Question for '18 GT owners with A10

[Spork3245]

My wife just bought an '18 PP GT with the A10. Previously she had a '15 V6 with the A6. She really does not like the A10 and feels the car is difficult to drive smoothly without unnecessary jerkiness. For me, the jury is still out.

I am a manual transmission guy so I admit to being somewhat predisposed against an automatic transmission. Having said that, during light throttle driving the trans does seem to continuously cycle and frequently seems to be in the wrong gear. I have experienced the jerkiness she dislikes and while playing around with the various drive modes can reduce it, it is never completely eliminated.

I wonder if there is an issue with her car specifically or if this is similar to what others are experiencing.

Just a question to those out there with the A10.

Otherwise, she absolutely loves the car and wanted one for a very long time so I would like to see if there is anything to do differently to make her driving experience with the A10 better.

How old is the car? It has a learning ECU that takes a bit to adapt.

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[Houston Kid]

Love the A10 and like what others have said, D and S are two completely different animals. D should infact be E for eco.

If not raining Friday, I’ll report back on 1/4 mile run times from Royal Purple. I have a 3.15 rear end.

 

[Zathras]

Thanks for all the feedback. It seems like most people (so far) are reasonably happy with the A10 even with the stock behavior. (On the S197 with the A6, it seemed like people were eager to get it tuned just to pep it up.)

 

[Angry50]

Thanks for all the feedback. It seems like most people (so far) are reasonably happy with the A10 even with the stock behavior. (On the S197 with the A6, it seemed like people were eager to get it tuned just to pep it up.)

seems the same to me, the different modes do make a big difference. in standard normal its soft and comfort but in Sport/track it holds the rpms pretty high and has a good response

 

[Boom1]

My wife just bought an '18 PP GT with the A10. Previously she had a '15 V6 with the A6. She really does not like the A10 and feels the car is difficult to drive smoothly without unnecessary jerkiness. For me, the jury is still out.

I am a manual transmission guy so I admit to being somewhat predisposed against an automatic transmission. Having said that, during light throttle driving the trans does seem to continuously cycle and frequently seems to be in the wrong gear. I have experienced the jerkiness she dislikes and while playing around with the various drive modes can reduce it, it is never completely eliminated.

I wonder if there is an issue with her car specifically or if this is similar to what others are experiencing.

Just a question to those out there with the A10.

Otherwise, she absolutely loves the car and wanted one for a very long time so I would like to see if there is anything to do differently to make her driving experience with the A10 better.

I had the jerkiness initially with my A10 but as most people said the car adaptive learns your driving style. I hated it at first and almost took it back to Ford but after a week or so it stopped and the car started shifting as I would expect it to.

Another thing could be because both of you drive the car the car is getting two different driving style information thus compensating all the time and struggling.

 

[Madtel4]

So how do I want to drive my A10 so it learns how I drive? I drive ball to the wall some times and just travel other times. Will it relearn if I drive it one way for a long time? Can it be reset?
Lee

 

[gimmie11s]

So how do I want to drive my A10 so it learns how I drive? I drive ball to the wall some times and just travel other times. Will it relearn if I drive it one way for a long time? Can it be reset?
Lee

If youre feeling froggy, drop it into sport or drag mode and have at it.

My car will burn the tires on the 1-2 shift and bark the on 2-3 and 3-4.

The a10 is a serious performance trans!!

My best pass on the Track Apps is 12.4@116 with 3.15 rear end and 255 all season radials.

 

[smbsocal]

I have had my '18 for over a month now and 1k miles. The A10 is still jerky for me in normal driving but is better in more spirited driving.

As other have said the D (riving) and S (peeding) modes have a big impact on the feel of the transmission.

 

[DickR]

So how do I want to drive my A10 so it learns how I drive? I drive ball to the wall some times and just travel other times. Will it relearn if I drive it one way for a long time? Can it be reset?
Lee

I drive both ways also. Most of the "adaptive learning" from what I've read in Ford and other technical info (and posted in one of the other threads) is simply the electronics fine tuning shift feel based on internal clutches/valves, etc. in the transmission and has little if anything to do with driving style. Anything related to driving style from what I can tell is based on how I'm driving at that time and which shifter position and drive mode I've selected.

As I posted last night "jerkiness" in D and normal drive mode is very likely to be because the driver isn't smooth enough with the gas pedal. If you wear boots or other footgear which make it hard to be precise with gas pedal movement you might try different footgear as an experiment.

 

[Infidex]

I drive both ways also. Most of the "adaptive learning" from what I've read in Ford and other technical info (and posted in one of the other threads) is simply the electronics fine tuning shift feel based on internal clutches/valves, etc. in the transmission and has little if anything to do with driving style. Anything related to driving style from what I can tell is based on how I'm driving at that time and which shifter position and drive mode I've selected.

As I posted last night "jerkiness" in D and normal drive mode is very likely to be because the driver isn't smooth enough with the gas pedal. If you wear boots or other footgear which make it hard to be precise with gas pedal movement you might try different footgear as an experiment.

