Timm Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Hello All! I'm in the market for a new vehicle and the wife and I took a 2011 Journey R/T out for a test drive. Very nice interior and the vehicle drove very will with one exception. Going on a highway on ramp my wife was holding a steady speed of around 90 km/h. I asked her to floor it to see how the vehicle would do, how quickly it would downshift and get going. She stepped on it, but it felt like next to nothing happened. I'm not even sure it dropped down out of 6th gear, when I was expecting it to drop to 5th or 4th, depending on how long she kept it pinned. Is this normal for this transmission, to not want to downshift when you want to pass, or speed up on a highway? From a stop I think the journey took off very quickly up to highway speed. When already at highway speed it didn't seem to want to downshift to accelerate? Is this a common observation? Any flashes expected to reprogram how the Journey transmission responds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drb227 Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 I can definitely attest to the slow downshifting. The transmission seems to be programmed heavily towards fuel economy - too much so, in my opinion. I hope Chrysler modifies this behaviour with new firmware soon! This is particularly noticeable when using cruise control and going uphill. In my Journey, it is not uncommon to lose 10 km/h before the transmission will finally shift down to 5th. I get around this now by manually shifting down to 5th at the start of any long uphill climb. Once in 5th, it has no problem maintaining the set speed. In your test drive, it almost sounds like maybe the transmission shift lever was in the manual shift mode. If that is where it was, no amount of gas pedal pressure would have caused a downshift. While the transmission is slow to downshift, it will most definitely do it if you push the pedal far enough and it doesn't have to be floored for that to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eurojet Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Both myself and my neighbor have 2011 Journeys and he was the first one to notice how brutal this tranny is, I dont drive mine a lot but just recently have driven for 2 weeks straight. what ever program they have use (i agree it is based on fuel economy) is absolutely brutal, everything that has been mention is true, shifting is slow and rough, and does not want to downshift, and pedal feel/response time is horrible. They really do need to come up with a new TCM program to fix this issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timm Posted April 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Thanks for the comments. We are taking another test drive this weekend and will give it a chance and see how it does. The exterior looks of the vehicle are growing on me. The interior is by far the nicest of anything we test drove and it is very comfortable. Not sure if it has the same shifting issues as it did last time whether that is a deal breaker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drb227 Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 I can honestly say that even with my gripes about the shifting and the Uconnect voice command not functioning for control of music playback, I am loving the Journey. Very quiet, comfortable and sharp interior. Lots of power from the Pentastar when you need it (just push the pedal FAR or shift manually!) I am sure the issues I have will be fixed with firmware updates over the next few months, so I am willing to live with the issues for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timm Posted April 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 Test drove a different r/t at the dealership, and it appears the issue was with the first r/t we drove. This second r/t responded fine to throttle inputs in the highway setting. After this second test drive we decided we would go with the Journey. Unfortunately, the lack of availability of parts and paint pigments may prevent us from following through with your intention! I understand the uconnect 8.4 is not being used anymore due to a part no longer being available as a result of the Tsunami. I could live with the 4.3 if they knocked an amount off the price. But what I can't live with is mango tango, which is the only colour I am being told can be ordered anymore. Anyone have any idea when they will have alternate colours in place? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geer Posted April 19, 2011 Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 Test drove a different r/t at the dealership, and it appears the issue was with the first r/t we drove. This second r/t responded fine to throttle inputs in the highway setting. After this second test drive we decided we would go with the Journey. Unfortunately, the lack of availability of parts and paint pigments may prevent us from following through with your intention! I understand the uconnect 8.4 is not being used anymore due to a part no longer being available as a result of the Tsunami. I could live with the 4.3 if they knocked an amount off the price. But what I can't live with is mango tango, which is the only colour I am being told can be ordered anymore. Anyone have any idea when they will have alternate colours in place? I hear you on the mango paint - a little too flamboyant for most. Somebody here published an alternate paint list, but I don't think anyone knows a roll-out date. Should apply to both CDN and US markets since all Journey's are built in Mexico. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deulyd Posted April 19, 2011 Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 Test drove a different r/t at the dealership, and it appears the issue was with the first r/t we drove. This second r/t responded fine to throttle inputs in the highway setting. After this second test drive we decided we would go with the Journey. Unfortunately, the lack of availability of parts and paint pigments may prevent us from following through with your intention! I understand the uconnect 8.4 is not being used anymore due to a part no longer being available as a result of the Tsunami. I could live with the 4.3 if they knocked an amount off the price. But what I can't live with is mango tango, which is the only colour I am being told can be ordered anymore. Anyone have any idea when they will have alternate colours in place? I've also been told by the dealer that the 8.4" is not available anymore but I just don't like the 4.3 and I won't buy it unless I have the 8.4. Guess I have to find one that is already built if I want one. For the paint replacements check here (at the bottom of the page) https://www.fleet.chrysler.com/fleetcda/portal?pageid=32e5eec984fc6110VgnVCM100000e9261c35RCRD§ionid=fb66cce1be7f5110VgnVCM10000091f4e735RCRD&ptitle=Journey&nlevel=4 For the entire list for all vehicules, check here : https://www.fleet.chrysler.com/v7fleet/StaticFiles/files/general/Replacement_Paint_Colors.xlsx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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