Latest review I read about the tranny in this month's Motor Trend. That's for the V6...wonder if these issues can be smoothed out for the 4 banger...
The transmission is still intact, but the action goes from buttery smooth to belligerently spasmodic. So solid and refined on the freeway, the manually shiftable six-speed always seems a second behind in the canyons and irritated because of it. The concept is nice, slide a notch down from Drive into Manual mode and the lever automatically slides to the right, so the gears can be toggled sequentially, continentally -- forward for upshift, back for downshift.
The problem is changing gears in M-mode is slow when you're driving merely sporty and positively maddening when you're really going for it. The red LCD gear indicator changes as soon as you tap the stick, but the actual cog swap is much slower.
High-rpm off-throttle response is particularly terrible; come off the gas into a turn, high in the rpms, and replant the pedal at exit and you're greeted by...nothing -- then, a jerky, jolting engagement. This means either planning far ahead when cornering or finding a way to corner with the throttle partially engaged throughout the whole turn. Good for left-foot brakers, but not for mere mortals.