Portofino reluctant to change down

This doesn't sound normal.
You said it stays in 6th gear, does the Porto not have a 7th gear?
Does it kick down to 6th from 7th, and then goes no further?
T

 

I have the same feeling that Portofino seems not willing to downshift in auto mode unless you floor the throttle.

 

Put mannetino in sport? If you won’t do that than yes, it will not downshift aggressively.

 

^Hmm. After this thread, I tried replicating this in my Cali and even while dawdling along in 6th in comfort/auto mode on the way home after a drive, it doesn't seem to take much throttle application to get it to kick down a gear or two. Wonder if any Porto owners have noticed this...T

 

I would also like to hear if this is an inherent problem in the Porto since it would be a game breaker for me.
Good luck to the OP in finding the solution.

 

I have the same issue. Driving at something like 35-40 mph, the Portofino is already in 7th gear. You need to really floor it to get it to change bellow 5th. And if you do that, the change in pace is really dramatic, you don't always need that... I only had the car for about two weeks, so maybe it takes some more driving until i get used to it. But most of the time when I drive it in AUTO i find myself using the down paddle a lot to take it to a lower gear. And that last just a few seconds, apparently it likes 5th and 7th a lot.

 

Mine’s the same (2020 Portofino). Very reluctant to switch down. I figured Ferrari set it up this way to get better emissions numbers or something like that.
Either way, it doesn’t bother me. I figured I did not buy an automatic anyway so I always drive it in manual mode.

 

I always drive my "T" in manual mode. That's the fun of having a Ferrari.

 

I have noticed the same issue since trading in my Cali T for the Portofino. The Portofino seems to want to reach 7th gear ASAP and at lower RPM shift points, making for a leisurely, rumbly ride and a slower throttle response than I would like. When I needed a burst of throttle in the Cali T I would nudge the throttle to get a downshift, in the Porto this doesn't work well so I click the down paddle. The result is that I mostly drive my Porto in manual mode. This and the engine start/stop are my quibbles with the car vs. the Cali T.

 

Same here. In fact the only time I’m in Auto mode is if I’m going under 30 mph.

 

The same issue persists in the Portofino M. Even in race mode it's simply a race to get to 8th gear as quickly as possible. Sedate cruising in traffic has the car around 1000rpm in 8th gear at 40pmh. As others have remarked, you have to aggressively floor the accelerator pedal to trigger a kick down to a lower gear before the car has any torque to give.

You just have to make peace with using the flappy paddles and taking the car out of auto mode if you want it to be responsive at legal driving speeds. Porsche's PDK is a much better transmission, imho, and one that's able to provide an engaging auto experience on the road.

On the race track, though, I've found that even in Auto mode our Portofino M transmission really changes its character. My perception is that once you start cornering fast and inducing lateral Gs, the transmission gets the message. Then it will start holding gears longer and being more eager to downshift to stay in the power band. It's hard to accomplish on the street without being a hooligan and a hazard.

 

I’ve always assumed Ferrari did this for either fuel mileage or emissions purposes…or at least I hope that’s why they did it because for everyday driving it’s a pain in the ass.

 

Underatandable, really, but I don’t know why they didn’t limit this to “comfort” and wet. Seems like sport and race modes could behave differently (as they do in cars from other marques) and still meet the mileage and emissions standards. What puzzles me most about the Ferrari behavior is that sport and race mode appear to do very little.

Probably Ferrari are just hazing us for not buying a 12 cylinder.

 

I find the same issue in my Portofino when I drive it in auto mode. I have learned to drive it in the manual mode at all times. The Porto comes alive in the manual mode.

 

I think this is a modern Ferrari thing, When i drove the 488 it was the exact same. it was a race to 7th gear in Auto and if i gave it some throttle it would just stay in 7th and barely move forward. Not the experience i was expecting from my first Ferrari drive.

Got back in my Porsche Boxster GTS about 2 hours later, in Comfort mode, gave it barely any throttle and the car jumps down to 5th from 7th.

My guess is that Ferrari engines are at a general level a lot less emissions compliant than other cars and therefore Ferrari engineers these tricks to barely squeeze them into compliance. The benefit is that you get an amazing engine when driving in Manual mode, but a lackluster experience in auto. My friend with a 812 Superfast that he daily drives says he never drives in Auto because it makes the car feel worse than a camry.

 

Like most others on this thread, I have experienced the same issues in "Auto" mode. Hence, I too now drive my Porto in "Manual" mode at all times. The car drives beautifully when the engine is always in its power band.

 

I think it’s just the mapping/programming of the DCT.
I daily drive a GTC4Lusso V12 and it’s the same thing. In Comfort mode, it’ll be in 7th gear at ~30mph. Unless you nearly floor it, it’ll just stay in 7th with accceleration. Granted the torque of the V12 helps this not be much of a functional issue. Changing to Sport mode makes it downshift a little more aggressively. Can always tap the paddles to manually override.

 

I drive PFM only on Race/manual and it's easy to put the car on 45 degree tilt on indulgent throttle (not flooring) before it straightens on cold tires (NorCal weather). I wonder if it does that in auto - have to experiment, but would be nice to hear from others experience.