[namzaj]

I generally love driving the DS, but I find the sharper turns at slow speed weird. There are two 90-degree corners that I drive every day and notice that the car always seems to "lose all power" on turning in.

I am driving 30mph, slow down to 15-20, take the turn, push the gas and nothing happens for a good 2-3 seconds and then it finally picks up and goes. I do it every day so I have tried flooring it, eco and non-ECO. I haven't tried Sports mode - perhaps I should, but has anyone else noticed this behavior where the shifting is based on the car gyroscope?

 

[jsyteng]

I generally love driving the DS, but I find the sharper turns at slow speed weird. There are two 90-degree corners that I drive every day and notice that the car always seems to "lose all power" on turning in.

I am driving 30mph, slow down to 15-20, take the turn, push the gas and nothing happens for a good 2-3 seconds and then it finally picks up and goes. I do it every day so I have tried flooring it, eco and non-ECO. I haven't tried Sports mode - perhaps I should, but has anyone else noticed this behavior where the shifting is based on the car gyroscope?

FINALLY . . . A kindred spirit. I experienced this ALL the time, which frustrated me to no end. I think this has lessened somewhat due to the transmission adapting to my driving style, but I still get it from time to time.

Of all the various glitches and issues, I find this to be the most irritating. The DS is great once up to speed, and handles like a champ, but the whole engine dying out and then lurching forward on turns is ridiculous. I'm appalled it even passed Quality Assurance.

Let me know if this changes for you over time, although if I'm recognizing your avatar name correctly you've had the DS for awhile, right?

 

[Battin4th]

Agree with all of this wholeheartedly! Most people interpret this as turbo lag even the salesman knuckleheads at the dealership. It is not turbo lag. It is transmission confusion and it s*cks! This is a known issue with this transmission/software. I think some of the Jeeps also use the same 9 speed from **** and similar issues have been cited there. This issue was written up in the various car mags when they tested Disco (and the Jeeps too). I'm not buying any adaptation of the way the trans shifts over time either. Sorry. The only thing that may fix it is some kind of software update and I'm not sure there is one. Driving this car smoothly in stop and go situations, is nearly impossible.

 

[pokakobe]

I had loaner car (Evoque) for past week due to moisture in rear left lamp for repair.

My wife and I both felt the power from Evoque is better than DS (throttle response and shift timing). It's possible that the loaner car has been "trained" by several different drivers (ECU learned) but also due to the weight of vehicle. In addition, the interior quality seems to be much much firmer than our 3000 miles DS as well (meaning no rattling, sqeaking...etc.)

 

[DiscoDisco]

Meh, I think it's a combo of the transmission timing and turbo lag. The combo of being caught out in the wrong gear along with the turbo lags causes the "stall".
When we first got our DS, this was terrible. The vehicle reacts much better these days. But this situation still happens on occasion.

Try these slow turns in command shift. Try selecting a lower gear yourself and see what happens.

Even though the vehicles responds better these days than it did at first, I wouldn't be surprised if LR issued some new transmission mapping. If I recall correctly they had to do that with the Evoques a while back.

 

[mkzhang]

Sounds like a confused transmission, happens in my automatic lexus too.

Loaner cars usually drive sportier because people drive them like bat out of **** haha, so the transmission computer learns to be very aggressive

 

[jsyteng]

I would love if LR released a new transmission mapping! I wonder what would be the likelihood of that actually happening . .. maybe if people complained enough.

 

[LRD]

I would love if LR released a new transmission mapping! I wonder what would be the likelihood of that actually happening . .. maybe if people complained enough.

I have a feeling it might tap into the MPG rating which these days getting the best or one of is like GOLD to them. I bet if they find the right mixture of economy and performance they'll make it available. If MPG would suffer, we continue to suffer, all for the sake of good marketing

 

[petcha]

I used to experience this when I first got the car, but only around this one corner near my house where I'd be taking a 90 degree turn going uphill. The "adaptive" transmission seems to have figured it out as it's not really an issue anymore. I get a very similar response from my X3. Not a total drop off in power, but a limited acceleration.

 

[bearcat]

I don't believe the issue is all in the transmission... its in the Haldex at the rear differential. I can repeat the issue while driving the vehicle up a slight incline at a good speed, at least 30mph. Brake hard, and immediately give it a lot of throttle... and it bogs down, .5-1.5 seconds. There is then a delay before the Haldex provides power to the rear wheels. The rpms seem to increase as the car bogs too.

You can watch all this happen (Haldex feeding power) in the 4x4i screen. The lock/unlock green/orange icon is the lockup of the Haldex. When the system provides power after the bog, you get a nice jolt of acceleration. My guess is the turbos were wound up while the system was less engaged, so the jolt is more noticeable. My second guess is there is a minimum time between the Haldex being locked, unlocking, and locking again. And that minimum time is the .5-1.5 seconds we notice as lag/bogging. I wonder if its just a fluid circuit that takes time to empty and refill? During the disconnect, there is still power going through the driveshaft... its just not getting to the wheels yet.

Just a note too, when I say "lockup" its not 100%. I believe when the Haldex is "disconnected" at the rear, its 95% front wheel drive, and 5% rear wheel.

 

[DrJJC]

I notice all the same noted about the turning and slight hills... But it has seemed to lessen as I train the Disco or it may be training me.

I also agree with bearcat and think it has something to do with either the diff locking or maybe the anti-slip programming.

All and all... I still love my Discovery Sport!

PS. I had a loaner Evouque and actually felt more power from my Disco. The other day someone was trying to beat me off the line and cut me off.. In a lexus or caddy.. Cant recall... I prevailed. The turbo is nice.

