9 speeder question

Ok I am new to RRE, but have been a serial Freelander owner, the last a 6 speed auto that I put over 180K on.
I test drove a couple of 6 speed RRE and they were very nice, but thought I would go for a 9 speed, as it saves a little on fuel, and hopefully would be closer to the right gear most of the time, with having so many to choose from.

here's the rub, it's not a new car (64 plate) so I would have hoped that any problems had long ago been sorted. The gearbox has a couple of traits, the most worrying for me is that occasionally it decides to set off on tickover - sitting at the front of the lights, they go to green and you plant your right foot in the carpet - off she goes at tickover. No joke all the way across the lights the revs never exceed 1000 rpm, then just as the driver behind you gets heavy on the horn, she drops several gears and sets off like a F1 car.

OK at the lights it's embarrassing, leaving our housing estate onto a main road it's like playing Russian roulette. The other day she decided that she wasn't going to play nice, and crawled out in front of an oncoming car from my right, he got bored and crossed the white line to pass my front on the wrong side of the road only for the car to go into warp drive. Scarry
This happens after a couple of miles, or can happen after 40miles.
LR assist have updated the software - no luck, so she is booked into the dealers next week.

The other fault is that if you have been driving slowly (20mph) and you see a gap, plant your foot in the carpet and you can count to 3 slowly before she reacts, no down shift, gradual rise in revs, then reacts as a 190bhp car should.

The question is - Is it normal, do the 9 speeders hesitate every time you plant your foot in the carpet if you have been driving slowly?

Leaving her in sport mode and using paddle shift and she seems quite responsive, a deal quicker than the FL2, but driving an auto in manual all the time does seem to defeat the point.

Originally the 9 speeder pulled away in 2nd or even 3rd, 1st is a crawler gear for offroad and towing so it should not pull away in 1st. I had a 14 plate 9 speeder that performed perfectly for the 1st 9 months of ownership and then it had a gear box ECU software upgrade that made it pull away in 1st and also burn up DPF sensors on a weekly basis. I made some very rude and derogatory posts on here and LR told me there was nothing wrong with the car.............. strange that they very quickly withdrew the software upgrade and replaced the upgrade with the original. The problems that were present after the up grade was that the car revved to 5-6000RPM before it would upshift, unless I pulled the +paddle out of mechanical sympathy, which seems the opposite of your problem. I would get the car into a dealer and get the softare looked at as the original owner may have lived with it thinking it was "normal". It isn't a Zanzibar 5 Door with Black Pack, Contrast roof, Lux Pack, Privacy and a Tan Plus Pack interior is it? That problem is the only reason I am now driving an RRS2, the Evoque was brilliant for my needs but those problems and LR's head in the sand attitude to my problems forced me to sell the car back to the dealer.

Thanks for the reply
No she is a Pure tech in Orkney grey with a black sunroof.

Imagine the early Escort RS turbo, with a turbo the size of a small planet, you planted your foot in the carpet, nothing for an age then gradually things would spool up, and then the tyres would light up. Great big smile if you were 18 and could afford the insurance/tyres.

If leaving a junction and nothing is coming, she crawls out, then a surge and the yellow traction control light comes on, tyres are not going to last long at this rate.
Potter around town, keeping things below 1600rpm and she is a sweet little car, any more and she just doesn't want to play - I'm not 18 any more, but I'm not ready for the pipe and slippers either.

Sounds like the early ones were troubled then, the later ones can't still be doing this, as RRE are selling like hot cakes.

---------

Some people say that putting it in Sand mode helps overcome this as there is a sort of "launch control" built into the Sand mode.

This has always annoyed me too but I've just had to live with it. I especially hate when negotiating a corner then trying to accelerate out of the bend, it takes what seems like forever to find the right gear before it starts pulling away. It's ok for driving slowly but sometimes you need an instant response and this gearbox just doesn't have it. Personally I believe 9 gears is just too many. My bro's E350 has a twin clutch 7 speed and I love it, so smooth and responsive, power always there. I hate the amount of rattles it has though!

I miss driving a proper manual sometimes.

The ZF 8 speed in the RRS, FFRR and Discos 4 and 5 is also far superior to the 9 speeder of the Evoque and Disco Sport. The eight speeder shifts very smoothly and kick down is instant and also with the latest software update the shifts are so rapid that S mode is almost rendered unnecessary and only for those who really need a manual shift. I think since I have had the software upgrade to my RRS I have not once used the paddles whereas before I used them all the time when overtaking.

She goes into Williams this morning, not being hopeful.

I had mine in today for a few minor niggles and I got a loaner evoque, 66 reg, 2.0 diesel. I don't know if the gearbox is the same but it seemed quite a bit more responsive and smoother through the gears. Engine is noticeably quieter too. I forgot to ask if there were any updates for the gearbox. I tried the sand setting in mine the other day, it was absurd! It launched quicker because it used first gear but after that it held the gears till at least 3k rpm which for a diesel is pretty rough. Didn't change till it hit pretty high and made quite a racket. I think I'll keep it in standard or dynamic mode.

Ok had a test drive with the technician - aparrently they all drive like that sir.
IE they all hesitate before setting off, and take an age selecting the right gear, unless you select sport and manually change gear
That it sits at tickover all the way across the lights is not one they have heard of before, no faults found, software up to date, and it could be repeated - not a surprise really as it "only" happens a couple of times a week.
I haven't had it happen this week as I now have a routine, disable eco mode, select sport mode, select sand mode, and select first gear, if at the front of the queue at the lights / getting onto a main road. Bit of a faf, but safe.
Will drive normally for a couple of weeks to see if it has disappeared.

Strange thing is I had a Disco Sport as a loaner - less power same gearbox, for those of you who have never had a Freelander it's like a Freelander, but better.

The Evoque is slow around town, hates grids / potholes, corners like a Golf GTI, solid on the motorway, and very very quiet. Odd thing is on the motorway, in the Evoque, floor the accelerator at 70, and she will accelerate all the way up to top speed.
The Disco Sport is exactly like the FL2, ignores potholes, corners like a barge, great on the motorway up to 80, then not great at all, gruff ignium engine does remind me of the earlier FL1. But the acceleration around town is perfectly adequate in drive mode, and on the motorway, put your foot down at 70 an she gathers speed, she doesn't accelerate, but steadily gathers speed - exactly like the FL2.

So software or gearing ratio? I'm fairly sure the difference between the 190BHP Evoque engine and the 180BHP Disco engine isn't going to make that much difference.