Early shifts to high gears in "normal" mode, car feels sluggish

[tib]

I have a 2016 3.8 htrac, and driving in "normal" mode I find that coasting even for short time around 35 mph the tranny upshifts into 7th gear, and similarly coasting around 40 mph upshifts into 8th gear, as a result the rpm drops to around 1100, which to me seems way to low. The traffic picks up, so I give it a slight throttle, the car is lugging, feels under-powered, has a kind of vibration, like when you drive a manual tranny and you shift too early, and it has a "droning" kind of noise. The sluggish feel is more pronounced on hot days with considerable city stop-and-go traffic driving.
It seems to shift into high gears too soon, leaving no manageable power around the city. It will shift down if I give enough throttle, but then there is a surge forward, so I ease off the throttle and let it coast, then upshifts again, and sluggish again, and "droning" noise, not a good feel...

Is this normal?

My workaround is to drive it in "sport" mode, or do manual shifts, but I would like to know it there is an issue before the car goes out of warranty (53k miles).

 

[BlancaGenny]

I have a 2016 3.8 htrac, and driving in "normal" mode I find that coasting even for short time around 35 mph the tranny upshifts into 7th gear, and similarly coasting around 40 mph upshifts into 8th gear, as a result the rpm drops to around 1100, which to me seems way to low. The traffic picks up, so I give it a slight throttle, the car is lugging, feels under-powered, has a kind of vibration, like when you drive a manual tranny and you shift too early, and it has a "droning" kind of noise. The sluggish feel is more pronounced on hot days with considerable city stop-and-go traffic driving.
It seems to shift into high gears too soon, leaving no manageable power around the city. It will shift down if I give enough throttle, but then there is a surge forward, so I ease off the throttle and let it coast, then upshifts again, and sluggish again, and "droning" noise, not a good feel...

Is this normal?

My workaround is to drive it in "sport" mode, or do manual shifts, but I would like to know it there is an issue before the car goes out of warranty (53k miles).

I don't know how often you service the car or what kind of fluids, brands, etc. you use, but it's always good to follow manufacturer service intervals when a warranty is active. Whether you have the means to do that or not is your own knowledge. Remember, if a dealership can give a reason as to why something is wrong that is generally covered under warranty, they will. Diminish those possibilities and headaches and get the work done.

Transmissions adapt to driving characteristics. As this transmission is built in-house and engineered by Hyundai, the previous statement could be irrelavent. I drive around in ECO 99 percent of the time and it's a bit hesitant. I'm not trying to win races or do triple digits so I am okay with smooth and seamless stop and goes. I think you are experiencing normal operations from what you wrote. Mine drops to around 1100 rpm as well during similar speeds. If you think it needs attention, your car is under warranty and the dealership will be able to give you the answer you're looking for.

 

[tib]

Ultra premium synthetic penzoil, regular service intervals changes , always at the dealership. Tranny fluid has not been replaced yet, got a verbal quote for a full flush for cad$380 (us$285). I'm thinking to go for it...
I had the tech foreman drive it, unfortunately it was on a day when the sluggish feel was not that pronounced, and he thinks it drives fine. It was checked for diagnostic codes, nothing found. My frustration with this is that I have an 8 year old Ford Edge that is more responsive at low rpm.

 

[Mr. Incredible]

Ultra premium synthetic penzoil, regular service intervals changes , always at the dealership. Tranny fluid has not been replaced yet, got a verbal quote for a full flush for cad$380 (us$285). I'm thinking to go for it...
I had the tech foreman drive it, unfortunately it was on a day when the sluggish feel was not that pronounced, and he thinks it drives fine. It was checked for diagnostic codes, nothing found. My frustration with this is that I have an 8 year old Ford Edge that is more responsive at low rpm.

8 year old Ford Edge doesn't have 8 gears, shifting 7th-8th to 2nd-3rd on WOT accel or even 3rd-4th on a gentle accel would seems sluggish to a car with 5 gears that only has to downshift 1 or 2 gears vs. the 4-5 the Genesis has to downshift.

these cars are programmed in Normal and Eco for maximum fuel economy, the computer will shove the car into the tallest gear as quickly as possible for that purpose. Sport tops out in 6th gear until you get above 80mph, then it will hit 7th, it also removes a lot of the torque management and spark retard programming that Normal and Eco use for maximizing fuel economy, though personally I think they could have done a little better reducing the nanny state in sport more than they do.

The computer is also adaptive, so if you are constantly driving a commuting route with low speeds, stop and go traffic, and never "feed some speed" to the car, i.e. drive aggressive, it will become more and more sluggish over time because it is adapted to your daily habit.

to wipe the computer and reset the adaptive, disconnect the negative battery cable for 10-15 minutes. I have experienced this adaptive learning behavior on my last 7 cars, including the G80 and pulling the battery will clear the memory.. I do it routinely on my cars now at the oil change, and there is noticeable change in the response of the vehicle immediately after doing so. But again it will taper off as it adapts to your daily grinding commute.

 

[jimmy buoy]

This may not be related at all, but I had issues with jerkiness while accelerating at any speed which turned out to be the awd transfer case/awd computer malfunctioning. The only reason I'm responding to your post is that once the computer and transfer case were replaced, not just the jerking stopped but the car seemed much more responsive. It actually seems like a lighter car than before which doesn't struggle to accelerate at all now. It may have progressed so slowly that I didn't realize I had an issue until it got bad enough to cause a jerkiness in the drive train under acceleration.

Probably not related to your issue, but if the transfer case is somehow putting the "brakes" on the drive train while accelerating, it could feel as you've described.

There is a procedure that the tech can follow to disable the fwd portion of the awd. It involves systematically pulling a few large fuses and disconnecting a wiring harness. In my case, the tech was told what to do by Hyundai engineers. According to him, those instructions were NOT in any manual or training course he's ever attended. It was all new to him, but the result of the procedure clearly demonstrated that the awd transfer case was causing the drivetrain issues.

Just thinking outside the box...

 

[G-866610]

I have a 2016 3.8 htrac, and driving in "normal" mode I find that coasting even for short time around 35 mph the tranny upshifts into 7th gear, and similarly coasting around 40 mph upshifts into 8th gear, as a result the rpm drops to around 1100, which to me seems way to low. The traffic picks up, so I give it a slight throttle, the car is lugging, feels under-powered, has a kind of vibration, like when you drive a manual tranny and you shift too early, and it has a "droning" kind of noise. The sluggish feel is more pronounced on hot days with considerable city stop-and-go traffic driving.
It seems to shift into high gears too soon, leaving no manageable power around the city. It will shift down if I give enough throttle, but then there is a surge forward, so I ease off the throttle and let it coast, then upshifts again, and sluggish again, and "droning" noise, not a good feel...

Is this normal?

My workaround is to drive it in "sport" mode, or do manual shifts, but I would like to know it there is an issue before the car goes out of warranty (53k miles).

This may be a late response but I can relate. The 5.0 suffers the same behavior. The transmission is engineered to be a learning transmission, which it is... I do exactly what you do, in city driving I find myself resorting to manual mode. The car does vibrate when cruising in high gear. And just like you, when you step on the throttle, the car will get up and go, but then it becomes overkill and I find myself stepping on the breaks.