Holding paddle to pick low gear.

[br d]

I read on the Mclaren Life 650S forum that you can hold onto the left paddle braking hard into a bend and the car will keep shifting down to put you into a suitably "nutter" gear for the exit. Does this work for anybody? Doesn't on mine.
If I head into a roundabout for instance and hold the paddle the car will normally just go down to 5th and stay there, even in track mode. It's the work of a moment to flick it down a couple of times so I'm not complaining about it but I just wondered if I'm doing it wrong? Or do the US cars have different software?

[TISPKJ]

fairly sure that puts it in neutral i.e for rolling up to a set of lights.
on the lambo (and ferrari I think) holding both paddles back puts in neutral, sure holding back down does same on 12c, but i have not tried from any real speed like in a higher gear.

[br d]

TISPKJ said:

fairly sure that puts it in neutral i.e for rolling up to a set of lights.
on the lambo (and ferrari I think) holding both paddles back puts in neutral, sure holding back down does same on 12c, but i have not tried from any real speed like in a higher gear.

It only puts it into neutral if you have already come to a stop, I use that quite a lot if it's a long light or something.
The thing I read on ML was that holding the paddle will cause the box to select an appropriately savage gear for the speed. Could all just be a misunderstanding by someone on ML who doesn't know how it works.

I do think it could drop to a lower gear though. Try braking hard into a roundabout, it will leave the car in a pretty uninspiring gear when you go back on the throttle.

[TISPKJ]

br d said:

TISPKJ said:

fairly sure that puts it in neutral i.e for rolling up to a set of lights.
on the lambo (and ferrari I think) holding both paddles back puts in neutral, sure holding back down does same on 12c, but i have not tried from any real speed like in a higher gear.

It only puts it into neutral if you have already come to a stop, I use that quite a lot if it's a long light or something.
The thing I read on ML was that holding the paddle will cause the box to select an appropriately savage gear for the speed. Could all just be a misunderstanding by someone on ML who doesn't know how it works.

I do think it could drop to a lower gear though. Try braking hard into a roundabout, it will leave the car in a pretty uninspiring gear when you go back on the throttle.

obviously cant confirm until at least April however I think your wrong, yes holding back when stationary at lights selects neutral, after having Lambo I just do it all the time normally, but I have defo 100% selected neutral rolling along, I cant confirm if the car was in 1st or 2nd or more when I did it but I am fairly confident it drops into neutral.

[br d]

TISPKJ said:

obviously cant confirm until at least April however I think your wrong, yes holding back when stationary at lights selects neutral, after having Lambo I just do it all the time normally, but I have defo 100% selected neutral rolling along, I cant confirm if the car was in 1st or 2nd or more when I did it but I am fairly confident it drops into neutral.

I've also had a Lambo and yes you can pull both paddles and stick it neutral at any speed (always a little nervous about reselecting a gear if you are doing 50 plus!).
I'm going out in mine in an hour, I'll try it, I'm sure it doesn't work when you're moving, happy to be proved wrong.

Why April? Have you wintered it up? I'll get mine bedded down for Jan/Feb but the weathers much too good not to enjoy it at the moment. On Saturday it was 17 degrees, had the bloody roof down! (My OH cringes!)

[RamboLambo]

I've also read that but I think the key is it only works under heavy braking. ( That certainly was the case with an AMV12S )
Also need to experiment with it but as someone who has yet to conquer launch control I'm no expert.
Are some of these things so complicated or is it just me

[TISPKJ]

br d said:

Why April? Have you wintered it up? I'll get mine bedded down for Jan/Feb but the weathers much too good not to enjoy it at the moment. On Saturday it was 17 degrees

Its in bed nice and warm dont like to get dirty under the arches, temperature was good but roads are still covered with muck and that nasty dampness !
I spent considerable time cleaning all the suspension legs and inside of the wheels before I put it to bed

[br d]

TISPKJ said:

Its in bed nice and warm dont like to get dirty under the arches, temperature was good but roads are still covered with muck and that nasty dampness !
I spent considerable time cleaning all the suspension legs and inside of the wheels before I put it to bed

Well TIS, this is embarrassing and we should both be ashamed!
Think about this. How on earth is holding in the left paddle while driving going to put it in neutral? What it actually does is drops down through the gears causing an immediate massive over rev! Felt a right bloody idiot doing that!

