Why would engine braking be better in sports mode?
Design choice by the manufacturer, my car is the same. Drive will aim to travel as far as possible in gear, Eco will coast in neutral, Sport will 'engine brake'.
Design choice by the manufacturer, my car is the same. Drive will aim to travel as far as possible in gear, Eco will coast in neutral, Sport will 'engine brake'.
Why would engine braking be better in sports mode?
As above design choice - normal [D] driving mode on many automatics is now an "eco" mode and will rarely engine brake - sport mode will dynamically utilise engine braking extensively. Though the difference in gear selection does have an impact on that as well.
If anyone does have access to a 3.0L V6 Navara go have a play in sport - I think it might surprise some given the comments.
I don't understand it well enough to explain it but in drive my Navara will rarely use engine braking - it seems to detect certain circumstances where it decides it should use it but often I'll do whole trips without it happening noticeably, in sport mode it will kick in all the time and is quite effective.
Pretty much but the end result is the same - there is a stronger engine braking effect in sport mode.
I'm sure I read a few years ago that DSG boxes will, if you have applied brakes, hold an even lower gear than it otherwise would to achieve more engine braking effect but I can't anything about it now, so may be nonsense - it's not something i've paid much attention to trying to test out myself.
Edit - in fact, thinking about it, there is a circumstance where I think i've noticed it does it deliberately - if i'm on a downhill stretch, whether D or S, if I brake briefly it will downshift and hold a lower gear going downhill as if i'd given it an instruction that i don't wish to build speed by rolling downhill.
There is definitely more going on than that with the autos I've driven lately especially my Navara - I don't really understand what is going on but there are a few threads about it on the various Navara forums.
So autos more heavily engine braking in sport mode is a synonym for down shifting to slow down, possible in any manual car. Got it. What a peculiar way to explain down shifting.
I don't think anyone was suggesting anything was happening that wasn't possible in a manual?
He's not claiming something is happening that's not possible to do in a manual? Just that whatever is happening is a deliberate strategy to utilise the engine braking effect more, not solely a side effect of Sport holding lower gears. Not having driven a Navara, I don't know if it is or not but I don't see anything being claimed that isn't achievable in a manual car being driven in a manner to take advantage of engine braking effect.
I'm unclear why you are trying to be his knight in shining armor. It seems all you have done is contradicted him.
What other cars, Rroff? It would be interesting to see if they have anything in common. I do recall my Mercedes C180 having a pretty epic engine breaking effect when you knock the cruise control down - however I was assured I hadn't optioned the "cruise control brake" feature...
It is pretty inferior anyhow to utilising engine braking in a manual - I'm somewhat impressed it is mostly useable but not something you can rely on even manually shifting it.
Mine has the post 2013 changes but some discussions about the peculiarities of the auto in the V6 Navaras here https://www.nissan-navara.net/threads/v6-auto-gearbox-behaviour.92929/ there is some oddities i.e.:
"Another think mine does is drop the revs to idle speed when on steady downhill gradients, usually around 30mph and without touching the throttle. Sort of suggests it's not requiring any engine breaking so it removes drive completely until the throttle is reapplied."
Not had any of the issues with mine they are talking about but as above I have the newer updated setup and some of it is only relevant to the 2.5L not the 3.0L I have.
Nothing he has said contradicts me??? I can only assume you are reading claims I'm not making if you have that impression. I've not claimed it does anything not possible with a manual, etc.
He said it was just downshifting. You said it was "more going on than that with the autos I've driven lately". Call me Poirot and potentially over indexing but....
Just engaging in the discussion like you are and I don't understand why you made a comment about 'possible in any manual car' as if people were claiming it wasn't.
He said it was just downshifting. You said it was "more going on than that with the autos I've driven lately". Call me Poirot and potentially over indexing but....
Oh fair enough on that point - I'm out of my depth but maybe something to do with the torque converter - there is definitely more going on than just a different gear strategy.
It'll probably be the the lock-up clutch on the torque converter engaging/disengaging depending on the road conditions and how the box is programmed(usual above a certain roadspeed, RPM etc.). In general you should get slightly better engine braking with the lock-up clutch engaged as there is a physical link between the engine and gearbox. With it disengaged it reverts to normal slushbox mode where there is slippage between engine and gearbox. Think driving a manual with the clutch pedal pressed part way in and causing slip, vs the clutch pedal up and no slip. On older autos you could sometimes feel the 'clunk' as it locked in, but I expect more modern stuff like yours it would be harder to notice. Maintaining higher RPM by downshifting will allow maximum engine braking by keeping the lock-up engaged for longer.
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See, this is why manuals are better. If I want engine braking, I shift down. If I don't, I don't 
You can do that in an auto too of course as they have a manual modeSee, this is why manuals are better. If I want engine braking, I shift down. If I don't, I don't
