakes and reduce the raod speed the gearbox catches up but is reactive and not proactive. You cannot get the "Sports" mode to make forced down changes at all, you have to use the manual system to do that. Frankly I was disappointed as my previous cars had ZF auto boxes which always dropped one gear, whatever gear they were in, when you pressed the "Sports" button and I came to adopt that as a driving technique. I've mentioned this before and had others say that their Geartronic box drops down a gear when you put it in sports mode but for sure mine doesn't

It sounds like your car might pre-date the change - if you move the gear lever to the left and Sport Mode is enabled, on the dashboard gear selector display there will be an "S" lit up in orange. If you then start selecting gears it will show the gear number. if you don't get the orange S then your car doesn't have that feature, and you select Sport mode by stamping on the accelerator rather than gradually pressing it.

This explains it : https://www.volvocars.com/en-th/supp...x---geartronic

I have exactly what you describe. It has Sports mode. What I am saying is that it is a somewhat emasculated "sports" driving experience as it definitely doesn't force a down change when the lever is pushed to the left and the "S" comes up on the dash. On my car the concept of "Sports" is all about acceleration. In the mode the gear changes are held to allow the revs to climb higher before changing up to the next gear which increases the progress the car makes when accelerating. However it makes no contribution to deceleration which is as important in "sports" driving as acceleration. I wouldn't call what I have "Sports" at all as is leaves the car in the wrong gears when approaching bends etc unless you pump the lever to manually downshift which negates the concept of an auto transmission which is supposed to allow you to keep your hands on the wheel as much as possible for greater control..

On my previous cars the ZF box "Sports" mode was engaged by a button which sent a single pulse to the transmission control computer. I wired a foot pedal on the foot rest in parallel to the existing button and a toe tap of the left foot forced an instant down shift by opening "Sports" mode or allowed the box to change up out of a lower gear by opting out of the mode without my ever having to take my hands off the wheel. None of this is possible with my current Geartronic box which depends very heavily on the brakes if driving fast on less than straight roads. Without the brakes the car careers into bend in far too high gears and feels less controlled than when downshifting to find the right gear before the bend.

If the Sports mode forced down shift is available on the Geartronic box, I'd like to know how the software can be updated to achieve it. It is purely a computer controlled feature.

I believe that feature is called "kickdown" and virtually all auto boxes have it, but it isn't a separate sports oriented transmission program as it cancels itself when the revs reach an appropriate level. The Sports mode on the Aisin-Warner box is the only real disappointment I have with my XC70. And now that I have Polestar, I never seem to need to use it as the increased torque does the business for acceleration.

Yes it is.... on the AW55 5-speed boxes and some of the TF80 the behaviour of the gearbox adapted to driving style, and there was a sports mode that was activated by the rate at which the accelerator pedal was depressed - in addition to the kick down. By sports mode I mean the profile of shift points changed and the speed of shifts increased (at the expense of smoothness).

I'm not 100% sure if it still does that on the later gearboxes with a selectable sports program but if you find a nice quiet road and do a 0-60 run starting with depressing the accelerator pedal over say a second or so and then the same run where you stamp on it - you might see a difference in terms of where the box shifts and how harsh it will shift. On a euro 3 cars that used to make a significant difference.

I'm going to try it tonight...

On another point, the gearbox does not automatically drop a gear when you select the sports mode, it changes the profile of the shift points and it might just be at the speed your are travelling and the commanded throttle level puts you into a different gear in the sport profile. If you were cruising at 70 mph on light throttle you would not expect it to downshift when you went into sport.

I am surprised you find it disappointing, the various cars I've driven with it I found it made a significant difference. But nothing beats a polestar upgrade.....

The 8-speed auto box in my 2014 V70 D4 uses a lot of engine braking in Sports Mode, meaning that handling actually tightens up a bit, making winding country lanes far more interesting.

It also vastly sharpens up general throttle response, meaning that if I am about to flick the gear lever over to the left I have to ease off the gas first to avoid sudden unwanted acceleration.

In effect, in Sports Mode, the car shows just how much power is available, and there's load more than non-Sport Mode would suggest.

So, no complaints from me.

On the other hand, Eco+ Mode is a bit like saying, "Why didn't you just buy a D2?"