Now that my engine is "broken in" (1300 miles) I've been playing around with the manual mode and realized that there is a third mode. The DS mode. Originally I thought when I flipped to manual and saw DS light up on the dash that it meant to Down Shift, which I would do.

Now after leaving it in DS mode by accident I found that the car has a brain. When I would take winding roads the car would automatically down shift coming into the corners. It would also engine brake on steep downhills. It's almost as fun to leave it in DS mode as it is to shift manually.

Bruce in L.A.

 

I posted in a differnt thread, that the DS mode is fantastic for sporty driving.

No real reason to shift manually, it almost reads your mind. It does seem to have some learnng functions as well, because when I drove aggresively, on the side road and then moved to the normal roads, it moved the part throttle shift points up higher for the first few shifts.

For refernces, I almost always drive manual cars, so I don't often praise autos.

 

REALLY? the downshiifting into corners is AWESOME (i have a manual tranny, so i can't try this)

that idea and implementation was 1st on a Caddy about 5 or so years ago. it was the idea of a student that was an intern at GM. i'm sure he got a career out of it, but unfortunately since he was working there (for free or peanuts as an intern!!), he got NO patent.

i'm sure infinit uses the same concept of the accelerometer readings to know you are slowing and reading thesteering angle

 

Just curious ... has anyone compared the fuel economy when driving in DS mode as compared to just automatic D mode?

 

Other than the obvious capability of allowing you to shift manually when in DS mode, the Infiniti manual itself doesn't have much information on what is the car's behavior when left in DS mode w/o shifting manually. The only information I saw was:

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Moving the selector lever to the DS (Drive Sport) position allows you to enjoy comfortable driving on a winding road and feel smooth acceleration or deceleration on a hilly road by moving in a lower gear automatically.

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I haven't had much time to play with DS mode only. It isn't clear what "comfortable driving on a winding road" actually means. Maybe by "comfortable" they mean it automatically downshifts as bruuster said?

 

Good info treacherous! and who was it that said the Infiniti G35 had the same tranny as an old Buick! Fess up... don't make me search threads

 

Had it in DS for most of the time on a recent road trip to South Carolina. What a blast! Also makes daily driving much more fun.

As for fuel economy, it appeared to be slightly worse. Probably 3-5 mpg worse. I attributed it to the fact that the rpm's were consistently higher.

 

So DS mode will Up AND Downshift? Haven't even tried this yet...

 

Yep! It is very cool!

 

DS mode makes you drive it like a sportscar. It just wants to rev high all the time. Love it. The downshifting is awesome. Not to offend the 6mt expert drivers but, not many people with a manual would shift this good. I know ....except you.

 

DS mode is fantastic, after trying it on my test drive it was one of the major factors in convincing me to sell my 6mt Audi S4 and buy the G35x. Now I just need to finish breaking in my G35x so I can take advantage of it.

Caveman, I owned manual cars exclusively for the last 10 years (including an 04 G35 6mt coupe), and I would agree with your statement that the majority of manual drivers cannot shift as well as the DS mode (including me).

 

I tend to use DS mode when driving decently fast, typically on high ways...I cant really stand how the car vibrates when downshifting to 2nd gear n stuff in stop n go traffic or in the city, so i either shift manually below 40-50mph or i leave it in D.

I have the paddle shifters to play with too though..those are bloody brilliant.

 

Downshifting is pretty easy in the manual, but you're right, the upshifts with the rock crusher are probably slower and more deliberate.

As much as I hate automatic transmissions, from the sound of it compared to the 6 speed, it probably is better. However, if I had known it before the car I still would have bought the 6mt. Work that left leg!

 

Excuse the asinine question, but what is DS mode, and more importantly, how do you switch to that mode?

 

Daniel, DS mode is "Drive Sport". All you do to engage DS mode is move your shifter to the left, just like MM is on the 1st gen G. DS mode will hold it's RPMs closer to the redline before it shifts and downshifts when de-accelerating. If you don't want to shift manually either with the shifter or paddles, DS mode is a lot of fun.