Transmission not as crisp as I expected

[JEEPIDON]

I have less than 1,000 miles and I'm not as impressed with the 8-speed as I thought I would be. I'm sure that it's performing fine but I expected quicker and more decisive downshifts when I step on it. Not a big improvement over my JK's 5-speed auto in that one dimension. Besides the diesel, I expected the tranny to be the biggest improvement over the JK. Additionally, I think that FCA has a "safeguard" on the diesel engine/transmission to initially take some of the edge off the torque delivery - at least from a dead stop. I could be wrong, but there is a subtle hesitation that I don't attribute to turbo lag.

The Offline response is buffered by the drive by wire controls so the diesel torque keeps your tires planted and not spinning. My Ram Cummins does the same thing. In a pickup in the rain with the 850 ftlbs of torque I would literally set there and spin. You can buy acceleration performance modules to adjust your throttle response.

 

[fun2drive]

I have owned a 14 JGC with the diesel and 8 spd ZF transmission. It shifted well until FCA did their AEM tuning which really killed the engine and transmission match. I put a tune on the engine and none for the transmission and it is just as great as it was with the Green Diesel tune. I am willing to bet that is 100% the engine being nullified to meet EPA/ CARB to the extreme. I am betting Green Diesel Engineering will have a tune that is EPA/ CARB compliant like they have for the JGC now sometime in the near future.