Transmission i Shift change - new software

[TTDegs]

Originally Posted by Kremmen

I'm a tad confused by this -

According to my latest brochure circa Nov 2006 the 1.8 i-shift is in the lower end of band D 153g/km (VED Band D Petrol) (same as the manual model).

According to the honestjohn website it is in band C -143g/km (VED Band C Petrol) (no doubt an old review).

Therefore the change to the software must have taken place some time ago ?

I have very vague recollection of the original brochure being wrong for the VED group on the i-shift, which lead to some people having paid the wrong amount of car tax?

Does that ring a bell with anyone else?

[TTDegs]

*sigh*

sometimes I scare even myself

Mislead by the brochure


though, worringly, if this new 'fix' does hike it up yet another band, that's even more scary!

[Brodick]

Can't comment on the ratings at the moment But
I did go onto Honda.co.uk yesterday and used the live chat and from that
gathered that Honda started fitting the modified I-shift boxes to civics last week they also said that civics already built and not yet registered would be recalled !!

The salesman I was dealing with is off ill
so will be popping into the dealers later on to find out what the story #
is with our car

[Kremmen]

That's typical, mine has just arrived at the dealers (Thursday) and isn't yet registered, so how are they going to recall that ?

Is it a dealer job ?

Must watch what Tax Disc I get.

[Brodick]

O.K just spoken to my dealer(he has been off for a few days) but he thinks our car is still in Swindon and the upgrade to the i-shift should be done or will be done.

He is going to check tommorow and get back to me to confirm

[acprice]

all new cars from feb 07 will be updated will find out about pre feb 07 and let you all know next couple of days.

[gsyme]

On another tack, I notice that the 1.4 is available in France (www.honda.fr) in an i-shift version. Does anyone know if there are any plans to produce this in rhd?

[Brodick]

Originally Posted by gsyme

On another tack, I notice that the 1.4 is available in France (www.honda.fr) in an i-shift version. Does anyone know if there are any plans to produce this in rhd?

according to the Brochure it's always been available
in SE form !!

Unless anyone knows different

[TTDegs]

Originally Posted by Brodick

according to the Brochure it's always been available
in SE form !!

Unless anyone knows different

you are indeed correct Brodick

[mihael]

So is the i shift upgrade just software or is it a new gear box which ever it is if its an upgrade to sort out a design fault then should it not be retrofitted to older i shifts to sort out there problems as well ? i have made comments to my dealer and honda uk on my gear box operation being overly jerky at some speeds and changes worst than when i test drove the dealers car before purchase i have been told my car is fine and its just the characteristics of the box now it seams that honda have been working behind the scenes to sort out the problems of the systems but are to just ignore the cars that they have already sold to there unsuspecting customers leaving them in the lurch once again because i know from experience that on resale time dealers or buyer will avoid cars before the modification dates or pay less if they purchase it at all quoting customer forces

[Brodick]

Originally Posted by mihael

So is the i shift upgrade just software or is it a new gear box which ever it is if its an upgrade to sort out a design fault then should it not be retrofitted to older i shifts to sort out there problems as well ? i have made comments to my dealer and honda uk on my gear box operation being overly jerky at some speeds and changes worst than when i test drove the dealers car before purchase i have been told my car is fine and its just the characteristics of the box now it seams that honda have been working behind the scenes to sort out the problems of the systems but are to just ignore the cars that they have already sold to there unsuspecting customers leaving them in the lurch once again because i know from experience that on resale time dealers or buyer will avoid cars before the modification dates or pay less if they purchase it at all quoting customer forces

As far as I am aware there is no current issue with the i-shift ( I'm sure current i-shift owners could confirm this) unless you have been unlucky and without meaning to sound cheeky it sounds like you need to adjust your driving style to suit the i-shift.

The new software upgrade is only for Brand new cars and not cars already on the road ( sorry!!) as it changed the cars VED rating
my understanding is that the upgrade has made the i-shiftn box more refined overall

[mihael]

hi broidck drove lots of i shifts before ordering mine most drove ok have tried to modify my driving some times seam to have masted it but then it seams to go wrong again and i get the juking plus at 2000 revs on some occasions the car takes ages to decide to engaged a gear so maybe i have been unlucky with my car but if there is no issue with the i shift then why have honda made a modification ? and if this makes the change smoother then honda must have felt that the box was not good enough as it was hence the modification

[iains]

I was probably one of the first 100 people to own an I-Shift back in May last year as my car was delivered before demonstrators and was the first my dealer had in.

