i don’t really like how my car drives-FWD

[vinceisvince]

i don’t know what it is but in city or even local traffic it sucks when the car is down shifting. jerky sometime.... sputtering sometimes, sometimes it’s perfectly fine. if I never have to brake it’s fine. if i’m light holding the gas it’s like i’m confusing the car on what gear it should switch to. i love long trips with it, i love driving in back country roads but hate the 80% of driving i do with it. i don’t feel like anything is wrong but everything i see people write is this car drives normal and is amazing and the transmission is the best part!!!! sure acceleration and speed and up shifts are awesome. if you lightly throttle the gas even the up shift hesitates.

i’m coming from a rx350 which was has an amazing engine and transmission . i had a honda accord v6 5 speed which kinda was the same.

maybe it’s just me or how i drive idk...

 

[2020Telly]

Have you tried Smart mode? How many miles? Your Telluride may still be getting broken in?

 

[vinceisvince]

Have you tried Smart mode? How many miles? Your Telluride may still be getting broken in?

6500 miles, smart mode seems to be worse and eco feels the best. i don’t think anything is wrong at least wife loves it

 

[DarkMossJustin]

6500 miles, smart mode seems to be worse and eco feels the best. i don’t think anything is wrong at least wife loves it

I'm only speaking in terms of my AWD:

I wish I could fine-tune Smart Mode to make it kick me into Sport Mode just a hair faster.

I'd also like Smart Mode to recognize when I'm just coasting on a freeway and kick me into Eco Mode a bit faster, but those are nitpicks.

The car drives great.

Does FWD have a Sport Mode?

It responds the best, gives the fastest feedback and performance in response to pedal input.

Could it be better? I guess, but it's my default mode when I really want to enjoy driving the Telly and feel the most planted with a good mix of push and pull from all four wheels.

Maybe trade your FWD in for an AWD?

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[Jazehner]

You know it is weird, I agree with you. I own 2 2021 Tellurides both SX Prestige packages however my Nightfall vehicle drives weird and acts jerky some times when shifting. I notice it when I am driving the city. My wife's car seems not to have those issues. She has 9K miles on her car and I am at 2K. Maybe it just needs to be broken in?

 

[DarkMossJustin]

@Jazehner:

What modes are you driving your Telly in?

Are they both FWD or one AWD and the other FWD, or both AWD?

The default mode: Comfort has predictable shift points and the transmission is really tuned for this drive mode

Sport Mode is the most responsive to pedal input. Take your foot off the pedal and you'll feel the "engine braking"

Eco Mode I only use when I want to maximum coast, meaning once I'm up to speed and on a flat or slightly downhill grade and I want to just take my foot entirely off the gas and have the Telly go as far as she can without any engine braking.

Smart Mode is weird: It's good that it kicks me into Sport Mode when I really gun it.

I mean pedal to the floor.

If I'm just regular driving without extreme pedal input, Smart Likes to keep me in Comfort and hesitates a bit on whether to put me into Eco or not. It's kind of interesting. I drove with Smart Mode for almost a month and it's generally good. Are there things that aren't perfect for my style of driving? Of course, but this is being nit-picky. For 99% of what I needed, it was totally fine.

That being said, I need full-time dedicated Sport Mode now that I've unleashed the beast and am used to the planted AWD feel

 

[Jazehner]

Yup, no issues in Sport mode at all. Bothe vehicles are identical with the exception of one is the Nightfall. It happens mostly in Comfort mode and Smart Mode. I should just keep it in sport all the time however I guess I am trying to save a little on gas now that this crazy administration has screwed that up and gas prices as going through the roof.

 

[DarkMossJustin]

Yup, no issues in Sport mode at all. Bothe vehicles are identical with the exception of one is the Nightfall. It happens mostly in Comfort mode and Smart Mode. I should just keep it in sport all the time however I guess I am trying to save a little on gas now that this crazy administration has screwed that up and gas prices as going through the roof.

@Jazehner:

Agreed.

Dedicated Sport Mode for the best driving experience.

I will use Comfort and Eco occasionally, if I'm on a long stretch of boring highway but those aren't too common along my normal driving routes.

I'm used to the responsiveness, the feedback and the pedal-to-throttle/transmission connection of Sport Mode.

The car is really tuned best for Sport Mode.

The last time I went dedicated Eco, I got my first speeding ticket in 20 years because the Telly coasted at the same speed for a while instead of quickly slowing down when I took my foot off the pedal.

