I drive a 2015 KIA soul I have about 17,900 miles on it. I was doing 75 MPH in a 70 MPH zone in Eco at cruising speed but once I hit a slight incline it would drop from 6th gear all the way down to 4th gear is this bad for the transmission at this speed... The engine did not wind or so any sign of strain. Once it down shifted to 4th gear it shot the rpms to 5 grand I switched over to manual and upshifted it 5th gear and had no problems getting up the very slight incline it did this to me 5 times yesterday twice heading up to Seattle WA and three times heading back to Vancouver WA... What could be causing it and is it normal?
bjosleyn
Mine does the same thing. I actually had to take it off cruise control to get better MPG. I'm not sure it is normal. It's almost impossible to use cruise control anywhere in NJ anyway,so I didn't worry much since I don't travel a lot.
It is quite normal. Although you have an ECO mode the Soul does not have Eco cruise control .
The cruise control reacts to maintain the same speed rather sharply the ECO slows things down so CC reacts even more so in one moment any savings will have been lost.
The ECO modes really only work if driver is driving in a trained Eco fashion. Dangerous hindrance otherwise.
I take it you have a 1.6 AT. the engine senses the power and will always drop to maintain correct balance for the engine response.
2.0L and diesels have more torque and will react to down changes slower as more power in hand.
Welcome to the Soul forums.
If you put the car details in your My Profile top right of page the details will automatically show for all of your posts.
Jeff
The cruise control reacts to maintain the same speed rather sharply the ECO slows things down so CC reacts even more so in one moment any savings will have been lost.
The ECO modes really only work if driver is driving in a trained Eco fashion. Dangerous hindrance otherwise.
I take it you have a 1.6 AT. the engine senses the power and will always drop to maintain correct balance for the engine response.
2.0L and diesels have more torque and will react to down changes slower as more power in hand.
Welcome to the Soul forums.
If you put the car details in your My Profile top right of page the details will automatically show for all of your posts.
Jeff
normal, no problem just doing what its designed to do under those particular circumstances. Take a look at the gear ratios
also, don't use ECO setting on the highway its more geared for low speed driving, and if you want to avoid more of the shifting in certain conditions just set the cruise and then move it to manual and leave in 5th gear instead of 6th - it won't shift as frequently. :sneakiness:
Well, here's one more bit of info....
Leave the ECO mode OFF! Most Soul AT drivers report, like I, that they don't like the way the car shifts in ECO mode. And it does nothing for efficiency or MPG.
But remember, Cruise control is designed to do just one thing....maintain a constant speed, and if that means downshifting on an upgrade, then that's what it will do.
The only bad thing I found, was that sometimes, not always, after it shifts down, it seems to take forever to shift back into 6th gear. When that happens, I just go to
manual shift and bump it back up to 6th gear. It's really a very simple procedure.
It's a small car, with a small engine and a small transmission. So if that one little shift glitch happens once in a while.....do like I do....deal with it.
Overall, the Kia Soul 6 speed AT is a real work of art. Best little tranny I've ever had.
Cheers Mate!
Leave the ECO mode OFF! Most Soul AT drivers report, like I, that they don't like the way the car shifts in ECO mode. And it does nothing for efficiency or MPG.
But remember, Cruise control is designed to do just one thing....maintain a constant speed, and if that means downshifting on an upgrade, then that's what it will do.
The only bad thing I found, was that sometimes, not always, after it shifts down, it seems to take forever to shift back into 6th gear. When that happens, I just go to
manual shift and bump it back up to 6th gear. It's really a very simple procedure.
It's a small car, with a small engine and a small transmission. So if that one little shift glitch happens once in a while.....do like I do....deal with it.
Overall, the Kia Soul 6 speed AT is a real work of art. Best little tranny I've ever had.
Cheers Mate!
My + does the same thing. My theory is that when your in cruise all the computer see's is what speed you have it set at, and it will do everything it can to keep that speed, including down shifting a couple gears and revving the motor, it doesn't care, it just wants to hold it's speed.
And keep in mind 5th and 6th gears are overdrive's, there's not much pulling power there.
And keep in mind 5th and 6th gears are overdrive's, there's not much pulling power there.
The transmission locks the torque convertor in 4th, 5th, and 6th gear, so you would be perfectly safe cruising in either of those gears for extended periods of time.
