Tiguan :: Unwanted Downshifting When Going Down Hills
Dec 2, 2014
I've had my 2013 Tiguan since July and have always noticed that it needlessly wants to downshift when going down hills. For instance, I might be doing 45-50mph down a hill... it'll be in 6th or 5th gear. If I tap the break, it downshifts. If I tap it again, it'll downshift again, to THIRD gear. The RPMs will shoot up to over 4,000. This also usually occurs if I put my foot on the break and keep there. So, if I'm on hilly roads... which is often being in Northwestern Connecticut, I'll engage the tiptronic.
Am I overreacting and is this just how the '13 Tiguan functions? Or is it a common problem with a fix?
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I have owned a 2007 2nd Gen Prius for about a month in a half. I love my Prius although I purchased it with high miles (just under 200K) I felt a little adventurous and took it on a rather lengthy trip from Ohio to Nebraska and then to South Dakota and back home) a few weeks ago and I've noticed a few things since.
Before this trip I could let my car coast down slight grades or hills with no issue. The car just coasted like normal which save gas of course. Well now on slight hills it feels as if the car is down shifting. It actually slows itself down slightly. On steeper grades it will still coast but up until a few weeks ago I could literally coast on a slight grade. Not so anymore.
Also when I accelerate now sometimes when I lift my foot off the accelerator it bucks or jerks. It's not very violent but noticeable. I didn't experience any of these issues before the trip. I was wondering if the rocky back gravel roads of Nebraska could be a contributing factor in any of this or perhaps the steep hills of Rapid City South Dakota (SD was when I first noticed the reduction in coasting)
I've been in to see the Toyota Service department In my area and of course they told me that, "Those Prii just drive like that". I refuse to accept that since I am very sensitive to changes in drivability in any vehicle that I own and I know that my Prius operates and feels differently than it did before.
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I've had my 2013, 3k miles Tiguan for 6 days now and I love it. However, I live in NW Connecticut, and it's hilly. I've noticed that when going down hills, the car will drop to a very low gear all of a sudden, and shoot up to 3-4k rpms. It has me really worried.
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We have had our tig for a few months now and love it! however, it upshifts going down hills and revs to the moon. is that normal for the tig? Do other peoples tigs do this? In my 20 years (and my dads 40) of being in auto cars I've never had a car do this nor has he. computer problem?
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We have a 2010 Tiguan SEL 4 motion automatic and today it just died after i pulled out of parking spot. the only light on the dash was the battery light. I restarted once i put it in neutral. When driving home my wife and i notice it was not downshifting when going down hill or when coming to a stop. This is not the usual behavior. It also seemed like it was costing in neutral when i was not in the throttle. I dropped it off at my usual dealer and hopefully they can duplicate it.
I am wondering if the battery or alternator is bad and the transmission computer was not getting good voltage and that made it act funny.
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I was driving around some very steep hilly highways recently. I have tried this in both cruise control and normal coasting.
I noticed that the Tiguan will automatically downshift when going down a steep enough incline and a certain higher speed is automatically reached. Whether that is based on what was set by your cruise control, or even when letting the car coast down by releasing the gas peddle, it will still reach a point of downshifting automatically.
What I hate about it though is that this downshifting causes the engine to suddenly rev very high RPMs. Its also pretty loud at that point. That's bad for the transmission system right?
Usually in automatic mode driving, gear shifts up at around 2,500 RPM (mostly around 2000 RPM point). But when you are going downhill in a steep incline, the Tiguan automatically goes to a lower gear causing the RPM to shoot right up. I've had mine go up to 4,000 RPM downhill and the engine screams and spins really fast as you can clearly hear. It of course does the job of keeping the car at a certain speed, but is this bad for the transmission?
I mean, I prefer pressing on the breaks to control speed downhill. Break pads are cheap and easily replaceable. Transmission strain and failure is a whole other business. So I would prefer the strain be placed on my breaks and not my transmission system for the purposes of controlling speeds downhill. The latter failure mode will be the case if they rely on the transmission to control speed downhill.
So what is a "happy RPM" for the engine anyway? What RPM is the 2.0T engine at its most efficient?
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Yesterday my 2013 R-Line started downshifting in a harsh manner. Vehicle has been serviced regularly every 8,000 km in accordance with the VW Maintenance Schedule as outlined in the Owners Manual. It is also completely stock and daily driven (mostly highway).
Today I took it to have it checked out as I suspected the TCU might be the problem. As it turns out they said that the entire Transmission needs to be replaced. I have 108,000 km on the odometer now so the Canadian Warranty has expired (100,000km)
I was absolutely gutted as it seems absurd that an automatic transmission would fail with relatively low mileage. My old MkV GTI with a DSG is still going with over 300,000 km.
This is my second Tiguan in the past 3 years. I have also owned a MkV GTI and also currently own a Mk6 Golf R. I have always been good to all of my VWs(maintenance) and they have always been reliable until now.
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I just bought a 2003 Camry, 4 cyl (154000 mi.) and the accelerator is a DBW. It feels different than a cable in that it seems to hesitate and after it shifts into second the car accelerates on its own a little bit. This is not a rev up in between shifts, it actually feels like a lurch. It is most noticeable when speeding up slowly. I may be able to get used to it but it doesn't seem right to me. The dealer wants $120 to hook up their computer.
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I have a new 2011 Honda CRV with an unwanted acceleration problem. Periodically, about every 200 miles, when I try to brake and stop the car stops but the engine maintains its speed and does not slow to an idle. What can cause this. Honda examined brakes and looked for fault codes and says they cannot reproduce.
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The engine light comes on and the wrench. Car doesn't get up to speed going up hills when this happens. One time it would not go over 30 without a whining noise. It's happened now 3 x's in 10 days.
