I'll try my best to explain this...

When driving my car on full Auto and I let go the gas as im coming close to a light in traffic or a stop, it normaly just glides or keeps rolling smoothly i guess i could say. But when I switch to the semi-auto and use paddle shifter (same thing using the stick too) and i do the same thing, let off the gas, the car slows down dramaticaly faster, it doesnt just keep rolling as when i use it on automatic, it feels as if i downshifted and it slows down as if i hit the break for a second.

Basicaly its not smooth when i let go the gas in semi automatic, not as smooth as in automatic, it constantly jerks the car like it wants to stop quickly.

I hope you understand what im saying, if not let me know i can try to explain further but does anyone with the same car have these issues? is it normal or mine has problem? (besides not being a MT :P haha)

Thanks for the help

 

Only way something similar has happened to me is if I downshift to early and you get a little engine braking, but what your describing sounds like it is happening on its own.

 

probably because the car is still in gear in manumatic mode. in auto mode the car probably shifts to neutral when you let off the gas.

im probably wrong, but im sure its something like that.

 

I think you're just experiencing engine braking. In full automatic mode the car's going to glide to a stop almost entirely in overdrive, except for the very last second where it quickly shifts down to 3 and then back to 1. As such the car is going to feel looser and smoother coming to a stop. What gear are you in when you start stopping? At around 20-25mph in manual mode the car automatically goes from 4th to 3rd, so I think you're just feeling engine braking.

 

+1

 

I understand Engine breaking where it goes down one gear to slow down but thats not it.

I Just tried this with my gf's Mazda3 (2008) and using the semi-automatic mode where i can shift my self and it didnt do what my RX8 does. When I take my foot off the gas peddle and i was in 2nd or 3rd gear, it just kept rolling smooth, it didnt start slowing down as if i was hitting the break. When I do that with my RX8 it doesnt keep rolling smoothly, it slows down dramaticaly, so much that I feel like im thrown forward as if I hit the breaks.

Is this normal or not?

 

I have an 03-model 4AT & am yet to experince this but I would get any fault codes extraxted to see if that gives a clue. All Auto trannies are complex a bit of a "Black art" to most so its best to talk to a Auto trans shop that deals with Japanese boxes as a speciality.

Personally, l would suspect a bearing carrier or similar within the box as you move well on accell but not on decell. Thus the shift in load makes a shaft or gear move slightly out of place etc & grinds against a wall?? (creating the braking feeleing) before popping back into place. Reason why it wont happen in full-auto mode is due to low load/rpm from the 4th gear as oppossed to the higher load/rpm from 3rd or 2nd.

How many KM have you done on this tranny between servicing...? On a car like ours, I would have the oil changed at the 40k km- 50k km bracket to be safe. If not even sooner.

REgards

 

It's normal; you are experiencing exactly what Vertigo-1 said except that the transmission does not automaticly downshif until you come to a stop.

 

its pretty normal depending on what gear, and how high your revs are.
For me if I'm in 1st doing above 15mph when I let off the gas it will slow down dramatically. Same if i'm in 2nd doing above 50 or so. I'm not sure what the exact rpm is when it will start to slow down like that, but there nothing wrong with it. If you dont like it try shifting into a higher gear before you slow down. i.e. if you usally cruise on the streets in 2nd, try cruising in third or even 4th and see what happens when you slow down.

 

Thats an idea, I'll try that. Hopefully i get it back from the shop tomorrow or wednesday, I told them about this and asked them if they could check it out, will see.

To answer DMRH, i just got the car less than a month ago, it had 27.3k miles and now at 28.1k