I have a 2017 GS. Today was the first time I've taken it on a more serious mountain road. This road is not a 4wd road, in that it doesn't require lots of clearance or extreme traction, but it is a very steep, somewhat loose, dirt road. The car did great overall, but I didn't understand exactly what the transmission was doing at one point.
We were climbing a steep section at about 11,000'. I had put it in manual mode, 1st gear, because otherwise it wants to try to go to 2nd when it shouldn't. At one point the road became even steeper, and as I gave it more gas, it felt almost as if it was doing all it could, had no more power to give, and it was not going to be able to climb. I knew that couldn't be true, because it's not THAT steep, and every other type of crossover car gets up to that trailhead just fine.
Finally I pushed the pedal to the floor for a second and that seemed to wake it up. All of a sudden the brain seemed to figure out that I wasn't kidding, and it took off and climbed the rest of it without breaking a sweat. If I hadn't already had it locked in 1st, I would have thought it downshifted and took off the way it should. From there on it felt totally normal, just like it was locked in 1st and had plenty of power, which it did. It was like it learned that we weren't in Kansas anymore, it it did everything the way it should for the rest of the day.
So what was that? Did the torque converter finally lock up or what? I fully admit that I don't understand exactly how automatic transmissions in general, and especially these new computer driven cars work. But, I will say that the car performed admirably the whole time, other than this weird incident. The suspension is great, the clearance is adequate for this type of vehicle. When it gets more challenging than this, we take the Toyota truck.
We were climbing a steep section at about 11,000'. I had put it in manual mode, 1st gear, because otherwise it wants to try to go to 2nd when it shouldn't. At one point the road became even steeper, and as I gave it more gas, it felt almost as if it was doing all it could, had no more power to give, and it was not going to be able to climb. I knew that couldn't be true, because it's not THAT steep, and every other type of crossover car gets up to that trailhead just fine.
Finally I pushed the pedal to the floor for a second and that seemed to wake it up. All of a sudden the brain seemed to figure out that I wasn't kidding, and it took off and climbed the rest of it without breaking a sweat. If I hadn't already had it locked in 1st, I would have thought it downshifted and took off the way it should. From there on it felt totally normal, just like it was locked in 1st and had plenty of power, which it did. It was like it learned that we weren't in Kansas anymore, it it did everything the way it should for the rest of the day.
So what was that? Did the torque converter finally lock up or what? I fully admit that I don't understand exactly how automatic transmissions in general, and especially these new computer driven cars work. But, I will say that the car performed admirably the whole time, other than this weird incident. The suspension is great, the clearance is adequate for this type of vehicle. When it gets more challenging than this, we take the Toyota truck.