I'm considering a 2006 V8V Sportshift car but I have concerns about the crawl mode. For background I have a Lamborghini Gallardo with an E-geat transmission. I love the driving experience from 5moh up. but when it comes time to pull in and out og the garage it is jerky and frankly a little scary if you need to move the car a couple more feet to get completely in the garage or the last couple of feet getting on the lift. The E-gear does not have a crawl feature so you need to give it a little throttle to get moving. Almost any amount of throttle is usually too much.

Anyway, how good does the Sportshift crawl mode work. When in first gear and foot on the brake, it is my understanding that if you release the brake and don't touch the throttle the clutch will "progressively engage and the car will move forward up to a controlled 6 mph" until either the brakes or throttle are applied. that sounds good if the progressive engagement is fairly slow and not jerky.

Anybody with a V8V Sportshift car willing to share their experience with the crawl feature??
Steve

 

Hello Steve -

In a 2006 it will have a SportShift I which is what I have in my 2011.

Engaging 1st gear in either D or by pulling the + paddle is smooth and as you noted will move you forward at 6 mph. If however I am going up a slight incline as in some garage entrances you will need to add a little throttle.

When I reverse out of my garage however (even if I let it idle for a few minutes beforehand) it will come out quite quickly so I need to make 100% sure that absolutely nothing is behind me. I try not to activate the brake in order to extend the life of the clutch.

Hope this helps............Rob

 

crawl mode in my 2009 sportshift works fine... no problems at slow speeds...

it does not like reverse, especially uphill... my driveway has a slight incline at the garage and I put in neutral and let the car roll back to align it correctly to get into garage.

once you learn the foot roll technique to shift, it's a nice gearbox

 

Thanks for the replies guys

1. To be clear, in crawl the clutch engagement is not so sudden making that entering a garage (my approach is quite flat) a scary experience?
2. What do you mean about foot roll when shifting. The owners manual says to maintain foot pressure on the accelerator pedal when shifting. With My E-gear there is no need to lift or do anything with the accelerator pedal when shifting.
3. The other thing I'm trying to get a feel for is typical clutch life. Most dealer listings are silent on the clutch condition. The particular car I'm looking at has 26,000 miles. The CarFax has no mention of a clutch replacement. The dealer doesn't know one way or the other for sure but says the clutch is typically replaced in the 15k to 19k miles range. They are happy to have an AM dealer read the clutch for a $5k non refundable deposit. If. the clutch reads under 35% they will replace it. Either way the car would be mine or I'm out the $5k.

Any advice here??
Steve

 

Steve -

1) Clutch engagement is quite smooth and there is no sudden jerking motion going from N to 1st.

2) As per the recommendations of the Aston dealer and their mechanic I do a slight toe lift when I upshift.

3) I would absolutely not leave a $5K non refundable deposit on any car. That’s a red flag for me.

I am relatively new to the Aston world but from Information gleaned from this website and the Aston section of PistonHeads, clutch wear is hugely dependent on one’s driving technique. Some Aston’s need a replacement at 10K miles and others claim they are on 70K with the original clutch.

I had a PPI done at Aston Orlando and they only charged $200.00. This also included checking the clutch wear with their AMDS diagnostic computer.

I’m sure you already know this from your Lamborghini experience, but there are lots of Vantages for sale so I would not get fixated on the one you are currently interested in.

Below is a link to depreciation tables created by V8VDREW. It is from 2020 so you will have to interpolate for 2021. This may give you a little insight into what prices are reasonable.

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...urves-pt2.html

 

All:
I keep coming back to this issue as I look for my next purchase from my list of cars of particular interest. A V8V is on that list.

1. Regarding the crawl mode: if I want to move the car into my garage at a slow walking speed with a Sportshift tranny, how do I do that??
2. I've read some stuff about the recommendation to lift when shifting gears in sport mode. Why do that? My Lambo E-Gear works fine without doing that.
3. I understand that the dealer can do a read of the clutch wear with their computer and give an idea of remaining life. When I have a dealer do A PPI what do I ask for and how do I interpret the readings?

Steve

 

you do not need to do "footroll" at high speed gear changes, mainly in normal or slower speeds...

you just need to drive it

 

MRCW
Thanks for the reply. I've seen that video which shows the advantage of the automated 6 speed gear box. I'm totally aligned with that based on my Egear experience. But that's high speed driving...

So if you don't need to do the little lift when shifting at high speed, what does it do for you at low speed?