 

[jsyteng]

no improvement, 2 years later

well, needless to say, for over 2 years now I have lived with the uneven low-end acceleration, and simply accepted it as unfixable.

The other day, I nearly got killed because of it. I was coming out of turn, tried to accelerate onto a main road, and the engine absolutely died out for 5 seconds. Almost got crushed by another SUV. It could've been real ugly.

I went into the JLR dealer the other day and started looking at the RR Velar (super refined and elegant but very $$$$). But I am thinking my next car will not be a LR. I'm intrigued by the Jaguar F-pace but it seems a bit too racy, aggressive, with small cargo capacity.

Interestingly enough up in the Greater Boston area I am starting to see alot more Disco Sports. Maybe the more recent versions don't have the acceleration issue anymore.

 

[Paul]

lol.....I have bitched in other posts here about this.... surely not just simple Turbo lag.... this is clearly the retarded 9 speed transmission.
It happens all the time to me as well and frustrates the heck out of me...
S-mode help...so I hope eventually they will re-program it if more people complain...

I actually could get used to it being slow, if it wasn't for this transmission programming.... gears getting lost...not sure if they should step up or down...engine revs up and the car just jerks uncontrollably (ok...I am exaggerating a bit here but you get the idea...)

 

[jsyteng]

Paul: I didn't think you were exaggerating at all, LOL.

honestly: I do love most things about the DS. But the way it drives is obviously a huge part of the overall experience, and it falls so short in this one area. It's the one thing most of the car reviews harp on, too. It's a shame LR has not tried to fix it.

 

[MGLarry]

Well, I haven't experienced what you describe. I have experienced the turbo lag (had a Mazda CX-7 that had worse turbo lag). But the stumbling out of a corner is nothing I have seen. In fact there is a sharp right-hander I drive everyday (greater than 90 degrees) that I accelerate very quickly out of it regularly - no stumbling, hesitation or turbo lag (whether I accelerate hard or not).

To me this doesn't sound like the turbo or transmission, rather fuel starvation. Could be that fuel isn't being picked up in these corners causing the engine to stumble until the car settles down, allowing fuel to be picked up again. Does this happen when the fuel in the tank is low and the same sort of turn (only left turns or right turns for example)?

 

[jsyteng]

I haven't noticed the fuel level when this happens, but I'll be sure to next time. It almost always happens with right turn. There is one particular 90 degree turn I take every day, and it happens probably 33% of the time, which is ridiculous!

 

[Discosal]

I have the same exact thing in one of the right turns I'm taking every morning with my 2 Yrs old Disco - same behavior!!! The guy seems to be chocking while exiting the turn and then it takes him 2-4 sec. to recover while I'm moving my foot from the acceleration pedal and let it recover - very very dangerous thing if you are not familiar/ready for that.... I'm going to book my disco at the dealer in 2 weeks (I was too lazy - hit my driver side mirror in the garage wall and now going to pay big money for that ...) and will insist with them once again on addressing the issue finally. One thing I did noticed for me is that it happens always when the DS is still cold in cold weather in the morning.

 

[Paul]

Well, I haven't experienced what you describe. I have experienced the turbo lag (had a Mazda CX-7 that had worse turbo lag). But the stumbling out of a corner is nothing I have seen. In fact there is a sharp right-hander I drive everyday (greater than 90 degrees) that I accelerate very quickly out of it regularly - no stumbling, hesitation or turbo lag (whether I accelerate hard or not).

To me this doesn't sound like the turbo or transmission, rather fuel starvation. Could be that fuel isn't being picked up in these corners causing the engine to stumble until the car settles down, allowing fuel to be picked up again. Does this happen when the fuel in the tank is low and the same sort of turn (only left turns or right turns for example)?

this is nothing but the car being slow due to few factors coming together (heavy, only I4, 9-gear transmission/ programming)..... I would consider myself an aggressive driver (I am not a prick and never tailgate in a traffic) but I do like to hit it hard.... just as a reference; I got an Audi A4 2.0T and thought it was too slow for a sedan....so I ..traded it in for a V6 version and then S4...
I recognize DS is a large SUV and heavy...and I bought it because I needed a large vehicle to go off-road with all my hunting / camping gear...otherwise you'd never see me behind a wheel of ANY SUV/truck

Driving style may contribute to what some of us report here.... I really don't think this is an issue per se...it's more of a "design flaw" .... the guys at LR didn't think this would be a vehicle driven hard....I probably redline it a few times a week....and that's just on my way to/from grocery shopping >

 

[jsyteng]

Discosal: I totally agree that it happens to me mostly in cold weather, when the DS is still cold in the morning. But it happens to me at all times of the day and year as well. Like I said, I'm only venting again -- 2 years later -- because I literally almost got killed when merging onto the main road the other day. I sat there frozen, bracing for impact, before the DS kickstarted again and lurched forward. I can only imagine what the other driver was thinking!!!

please let me know how it goes with your dealer, and good luck on the driver side mirror.

 

[MGLarry]

Driving style may contribute to what some of us report here.... I really don't think this is an issue per se...it's more of a "design flaw" ....

I'm not sure it is a "design flaw" since I don't experience the same - if it was a flaw everyone would experience (though I agree the turbo/gearbox combo does make for some really peaky acceleration).

I did have a similar issue the first really cold day after I got my DS (about 25 degrees - cold here in Texas). Absolutely no power under acceleration - really, really sluggish. Improved when the car got warmed up (about 10 minutes). I took it in for service and either they fixed it (don't recall specifics), or didn't do anything and that was a one-off. We've had many other really cold days here after that, and it has never happened again.