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9 speed Auto in Gen 2 CTD and Highway Shifting

1844 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  kickascii
So I'm struggling to come up with how to phrase this, so hopefully it'll make sense. Something I really like with my '14 CTD is how on the highway it never downshifts. Regardless of the size of the hill, if I have the cruise set at 110 km/h, it just goes along in 6th and never needs to drop a gear. My dad had a 2014 BMW 328i with the 8 spd auto and it felt like on the smallest hill it'd drop a gear with the cruise set. Does the 9 speed auto in the new Cruze stay in 9th for the most part on the highway, or does it frequently downshift even on small hills?
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So far my 9 sp holds 9 gear just fine, not much down shifting. Im still learning the shifting strategy of this car, it seems that it changes a lot while it warms up. Once it warms up it is predictable.

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So far my 9 sp holds 9 gear just fine, not much down shifting. Im still learning the shifting strategy of this car, it seems that it changes a lot while it warms up. Once it warms up it is predictable.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Sounds similar to the Gen1 Diesel. In theory, an auto with more gears will shift more and tend to down shift on hills more often than an auto with fewer gears. So long as the RPMs are high enough and the hill is shallow enough to allow the car to make it up the hill with the HP and Torque it has (which the diesel has a fair bit of), then it shouldn't feel the need to downshift.
Well, I'm probably not buying one anytime soon, but I'm glad to hear it! It's nice to be able to just drive along and never have the transmission change gears. If I was to buy one, I'd probably look for a 6 spd manual anyways, but you never know, the 9 spd does sound enticing.
I can't recall when my six speed downshifts on a hill even if big. I don't know what I would buy if I get a gen 2 ctd, my guess is the auto because I can get more options. My downside with that decision is the auto start stop which I am not a fan of at all. Have to figure out how to "delete" the auto stop feature.
I have two hills where the Vue (170hp 2.2l L4) will shift from 4th (OD) to 2nd and rev to 4000rpm to get up the hill.

The vue SOMETIMES shifts from 6th to 5th and 2000rpm on one and on the other will usually shift to the same (60mph).
The rest of time the fuel economy drops but the engine revs don't change and 6th gear is maintained.

Very grunty little engine we got on the diesel!
I have two hills where the Vue (170hp 2.2l L4) will shift from 4th (OD) to 2nd and rev to 4000rpm to get up the hill.

The vue SOMETIMES shifts from 6th to 5th and 2000rpm on one and on the other will usually shift to the same (60mph).
The rest of time the fuel economy drops but the engine revs don't change and 6th gear is maintained.

Very grunty little engine we got on the diesel!
I'm going to guess in the second part there where you put "the Vue sometimes shifts from 6th to 5th" you meant the Cruze?? haha :)
I'm going to guess in the second part there where you put "the Vue sometimes shifts from 6th to 5th" you meant the Cruze?? haha :)
lol ooops yes.
I have a 2017 diesel auto and you can defeat the start/stop by putting it in M (manual) and leaving it set to 9. It will drive as normal and will shift as if it were in D (Drive).
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