Jerkiness may also play a role in what conditions your driving in, I don't have the A10 as it isn't an option on the PP2, but my wife's Grand Cherokee is an 8 speed and I have driven some of the new 10 speeds in Chevy's trucks and F150s when travelling for work. All of this transmissions with more gears seem to do fine if you drive it like you stole it, or drive on roads that are 55-80mph, but if you do a lot of stop and go, 35-45 mph roads, they seem more jerky. This is just my opinion, but the transmissions go too high in the gears for these lower speeds, which means any little extra push on the gas pedal, has the transmission jumping down several gears to get going, versus a one or two gear jump down of the older 6 speed transmissions. Then when you let up, it shifts up to higher gears, when you may need to give it gas again, jumping down 2-4 gears to get going. I know my wife's Jeep can be put in sport mode which keeps it from going into 7th and 8th when driving on these slower speed, stop and go type roads, makes it seem less jerky, but you get the who rev match down shifting when slowing for a stop which can be annoying (again, my opinion).

Can you lock out gears in the A10? I know if the 6 speed auto in my F-150, I can leave it in drive and press the minus button on side of shifter and lock out 6th gear, or lock out 5th/6th, and so forth. Can you hit the down paddle shifter when in drive and lock out the higher gears if your city driving, or does that automatically put it into manual mode for shifting with paddle shifters?

 

[Enchilada]

My A10 has 4K miles and it has been shifting extremely firm from 2-3 and 3-2, hot or cold, no matter how ‘precise’ I am with the gas and brake pedals. It shifts so firm while downshifting, sometimes slamming into the lower gear, I took it to the dealer just to have it looked at by the tranny specialist and have it documented. He said it ‘Shifted normally for the type of transmission in the car’, whatever that meant... I’ve started to notice it up-shifts smoother in Sport, but then I have the rev matching when I downshift. Is there a tune to remedy this??

 

[intheairtonight]

Do you guys shift from D to S while in motion or at a complete stop? Does it matter?

I go from D to S in motion often or D to S+/Drag/Track as well.

If youre feeling froggy, drop it into sport or drag mode and have at it.

My car will burn the tires on the 1-2 shift and bark the on 2-3 and 3-4.

The a10 is a serious performance trans!!

My best pass on the Track Apps is 12.4@116 with 3.15 rear end and 255 all season radials.

How many miles do you have on your car?

 

[DickR]

My A10 has 4K miles and it has been shifting extremely firm from 2-3 and 3-2, hot or cold, no matter how ‘precise’ I am with the gas and brake pedals. It shifts so firm while downshifting, sometimes slamming into the lower gear, I took it to the dealer just to have it looked at by the tranny specialist and have it documented. He said it ‘Shifted normally for the type of transmission in the car’, whatever that meant... I’ve started to notice it up-shifts smoother in Sport, but then I have the rev matching when I downshift. Is there a tune to remedy this??

Interesting. Assuming you are in D and "normal" drive mode how do you determine what gears are involved?

What approximate rpm range (i.e. light throttle in traffic vs medium to heavy throttle when there is room to accelerate?

I've been reading and commenting in a bunch of these threads and it seems that somehow Ford is shipping at least 3 different calibration versions.

1) Works well with smooth vs how firm and responsive depending on D or S and on drive mode selected. Many of us seem to have this version.

2) Too mushy and slow. People with this version seem to want version 3. I would guess that the typical "tune" would increase firmness and related calibration.

3) Too firm/jerky, etc. even in D normal. People with this version seem to want either version 2 or 1. I don't know if a tuner would soften the shifts, etc.

I will be autocrossing a lot this weekend and will finally get to try paddle shifting in actual autocross conditions rather than experimenting on the street which is not even close to being the same. I'm assuming paddle shifting since street testing indicates that none of the automatic shifter or drive modes will keep the trans in the appropriate gear in an autocross. I hope I am as happy with the transmission's performance after the autocrosses as I am now. Fingers crossed.

 

[Houston Kid]

I shift between S and D on the fly. I run in S on the side streets and in town driving. When I get on the freeway I generally go to D unless it’s time to pass somebody then to S for the pass. Lol.

 

[thecyber.ninja]

subbed...

2018 Mustang is my first Mustang and first real performance car, although we also own a 2012 Mini.

First week of ownership had me questioning my purchase because of the jerkiness. Smoothed out considerably, but still touchy and doesn't have the "go kart" like power of the Mini (and we own the heaviest and largest Countryman) off the line. I am not sure I'll spend much time exceeding the Mini's top speed of 135ish in the Mustang, but the Mustang has no problem getting there.

Chose an American performance car over German for my next car, because I had to replace the water pump on the Mini and had to take half the front end off to get to it and it was plastic! German engineers tend to over complicate everything.

Nothing beats the sound of the Mustang though...

How do you guys know what gear you are in? I have 500 miles on my 2018 and haven't messed too much with the paddles yet, although I think the gear will show in the display when you up shift or down shift using the paddles.

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