I'd like to drive one but these cars are not readily accessible to me. The closest one for sale is almost 200 miles away. So I'm trying to get users first hand experience.

A big concern for me is the crawl mode for pulling into my garage. With a 3 pedal car it is easy to creep at very low speed. How do you do that with a Sportshift car? My E-gear car sucks in that situation.

Steve

 

keeps the gear shift from clunking at low speeds.

work the brake and throttle together a bit. you get the hang of it in no time.

I'm in central Florida. happy to let you try mine
here's an Aston guide on this as well... check out page 5... describes the lift

 

My experience with crawl mode in my 2008 is that it can be a bit jerky when the car is cold and the RPMs are up as the clutch engages and disengages with the use of the brake. After a few drives you get used to it, or just let it get to operating RPM. After warming up, it's pretty smooth and easy to get into and out of spots. It scared me the the first couple times pulling into my garage space, but once used to the behavior, I could maneuver it quite accurately.

 

All
So after reading here I'm getting a little more comfortable with a Sportshift. I've read the advice about lifting when shifting. MRCW says it prevents a clunk when doing the shift. That sounds strange to me. Is that everyone's experience?

 

I've had a 2009 sportshift for the last year. From what I can tell it's on the original clutch at 31k miles and the clutch seems ok.

Lifting during shifts at low speeds just helps it shift a bit smoother. This is especially worthwhile in cold climates as the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts are very hard when the ambient temperature is cold and the car hasn't warmed up.

I just replaced the gear oil in mine and the shifts are much smoother now, and I'm finding less need to lift when shifting at low speeds, though I have no doubt I'll be doing it again when it starts getting cold in the fall.

With regards to crawl mode, it's fine. I have no problems getting in my garage, and it's a fairly tight squeeze. I just modulate the gas and it seems to do fine.

As Maumau stated earlier, I have more issues with reversing out of the garage. When you're first firing up the car, you wait until the clutch learn has happened, and then you shift to reverse. Sometimes the damn thing wants to take off like a rocket with just a tiny bit of gas, so I find reversing out of the garage to be a lot more disaster prone than driving in, to be honest.

 

Ashman_E
Thanks for relating your experience. So what I'm reading here it is not all that different from my E-gear. Both are a little quirky at low speeds and shift hard in sport mode (which I like). so then the issue of clutch life rears its ugly head. Your apparent 31k miles seems really good from what I am reading on the matter. When I bought my Lambo, the dealer had the clutch snap numbers which indicated that the clutch still had 92% life left. I've yet to see any car for sale where they have had the dealer read the life numbers. There's a few (very few) where they mention the replacement of the clutch. Most are silent on the matter. I know a dealer can read the numbers and give an estimate of remaining life. Before buying I'd have a PPI done and get the clutch numbers but from my inquiries that's a $300 to $500 cost which is ok if the clutch reads good (maybe 50% or more life remaining). If it reads less and the seller is not willing to adjust the price to recognize the cost to replace it, I'm out the PPi cost and don't have a car. Anybody have thoughts or experiences to share on this matter

 

good luck in you're search...FWIW I paid $200 for my PPI 5 years ago at my Aston dealer. Rather than look at a PPI cost as a waste on an unpurchased car, consider it an investment in avoiding future issues by not buying a problem.
there are lots of things to consider besides clutch life in an Aston purchase. it's not like it's a huge cost in the big scheme of things. I drove my Aston for over a year before putting in a new clutch. and it was a only about $3600.

 

When I bought mine last year, the Aston dealer here quoted me a PPI for $600. They basically wanted to do the same inspection that they do when they certify a car for their warranty. I instead got a $200 PPI from a local independent exotic service place. They checked it all over and gave me the thumbs up, though I will say that the "report" they gave me was worthless and I'm pretty sure they didn't have the proper computer equipment to read lots of the vendor-specific codes, so it was a bit of a gamble. Luckily, I was able to track down two of the previous owners to talk with them about their experiences with the car and it's turned out well so far.

I have to say that Porsche does a much better job of this. $200 got me a five-page report that covered everything from the mechanicals to the body to the interior. I don't have any idea what would have been in the report from the Aston dealer, but I'll tell you that $200 is pretty standard for a PPI in the US. $600 seems like a cash grab, but then much about Aston seems like a cash grab, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised... For $600, they'd better be printing the thing in 24 karat gold foil.