There are 2 types of Cruise control. One that is more prevalent that controls the speed. If you go up hill or down hill gravity changes the speed and CC compensates. The other is RPM Cruise Control. It sets the prm and if you go up hill you slow down some but get lots better mpg. The Soul I drive has speed control. I wish it had the other.
Techno said: "Overall, the Kia Soul 6 speed AT is a real work of art. Best little tranny I've ever had."
The Kia 6 speed auto seems to suffer the same afflictions that the 4 speed auto in my wife's 2.0 Elantra did, lethargy.
Always seems to spend too much time in high gear before it wants to kick down.
Seems you really need to put your foot into in to initiate downshifts.
Of course, with cars being smarter than their owners, who am I to criticize but it's an observation none the less.
The Kia 6 speed auto seems to suffer the same afflictions that the 4 speed auto in my wife's 2.0 Elantra did, lethargy.
Always seems to spend too much time in high gear before it wants to kick down.
Seems you really need to put your foot into in to initiate downshifts.
Of course, with cars being smarter than their owners, who am I to criticize but it's an observation none the less.
Just because the car has a computer to control certain functions, does not mean in any way shape or form that it is smarter than their owner. This problem is easily avoided by simply going into sports shift mode and downshifting one gear on an incline, then returning to D after the incline has passed.
I know, I know, I know, there are so many other important things to be doing while driving that actually paying attention to what is going on is the last thing on most drivers mind. We do not need autonomous cars, we need drivers to have their priorities straight and stop worrying so much about pointless things like sports, TV, celebrities, and so on.
This is the sad reality of the world, we are so obsessed with all this crap that doesn't really mean anything that we can't do a simple task like drive a car and focus on only that while you are doing it. Take this for example, I drove 150 miles last night from Denver to my home while it was very lightly snowing. Along my way home, I passed 6+ cars in the median or on the side of the road because they managed to lose control for one reason or another.
I am not blaming it entirely on the drivers because I do not know the condition of their vehicles or tires, but simply paying every bit of attention to the road, driving at a reasonable speed and paying attention to everything that is going on concerning your current task at home, staying on the road and remaining in control of your car. The best thing to remember, is you are in control of what the car does 99% of the time, if you lose control of the car, it's like you did something in that split second that caused it.
I know, I know, I know, there are so many other important things to be doing while driving that actually paying attention to what is going on is the last thing on most drivers mind. We do not need autonomous cars, we need drivers to have their priorities straight and stop worrying so much about pointless things like sports, TV, celebrities, and so on.
This is the sad reality of the world, we are so obsessed with all this crap that doesn't really mean anything that we can't do a simple task like drive a car and focus on only that while you are doing it. Take this for example, I drove 150 miles last night from Denver to my home while it was very lightly snowing. Along my way home, I passed 6+ cars in the median or on the side of the road because they managed to lose control for one reason or another.
I am not blaming it entirely on the drivers because I do not know the condition of their vehicles or tires, but simply paying every bit of attention to the road, driving at a reasonable speed and paying attention to everything that is going on concerning your current task at home, staying on the road and remaining in control of your car. The best thing to remember, is you are in control of what the car does 99% of the time, if you lose control of the car, it's like you did something in that split second that caused it.
The behavior is normal for any cruise control. It's been told to maintain speed. It does so in the best way it can given the input it has, which doesn't include what's ahead. It doesn't know what the incline will be 100 feet farther down the road.
Downshifting from sixth to fourth is also normal because both fifth and sixth are overdrive gears. Fifth is too tall to efficiently maintain speed on even a moderate incline, especially if you're using regular gas, which will detonate more easily under load. The detonation would trigger the knock sensor, which would in turn retard the spark and rob the engine of power.
Downshifting from sixth to fourth is also normal because both fifth and sixth are overdrive gears. Fifth is too tall to efficiently maintain speed on even a moderate incline, especially if you're using regular gas, which will detonate more easily under load. The detonation would trigger the knock sensor, which would in turn retard the spark and rob the engine of power.
Never experienced that at all. If you're proactive, unlike the cruise control, you would be downshifting to 5th gear at the very bottom of the incline to avoid losing any power. This in turn, brings the RPM up enough that the power being produced is enough to keep you at your set speed the entire way up the hill. If you wait for the car to slow down, you are wasting the energy that was already built up before the incline. Keeping the momentum steady will also keep your MPG from dropping too much.
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
