Hi all and thanks for putting together such an informative forum.
I have owned a 2007 AWD Outlook with 19" wheels since May of 2007 and have been very happy with it - except for the transmission shifting woes shared by many others here. I did have the May 2008 update installed and found that it made a huge improvement to the shifting behavior. But, it was not perfect and still sometimes required excessive pedal and occasionally will still double downshift in certain circumstances (I believe).
I recently was on vacation and drove a 2009 Outlook as a rental and found the shifting to be very good - or at least nothing unusual showed up during the week I had the car. However, it was FWD and had the 18" wheels so I cannot make direct comparison.
Does anyone know if there were signficant programming changes to the 2009 transmissions as compared to the 2008 or 2007s models?
Or, is it possible that different wheel sizes or the presence of AWD might make shifting abnormalities more enhanced?
Finally, for what it may be worth to others, I have found that a quick "blip" of the throttle will induce a downshift when the transmission is otherwise reluctant to do so - without inducing high acceleration that might cause problems on slippery roads.
Thanks again for your thoughts on my questions.
I have owned a 2007 AWD Outlook with 19" wheels since May of 2007 and have been very happy with it - except for the transmission shifting woes shared by many others here. I did have the May 2008 update installed and found that it made a huge improvement to the shifting behavior. But, it was not perfect and still sometimes required excessive pedal and occasionally will still double downshift in certain circumstances (I believe).
I recently was on vacation and drove a 2009 Outlook as a rental and found the shifting to be very good - or at least nothing unusual showed up during the week I had the car. However, it was FWD and had the 18" wheels so I cannot make direct comparison.
Does anyone know if there were signficant programming changes to the 2009 transmissions as compared to the 2008 or 2007s models?
Or, is it possible that different wheel sizes or the presence of AWD might make shifting abnormalities more enhanced?
Finally, for what it may be worth to others, I have found that a quick "blip" of the throttle will induce a downshift when the transmission is otherwise reluctant to do so - without inducing high acceleration that might cause problems on slippery roads.
Thanks again for your thoughts on my questions.