I should have kept it in Sport Mode but I wanted to try coasting the Telly past the $56,000,000 Malibu homes/villas housing those sanctimonious hypocrite Hollywood families who drive their Priuses and EVs to their private jets at Camarillo Airport or Oxnard Airport, then fly around the world burning more fuel than we could possibly use in 30 years of daily driving in Telluride V6 Sport Mode

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[vinceisvince]

You know it is weird, I agree with you. I own 2 2021 Tellurides both SX Prestige packages however my Nightfall vehicle drives weird and acts jerky some times when shifting. I notice it when I am driving the city. My wife's car seems not to have those issues. She has 9K miles on her car and I am at 2K. Maybe it just needs to be broken in?

yea , i know for sure nothing will be found if they checked. i tried smart mode, comfort, eco, sport.

it’s like the car is tuned to be a sports car which i didn’t want honestly.

lately i’ve kept it in eco as comfort mode seems to be the most jerky/laggy/throttle response. let go of the gas in neighborhood there’s this awful engine brake which from researching is normal of kias.

ok whatever i just hate when i barely tap the gas i get a jerking motion! stutter, or slow response.

gun it and it’s smooth as hell, stay on the gas and it’s great. i had a lot of fun in the mountains with the car, drove wonderful .

go to the city or just local stop and go... if you brake then gas it you get jerking sometimes. if stop or slow down you get hanging in rpms before it decides to downshift with a physical slow down feeling. neighbor has a telluridecso we might switch cars for a few days or something idk

 

[vinceisvince]

@Jazehner:

Agreed.

Dedicated Sport Mode for the best driving experience.

I will use Comfort and Eco occasionally, if I'm on a long stretch of boring highway but those aren't too common along my normal driving routes.

I'm used to the responsiveness, the feedback and the pedal-to-throttle/transmission connection of Sport Mode.

The car is really tuned best for Sport Mode.

The last time I went dedicated Eco, I got my first speeding ticket in 20 years because the Telly coasted at the same speed for a while instead of quickly slowing down when I took my foot off the pedal.

I should have kept it in Sport Mode but I wanted to try coasting the Telly past the $56,000,000 Malibu homes/villas housing those sanctimonious hypocrite Hollywood families who drive their Priuses and EVs to their private jets at Camarillo Airport or Oxnard Airport, then fly around the world burning more fuel than we could possibly use in 30 years of daily driving in Telluride V6 Sport Mode

i’ll try sport mode but in general i don’t like the loudness and the rpm going to 6-7k.. sure it responds faster but idk

 

[DarkMossJustin]

yea , i know for sure nothing will be found if they checked. i tried smart mode, comfort, eco, sport.

it’s like the car is tuned to be a sports car which i didn’t want honestly.

lately i’ve kept it in eco as comfort mode seems to be the most jerky/laggy/throttle response. let go of the gas in neighborhood there’s this awful engine brake which from researching is normal of kias.

ok whatever i just hate when i barely tap the gas i get a jerking motion! stutter, or slow response.

gun it and it’s smooth as hell, stay on the gas and it’s great. i had a lot of fun in the mountains with the car, drove wonderful .

go to the city or just local stop and go... if you brake then gas it you get jerking sometimes. if stop or slow down you get hanging in rpms before it decides to downshift with a physical slow down feeling. neighbor has a telluridecso we might switch cars for a few days or something idk

@vinceisvince:

I definitely had to play around with the drive modes to see which one fit me the best and which one was best tuned for the car.

By design the Telluride is supposed to drive like a regular car:

Unibody construction that makes it more fun to drive on regular roads/freeways than body-on-frame vehicles like old SUV's, trucks.

If you want the least engine braking and maximum coast, Eco should be the way to go, right?

Comfort and Sport will have some level of engine braking and more responsive to foot pressure on pedal.

Just based on my own testing, given that I'm driving an AWD model, Sport Mode has the most "engine braking", then 2nd most is Comfort, and I only use Eco for coasting, when I'm at 65-90 mph on a freeway or country road or in the middle of the desert or wherever, when it's flat or slight downhill, Eco is magic for those times.

Smart Mode is a bit slow to kick me into Sport unless I stomp on the pedal in a fraction of a second and really floor it, and it's also a bit hesitant to drop me into Eco when I remove foot from gas pedal completely.

I kinda wish we could adjust and tweak Smart Mode (via Infotainment screen or whatever) so that it can be a bit more responsive to how I want it to drive, but I also don't want to pay another 5K or 9K or more for that, so I'm 99% happy with my purchase, which is way more than for any other car.

To keep myself happy, and as a form of daily stress-relief/therapy, I basically have to take a couple slow deep breaths with the windows open then floor the pedal quickly in order to engage Sport Mode from Smart Mode default of Comfort Mode

 

[Tellthemride]

I have an AWD SXP. There is definitely a little pedal travel required before the throttle will respond, but I have no issues with it being jerky or the transmission having a hard time deciding when to upshift.

