General Handling Questions

[steinein]

The only other turbo car I drove was my mom's for about two weeks a couple of decades ago, and I've never had a car with Stabilitrak so bear with my idiotic questions.

I picked up the car on Saturday and today was my first day really driving it for more than a few minutes. I noticed a couple of things:

1. Hesitations. A lot of them. I know about "turbo lag" but this seems a bit excessive. I'm not even trying to go that fast, since the speed limit is 35-45 most of the drive.

2. If I take my foot off the accelerator and don't hit the brake right away (I have a bad habit of "coasting" on winding roads or when going down hill) the Sonic seems to start braking by itself. Is this by design?

Thanks!

 

[Natesriv]

Manual ?
If you're in gear when coasting the engine braking can be excessive if you're in too high a gear.
I've not experienced lag but when I need boost, I keep it around 4k rpm

 

[Palmaris]

1. Hesitations. A lot of them. I know about "turbo lag" but this seems a bit excessive. !

It may not exactly be turbo lag. Can't be sure about the turbo car, but the computer seems to have a delay in reading when you push on the gas pedal. This might be what you are feeling. All accounts say that getting an engine tune will make it much better.

 

[steinein]

Manual ?
If you're in gear when coasting the engine braking can be excessive if you're in too high a gear.
I've not experienced lag but when I need boost, I keep it around 4k rpm

Automatic. I'm only driving 35-45 on local roads.

 

[steinein]

It may not exactly be turbo lag. Can't be sure about the turbo car, but the computer seems to have a delay in reading when you push on the gas pedal. This might be what you are feeling. All accounts say that getting an engine tune will make it much better.

What kind of "engine tune"? Would the dealer do this for free? I am not a modder or anything even close, so I honestly don't know.

 

[Natesriv]

Automatic. I'm only driving 35-45 on local roads.

if it's the 6 spd automatic, I believe it'll choose the lowest gear... so stomping on the gas should upshift it, but I'm not sure of any delays.

Is there a "manual" shift option for the automatics?

 

[bluejay]

if its a brand new car you are talking about , drive it for a couple weeks the car will feel more comfortable when its broken in.

 

[Palmaris]

What kind of "engine tune"? Would the dealer do this for free? I am not a modder or anything even close, so I honestly don't know.

No, its not a dealer thing and its not free. That's why I haven't done it yet and I have just learned to live with it. You should do lots of reading on the forum to see details about it.

 

[kevjam79]

Give it a few weeks. It needs to learn your driving style.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Swordsmith]

I'm not certain what you're describing... I had something I would call hesitation, but it only happened when starting out from a dead stop and going full throttle.

What I was experiencing was more like Power, oops that was too much here, have just this little bit of power, ok now let's get going Going GOING. The hesitation would actually throw me forward a little in my seat and would always make me worry that the car had stalled (bad since most of the time when doing this I was trying to cross traffic from a stop sign)

Turbo lag does not feel like that hesitation, it feels like you're driving a wimpy NA car that someone turns the dial up on shortly after you tromp on the pedal. Kind of "that's all there is?... Oh wait, here's more, More, MORE. The exhaust spins the turbo which boosts the manifold pressure, but there's a little delay while the speed comes up and then tubes, intercooler, and manifold fill up. The lag on our cars is small, because the turbo itself is small so it doesn't take long to spin up.

BNR's EFI live tune cleared up my hesitation, something neither Trifecta nor Vermont Tuning managed to do. I thought it was an annoying feature of the car itself, turns out I was wrong!

 

[TheGreenDragon]

I thought it was an annoying feature of the car itself, turns out I was wrong!

So it's just cruddy ECU programming?

 

[steinein]

It is a brand new car, so I will give it a little more time to "get used to me" so to speak.

I have made a few changes in the way I drive, like instead of going from the brake right to the gas I wait a second or two before and that seemed to help a bit.

As I observe a bit more it might just be the car changing gears, and if so it feels so much different from the Jeep. I am hoping that is all it is and I am making mountains out of molehills.

 

[striper]

I think the feeling the OP is feeling is the trans holding the car in lower gears for engine braking and to accelerate when needed. To whoever had asked, the auto trans does come with a manual override sort of like a tiptronic though not as easy to use, though it can be fun when some a-- is tailgating. I would have preferred the manual but I'm in lots of traffic here in NJ, and I do have another car with a 6=speed ( and tons of more hp).

 

[SonicFlow]

I think I know what you're referring too on the hesitation aspect. This is my first 6 speed AT, first econobox. The trans like to be in the highest (lowest?) gear possible for fuel economy. So, when you wish to accelerate from a cruising speed, it takes a split second to downshift before it gos.

To me, this is most noticeable on my morning freeway cloverleaf onramp. As I'm slowing down, I believe the tranny shifts into 6th. As I smash the gas upon turn in, the thing seems to take it's time finding 2nd. At least more so than a manual tranny.

My first tubro though too. Could be turbo lag too I suppose.

 

[cndctrdj]

The engine and ecu are designed to let boost roll on smoothly. That and all turbos lag. The combination of these two things makes the car seem like it is lagging more than it should. There are free things to do to eliminate this. Also a tune will stop this as well

 

[Qlix]

my car is 2 weeks old, I have the 1.8 auto, and I think I know exactly what youre talking about. My car seems to surge in lower speeds/gear as well. Almost feels like the engine is cutting out briefly

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

my car is 2 weeks old, I have the 1.8 auto, and I think I know exactly what youre talking about. My car seems to surge in lower speeds/gear as well. Almost feels like the engine is cutting out briefly

Hello Qlix,

Are you planning on bringing your surge concern to the attention of your servicing dealership? I would be more than happy to reach out to them on your behalf and review this further. If interested, please send me a private message with your VIN, mileage, contact information, and preferred dealership. I do apologize if you’ve experienced any inconvenience. Thank you for your time and have a wonderful weekend!

Jasmine
Chevrolet Customer Care