[RaineMan]

Hey all. I've had my 09 V6 equipped LT for about 2 months now. Picked it up used off of a corporate lease... got about 36500mi on it, put 2500 of those on it myself driving out to Utah from NC.

My gripe is this... the 1-2 shift is very delayed when I am using the paddles. If I stomp it in 1st then click for 2nd the car will actually bang off the rev limiter for a moment, then go to 2nd gear. All of the other gears are just fine when using the paddles but the delay in 1-2 is really getting on my nerves b/c that is what I use the paddles for the most.

Can anything be done about this? Should I pull off the battery cable and reset the ECU so it can learn my driving patterns? Any other advice?

Thanks.

 

[Starship]

With a repeatable problem like that, I'd just take it in. Is yours really green? I don't remember a green colored Malibu.

 

[Silver LTZ]

The shifts will always be delayed when using the paddles. When are you pulling the paddle to shift? There is about a 1 second delay with them. If you ask me they suck. I never use them unless I wanna hold a gear.

 

[Richard]

The shifts will always be delayed when using the paddles. When are you pulling the paddle to shift? There is about a 1 second delay with them. If you ask me they suck. I never use them unless I wanna hold a gear.

Right. I haven't had the opportunity to use it on the Malibu yet, but on my last car, it was horrible. There was a big delay when shifting to all gears. I think this is just a characteristic of the manual shift mode on all cars that have this feature. It's just a gimmick. Stick with the Auto.

 

[Richard]

With a repeatable problem like that, I'd just take it in. Is yours really green? I don't remember a green colored Malibu.

I don't think this is a problem. Just a normal characteristic of cars with manual shift mode.

 

[Starship]

I don't think this is a problem. Just a normal characteristic of cars with manual shift mode.

Okay, it's just that it sounded like the clutch pack let go for a couple of seconds before the transmission actually shifted into the second.

 

[RaineMan]

The delay in 1-2 is long enough that if have the pedal planted and tap the paddle at around 4000RPM the car will redline, hit the limiter, then shift to 2nd. All the other gears have a 1-2 second delay in them when you hit the paddle, and I have adjusted my driving style to compensate for that... but the 1-2 gets me every time.

The tranny also has a bad habit of upshifting when I am accelerating on a highway ramp. It'll be in 3rd doing 40-ish, I toe in for a little more power, it revs about 500RPM then shifts into 4th and falls flat on its face. So I have to give it even more gas so the auto will downshift or drop it into M and tap it back down to 3rd.

My dad has a 08 Vette with the 6-speed auto and paddles... I've driven it several times and it doesn't have any problems with being shifted manually. Which leads me back to thinking it is something with the computer in my car.

I realize the Malibu isn't a sports car and wasn't meant to be driven like one... I came from a 06 Cobalt SS/SC with GM Stage 2 to this car b/c it was the most powerful 4-door on the dealer's used lot (couldn't find a Impala SS) so maybe my expectations are a little high.

I think I'm going to try unhooking the battery cable and resetting the computer. These trannys are adaptive so they learn a driver's habits in the first few hundred miles. I'm guessing whomever had the car before me didn't use the paddles at all, b/c it's almost like the car doesn't know what to do when I use them.

And I think the color is officially called "Silver Moss Metallic" or something like that...

That's not my exact car as mine has the color matched mirrors and the 18" wheels... but that is the correct color. Looks green to me.

 

[Silver LTZ]

The delay in 1-2 is long enough that if have the pedal planted and tap the paddle at around 4000RPM the car will redline, hit the limiter, then shift to 2nd. All the other gears have a 1-2 second delay in them when you hit the paddle, and I have adjusted my driving style to compensate for that... but the 1-2 gets me every time.

Yeah, that is longer then it should be. I find with mine I have to shift about 1000 rpm before redline to get a redline shift. Yours does seem excessive. But remember the A6 in the Corvette is a totally different tranny with much more aggressive shift properties.

 

[DrivenDaily]

You could also try this: Put it in A, launch in 1st, let it shift into 2nd, then pull it into M and go from there.