I recently purchased a 2009 Sport with auto transmission. The owners manual says that in "S" mode you can choose to select gear changes manually or you can just leave the "S" transmission mode in automatic for use in city driving in order to keep the transmission from shifting into 5th gear. In this "S" automatic mode my transmission shifts fine between 1st, 2nd and 3rd but will not shift into 4th (at any rpm) as the manual implies that it will do. Is the owners manual wrong and the "S" automatic mode really only uses the first 3 gears or is there something wrong with my transmission leaving it unable to shift into 4th.
Also while driving at highway speeds in "D" 5th gear, if I shift into "S" mode the transmission does not drop to 4th - it drops all the way down to 3rd.

 

if you dont use the paddles, its going to run it to redline, and then shift

 

nothing's wrong with your car its all normal.........

 

I've not drivin the car specifically in S mode without shifting with the paddles, but I've had the joy of being in 5th and dropping it into S and then it downshifting to third.

I think it is normal... and helpful when you're trying to go up a hill.

 

mine does this also. its normal.

now the other stuff you stated i'm not sure of that.
i'll have to check it next time i'm driving.

 

Just a thought, but why wouldn't you want your car to shift into 5th gear in the city? Usually overdrive is turned off in the hills, not the city... ?

 

Usually in city you aren't traveling fast enough to be in the powerband in 5th gear. You can be in 5th if you want to, but you'll be struggling for power to get around and probably get worse gas mileage. If you have space to just cruise in 5th, then of course it would help. But I would imagine most cities to be bustling with traffic and stop and go.

 

My 05 accord had D,D3,2,1. I would assume S mode without the paddles would be the same as putting the accord in D3. It shifted from 1 to 3 but stayed at 3 when you were going fast enough. If you moved it to 2 it just stayed at 2 and didn't move. Hope this helps.

 

The shifting point on the S mode depends on how you drive the car (it might change from 1st to 4th or change only from 1 to 2nd..... the ECU is program to learn on certain type of driving condition... so slight foot on the gas will shift gears automatically in an S mode... now if you press the gas pedal a bit harder the ecu will rev to its redline and waiting for you to shift the gears.

 

Mine never shifts into 4th too. I prefer to use S mode and get the higher revs but not being able to get into 4th kills it for me (I don't want to use the paddles necessarily). I wish I'd looked this up before!

 

a lot of AT folks usually think running the car at 3000rpm is 'high.' is that the case for you folks?

in the city in my MT, my car is running 2500-3500rpm range.