04 Elantra Auto-trans - Was:My car fell off a lift

As requested here's what's happening with my car that fell off the lift at
the BP shop...

It was an 01 Elantra GT (manual) with 52K miles. The car was deemed
totaled. Their insurance offered $8500 plus to reimburse me for any taxes
and title fees if a new car was purchased. I am counter-offering at this
point and have not heard from them yet.

In the meantime I've purchased an 04 Elantra GT (auto). I think I've seen
other posts in this newsgroup about the possibility of re-programing the
transmission to change the shift points? I notice that it seems to want to
hurry-up and get into 4th gear at around 40 mph (which translates into
about 1800 rpm) where there is less hp and torque. Then when I want to
accelerate it seems to be too willing to jump into 2nd (instead of 3rd) and
almost redlines. To me it would seem better if it didn't shift so quickly
into 4th. (I would prefer in it stay in 3rd which would translate into
something like 2800rpms at 40-45mph - maybe I'm spoiled by the manual
trans...) Or at least instead of dropping into second on acceleration
(unless really hitting the accelerator) it would downshift to 3rd. This to
me would provide a smoother acceleration and would seem to be easier on the
engine.

Any thoughts and experience on this? For those who had their transmission
reprogramed...is this similar to your experience with how the transmission
reacts? And what would the reprogramming do? Would the car run at an
average higher rpm??? I'd be willing to sacrafice some gas milage if this
is what the reprogramming would do.

Thanks for any responses,

JonR

 

My '02 SF/with AT, does the same (if I read you correctly). I
assume(!) that the shift points are an engineering compromise,
weighted toward fuel economy. While driving, if I am at a place
where I think I'll need different shift points than the automatic
transmission allows (such as entering an expressway with a 'short'
ramp), I use the "Shiftronic" feature.
Welcome to a marketing world. =;-)

And good luck with the insurance company.

S25

 

You might try having your torque converter rebuilt by Level 10. They
claim to be able to cut 0.5-1.0 seconds off of your 1/4 mile.