First time the radiator cap was not on securely. Apparently that must have been from the shop because I have only had it for 10 weeks. Which is 2 weeks over the warranty and 2K miles over warranty also. Just my luck.
Doesn't happen every day, appears to be on hot days. When it's cool in the 50's or 60's I'm fine. First happened when it was high 90's. Then today its about 80.
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In ordinary cars, the cruise control (CC) only has control of the throttle. That is to say, when the car encounters a hill, the CC system increases the throttle. Coming down a hill, the CC unit will reduce throttle. If the speed increases too much, the CC unit can not reduce the speed of the car. On especially steep hills, the speed may well become too high.
In contrast in my Prius v, I find that the CC holds the speed study even on steep downgrades. This is possible due to the hybrid system which regenerates power. Even on steep grades, the CC system holds the speed rock steady at the set point.
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When I drive up and down hills I am noticing a lot of noise from my doors now... I have a 2 door Gold TDI... it almost sounds like they are moving or something...
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We have a 2005 Toyota Echo, manual 5 speed, with 160K miles. Everything works fine except for when you are accelerating (can happen in any gear) and mainly uphill. I assume the primary condition is when the car is being pushed or under more load than just cruising, anyway, it will will make a low grumbling noise and simultaneously shudders as if it is going to stall. This happens in a jerky fashion and doesn't last very long but consistently under aforementioned conditions. We have 3 Echo's by the way, all manual shift (Echo friendly)...
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My 2.4L 03 XLE with 220k on it is losing power. Running fine other than not accelerating or going up hills as well as it was last week. I have P420 cat code for the past 40K. It also has the typical smoky start from leaking valve seals and uses about a quart every 1k miles.
Ran a can of 44k through it and I'm about to pull the plugs and see what shape they are in, but I'm wondering if this loss of power might be the cat. I've been searching and it seems a plugged cat is a common cause for power loss. Seems likely since I use so much oil.
Seen the DIY replacement and leaky seals Rockauto suggested replacement Eastern ECOIII as well as the Walker.
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I have a '95 Town car that has great a/c, except for when going up hills it shuts down. As soon as I take my foot off the gas, it comes roaring back.
I've checked the vacuum storage canister (black plastic box) on the left fender well, and it's o.k.
I've checked all the red, blue, green, yellow vacuum lines @ the heater control and the various bellows that they control for scrapes/ kinks and they all hold vacuum/pressure.
I've checked the main vacuum line coming out of the elbow behind the throttle body and it is new and o.k.
I occasionally get the infamous "low flow egr" code, but I think this is due to loss of vacuum that is required to hold it open. The egr is brand new, as is the pipe to the right bank exhaust pipe and we have 4 new o2 sensors installed too. Also the horse shoe shaped passage under the intake manifold elbow is squeaky clean.
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I took my first road trip with my family in our new LS460L up through Donner's Pass and into Reno. This car just gobbles up miles. But what I did notice is that going through the mountain pass, the car barely hiccups through the curves and hills. Before you know it, you're pulling lateral g's.
The other thing I notice is that it's really easy to get comfortable in this car. It's just pure smooth silk. Makes me want to go into a trance. I'm not talking about the crap that BMW drivers throw at Lexus cars about detachment etc. Personally I love the smoothness.
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I've been noticing over the past few weeks that in the 1,5-3k RPM range, usually more under load (e.g. going up a hill, in traffic) that the turbo sounds like its venting boost more/earlier. It's normal acceleration too, not WOT!
Now, I might not have recognized normally, but my girlfriend's MKIV 1,8t just exhibited the same sound (more noticeable), and it turned out to be the hose to the "pancake pipe"/intercooler came loose. It's kind of the same "hissing" that you would hear if a DV/hooter valve is bad.
I know what the normal "pssst" when taking the foot off the gas should sound like. And that happens at highway speeds and normal acceleration.
So, before I bring it in - is something like this normal on the MKVI 2,0? Is it supposed to be venting to atmosphere during that higher-load acceleration, like going up a hill? Once we got her 1,8t fixed, it doesn't make a sound other than normal turbo pressure release at expected times.
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I just picked up my 2010 Prius yesterday and have a few questions. I live in area where there are hills, not as many as northern PA but there are still some substantial hills nonetheless. My question is how often can I go into the power zone going up hills and still achieve good gas mileage? I try to stay in the ECO zone whenever possible.
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I've put almost 3K miles on my Prius C and there have been times when I've gone up a long hill that required spending a lot of time in the red POWER zone. For example climbing up into the Berkeley hills, but always on a less steep switchback route. Quite often by the time I get to the top I can smell something like a mild burning coming from the engine. I imagine this is a normal reaction from the motor to being used to get up a long hill, but it is unnerving anyway. It is noticeable inside the cabin also, but more pronounced over the hood.
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I have this problem with my 2001 Santa fe 2.7 Lt auto done 326,000 km no power on hills sometime want rev past 3500 revs and sometimes will rev past this, it seem to get worse when fitted new fuel filter in the tank? have put new filters and O rings in injections, have just fitted new coils and the cat has no restriction. Starts first time but did have trouble the auto would not start in park until pulled top cover and got it out of park and started it in neutral changed the trans fluid and seems to move through the selection better. Could it be the fuel pump??
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I have a 1986 Toyota pickup. It's small 2 wheel drive with a stick shift. 6 weeks ago, it started lugging very slightly on hills after I had first started the car (only in the first 5 minutes of driving). Then that stopped, and now it loses power on hills so that I have to keep shifting down and going slower until I'm chugging uphill in 2nd gear at 30 mph. It only happens on long hills with a sustained uphill; smaller ones it keeps speed and power fine.
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