Maybe the amount of time or pressure your foot is applied on the brake pedal is “tricking” the ECU/transmission into thinking you are coming to a complete stop and is predicting you will continue needing down shifts. Try braking from a further distance, with lighter pressure, or less brake pedal hold time and see if it changes the way your transmission responds.

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[SC300ES]

Have you tried disconnecting your battery for a little bit? Most modern transmissions, including your former Lexus, have adaptive (learning transmission) systems. The car learns your driving patterns and shifts gears accordingly. Maybe a reset will make a difference.

go to the city or just local stop and go... if you brake then gas it you get jerking sometimes. if stop or slow down you get hanging in rpms before it decides to downshift with a physical slow down feeling. neighbor has a telluridecso we might switch cars for a few days or something idk

I have noticed this behavior on many cars over the years. It seems like you're confusing the transmission and it's getting caught between gear changes. It's an uneasy feeling you get when the car does that.

 

[vinceisvince]

so was driving around today, highway is where it’s at .. but in city traffic notice the car so bouncy and bumpy. bounces around, on the positive steering is great but then it’s all going into shocks? like i don’t feel the wheel hitter when hitting road imperfections but feel it in the cars bounce and movement.

idk super tiredd

 

[2020Telly]

Maybe you have some uneven tread or flat spots on the tires that are more noticeable in city driving. My wife and I share time city driving our S FWD and we are both pleased with how ours drives. Just got new tires and it feels even better. I do acknowledge it’s not a luxury vehicle, but I think it’s smoother than a truck and more fun than a minivan.

 

[d2425]

I'm glad I found this thread so I know it's not just me. Driving around town under 45mph or so I've been getting a lot of the same issues. I'm coming from a 16 year old car to the Telluride so I'm sure there's some getting used to it, but I find that in local traffic the acceleration is a little jerky, with the RPMs jumping up and down a bit between 1-2k range. I don't feel like I am changing the pressure on the gas but maybe I am as it's definitely more sensitive than my old SUV. Sometimes when driving locally, I even get a slight bit of nausea from the motion which had never happened before while I was the driver. Highway driving seems totally fine though. And I definitely don't like the slow-down feeling when taking your foot off the gas. It feels like it's braking for you, like going downhill in a golf cart. I may just have to play around with the different drive modes. Is the general consensus that this is just normal for the Telluride? Strange thing is I don't recall it being so noticeable earlier on and I've only got about 1600 miles on it.

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[Jazehner]

Here is your hope. I just went on a trip and put 2000k additional miles on my car to make it 3700 miles total. It drives much better now.

 

[PittPa]

Isn't this what test drives are for? I drove at least 3 different models, some brand new, one with over 20k, the other I bought with 7k. No, the car is not going to confused with an German high end SUV, but it more than adequate and what I would expect at this price point. If it was something I didn't like I would of walked away.

 

[vinceisvince]

I'm glad I found this thread so I know it's not just me. Driving around town under 45mph or so I've been getting a lot of the same issues. I'm coming from a 16 year old car to the Telluride so I'm sure there's some getting used to it, but I find that in local traffic the acceleration is a little jerky, with the RPMs jumping up and down a bit between 1-2k range. I don't feel like I am changing the pressure on the gas but maybe I am as it's definitely more sensitive than my old SUV. Sometimes when driving locally, I even get a slight bit of nausea from the motion which had never happened before while I was the driver. Highway driving seems totally fine though. And I definitely don't like the slow-down feeling when taking your foot off the gas. It feels like it's braking for you, like going downhill in a golf cart. I may just have to play around with the different drive modes. Is the general consensus that this is just normal for the Telluride? Strange thing is I don't recall it being so noticeable earlier on and I've only got about 1600 miles on it.

yes this sounds exactly how i feel. i was thinking maybe it was the pirelli tires but i see you have the michelins. it seems like a logic issue with the telluride computer. maybe i should disconnect the battery as i seen some say... i’m at 7500 miles and mentioned it to the service tech and they said well it’s under warranty so i wouldn’t worry about it your covered if anything goes wrong. i mean i doubt it’s gonna get fixed as there’s nothing wrong with it i guess. also i’m really nitpicky. wife and in-laws said it drives fine. maybe it’s the pedal as i drive light and don’t press the gas very hard.

 

[Tellthemride]

Also an option to install this module to have more control on throttle response.

Pedal Commander Throttle Response Controller for Kia Telluride

Enhance the performance of your Kia Telluride with Pedal Commander. Eliminate throttle lag and enjoy instant acceleration with four selectable driving modes and 36 sensitivity adjustments. Shop for the best Kia Telluride accessory today.

pedalcommander.com