I am a new owner and noticed immediately that when i let my foot off of the gas the vehicle does not seem to coast freely like any other car I have driven. Rather it feels like there is some sort of brake drag which gradually slows the car down. Is this normal on these? Ordo I have something turned on that I shouldn't. I turned the stability controll off to see if that had anything to dowith it, but it's the same whether on or off. It seems that this dragging feel would have anaffect on gas mileage if the car cannot coast freely when off the gas.

Thanks,
Jason

 

It is indeed normal. It's just the intelligent transmission anticipating what it thinks you want. Since your foot is off the accelerator, it assumes you do not want to gain speed. If you tap the gas even slightly, you'll notice your speed picks up right away because the transmission then assumes you want to go faster. Hope that helps.
Todd

 

It definitely feels safer with this intelligent transmission as you call it, but what about highway driving? Won't this decrease gas mileage considerably on a vehicle that already has poor gas mileage?

Jason

 

Jason, I don't know about that. It doesn't cause additional friction or resistance that the car must overcome, it's just holding a lower gear. Think of it as being similar to engine breaking like when you manually downshift to a lower gear in order to reduce speed going downhill.

 

You will notice that mostly on downhill stretches. When you are on the flat, it won't do it, per se. It does assume that if you are coasting downhill that you don't want to go too fast. If you use the manual shift and put it in 6th, you will coast down the hill. If you stay in normal drive mode, the downhill will stay in 5th, and it won't use more fuel, since the fuel injection is really controlled by your accelerator.

 

Thanks Guys. Yes, itfeelsvery much like driving a manual vehicle. Except in a manualyou canpress the clutch in and coast. I realize that it doesn't use more fuel by adding the resistance it's just thatby notcoasting as faryou naturally have to use the accelorator more and burn more fuel from point A to B.It's also probably so minimal of a difference that it doen't matter anyway, but I was notthrilled about the stated gas milage of 14/19to begin with.
Thanks for the tip about driving it in the sport mode, that'sgood info.

Jason

 

The LR3 takes things to a level I had not seen before in another vehicle.We all know that if you're cruising down the highway inany carwith your cruise control on and the road turns uphill, the cruise will downshift the transmission and accelerate to compensate and maintain the selected speed under the added load. Right? But have you noticed that if you are going downhill the cruise control fails tounderstand the situation and simply lets the car roll downhill as it will increasing your speedway above thespeed you had set on the cruise control depending onhow steep your decent?

Now, have you noticed when moving at speed down hill on thehighwaywith the cruise controlon,IN YOUR LR3,that the transmission will actually down shift, sometimes even down to 4th gear in order to maintain the selected speed rather than letting the car go like every other vehicle I know of? Kool huh?
It's all done with the safety of the occupant in mind.I know a few people hate this intelligent transmission feature but personaly, I like it!

 

Yeah, I think it's cool and it definitely feels safer. Was just wondering how it was affecting the milage if at all. I'm all for technology and new ways of doing things.

 

My '97Cirrus did the same, and I believe any modern car does it.