So no, the results of my experiment do not suggest that holding the left paddle in while driving will put the car in neutral. Fail.
And I tried holding it while just pootling along in 1st and it still doesn't go into neutral.

You have to stop, then hold it in, then after about 5 seconds it switches into neutral.

What shall we try next.

[br d]

RamboLambo said:

I've also read that but I think the key is it only works under heavy braking. ( That certainly was the case with an AMV12S )
Also need to experiment with it but as someone who has yet to conquer launch control I'm no expert.
Are some of these things so complicated or is it just me

Well I'll try it under heavy braking next time RL but I'm pretty sure I've already done this. Maybe it only happens if the air brake comes up?

And I'm yet to try LC, think it's going to have to wait for summer now, on a nice empty French country road!

[ferdi p]

Fairly sure that the 458 does this party trick...

Holding the left paddle while slowing down in manual will drop the gears without the need to keep pulling back on the paddle...

Can any owners confirm?

[br d]

TISPKJ said:

Its in bed nice and warm dont like to get dirty under the arches, temperature was good but roads are still covered with muck and that nasty dampness !
I spent considerable time cleaning all the suspension legs and inside of the wheels before I put it to bed

Well I can appreciate that but I don't mind getting it dirty at all. I'll no doubt chop it for something else in a couple of years so for now I want all the fun I can get out of it! I do spend hours cleaning her and keeping everything A1 but that's not going to put me off going out for a hoon in English weather.

[br d]

ferdi p said:

Fairly sure that the 458 does this party trick...

Holding the left paddle while slowing down in manual will drop the gears without the need to keep pulling back on the paddle...

Can any owners confirm?

Yeah the Mac does that but it drops through them quickly cos you're holding the paddle. Just braking is enough to go down without any screaming embarrassment!

[mikey k]

Could of sworn I got my MY16 650S to do this round Wales the other week.
I need to check on it again me thinks.

[br d]

mikey k said:

Could of sworn I got my MY16 650S to do this round Wales the other week.
I need to check on it again me thinks.

I tried it in Track Mikey, thinking it would be the most likely mode to benefit from gearbox trickery. Maybe it works in other modes?

[mikey k]

Mine is mostly in T-N when its active
I'll have a play with it

[TISPKJ]

br d said:

Well TIS, this is embarrassing and we should both be ashamed!
Think about this. How on earth is holding in the left paddle while driving going to put it in neutral? What it actually does is drops down through the gears causing an immediate massive over rev! Felt a right bloody idiot doing that!

So no, the results of my experiment do not suggest that holding the left paddle in while driving will put the car in neutral. Fail.
And I tried holding it while just pootling along in 1st and it still doesn't go into neutral.

You have to stop, then hold it in, then after about 5 seconds it switches into neutral.

What shall we try next.

Apologies maybe was the old Gallardo then but sure i got the 12c to do it rolling up to the lights, could it have been in auto mode ?
Btw I did say 1st or 2nd not flat in 5th to test

[PerseusGK]

Evening all. More of a lurker than a poster really but picked up some good gems from the McLaren pages that have helped me along the way with my latest purchase, a 61 reg 12C in McLaren Orange. So thanks for all of the input...

Been perusing the big manual as you do, and came across the below, which would seem to answer the question, certainly re: the MP4-12c

[mikey k]

I'm guessing that only applies to full auto mode though

[br d]

mikey k said:

I'm guessing that only applies to full auto mode though

To be fair mikey perhaps that is what the poster on ML was referring to, it seems to fit. I would just like the box to be a little more vicious in Track mode, dropping an extra gear or so after heavy braking.

Life is so unfair!