Around June/July time last year I was involved in Market research of early I-Shift owners to undestand issues that owners were getting with their cars.

It became apparent to me that one of the major issues was in fact the way dealers were handing cars over to owners. My dealer spent considerable time explaining the differences of the gearbox and how to best drive it including going out for a drive in the car. I discovered that other owners were just handed the keys over to their car. I also got a follow up call a week and then a month after delivery to check if I had any issues. This did not always seem the case for other owners, especially those suffering major issues.

What was also interesting as part of the research was discussing with other owners on how to drive the car smoothly. I also got the impression that a 1.4 engine and an I-shift is under powered.

Now I have considerable experience with the car, I can confirm that I have probably adjusted my driving style to thecar, but I now do not really notice the odities, but it would be nice to get retrospective software upgrades.

[Brodick]

Originally Posted by mihael

hi broidck drove lots of i shifts before ordering mine most drove ok have tried to modify my driving some times seam to have masted it but then it seams to go wrong again and i get the juking plus at 2000 revs on some occasions the car takes ages to decide to engaged a gear so maybe i have been unlucky with my car but if there is no issue with the i shift then why have honda made a modification ? and if this makes the change smoother then honda must have felt that the box was not good enough as it was hence the modification

It is more of an enhancement to the i-shift for the '07 cars
rather than a new box or fix etc

I know there are quite a few i-shift owners on the forum who seem to be more than happy and some that could be happier hopefully some of the Happy current owners might comment see if they have experienced any of the issues you mention

[mihael]

ianis had lots of drives in different i shifts before ordering mine and became quite proficient with it but when mine came its not so smooth in my opinion honda have driven mine and say it is as the i shift works but i am not fully happy and when i read on the sight that honda are modifying the box or software to make the change smoother but this will not be retrospective this can not be right if honda are not happy with there gear box design then why should any problems with the old boxes not be put right if this changes ved rating this should be over come by honda not just forget earlier customers

[iains]

I suspect it is not that Honda does not want to change the software for current owners, but the stupidity of the car tax bands. It is illustrated by the fact that if I had bought an EX instead of of an ES or had upgraded to larger wheels the tax band would have been higher.

If I had bought larger wheels after buying the car, then the tax band would have not changed.

The issue probably is, if Honda upgrades software then the DVLA would know about the changes and then would be able to change the tax band.

What is apparent to me is that whilst a company such as Honda can design a car that seems optimum, there is always things which turn up with real world use that is difficult to find out at design and testing

[mihael]

Iains the car was still under software development when the i shift was launched for the jerkiness, honda new about the box short comings i read some bad reports on the drive of the box from the media and so tested the car with lots of dealers each one had been told to tell customers they had to adjust there driving ability to the car and this would make the drive better one dealer even joked about the box saying they called its property's the honda jerk yes after a long wait for the car to finally come out i did go ahead and purchase one but under the impression that if software changes to improve the box happened we would get them so my point is honda did not find this Issue out after the car had launched they new before but went ahead anyway and worked in the background to improve the system i do not find this a problem except for the fact that the sort is not to be done on our cars so rendering ours out of date and lower quality to the latest cars being delivered this is my gripe

[mihael]

Dose any one know with this i shift softwhare up grade only on new models because of the VED issue what grade the new models will come out at and what grade the old EX model is rated at as I am paying £125 tax on mine already.

[Brodick]

Originally Posted by mihael

Iains the car was still under software development when the i shift was launched for the jerkiness, honda new about the box short comings i read some bad reports on the drive of the box from the media and so tested the car with lots of dealers each one had been told to tell customers they had to adjust there driving ability to the car and this would make the drive better one dealer even joked about the box saying they called its property's the honda jerk yes after a long wait for the car to finally come out i did go ahead and purchase one but under the impression that if software changes to improve the box happened we would get them so my point is honda did not find this Issue out after the car had launched they new before but went ahead anyway and worked in the background to improve the system i do not find this a problem except for the fact that the sort is not to be done on our cars so rendering ours out of date and lower quality to the latest cars being delivered this is my gripe

The thing is after any car is launched the manufacturer in question can make as many changes to the car over the years as they like without updating the cars already on the road ( this is standard practise by all Car Manufacturers)

[Kremmen]

That's a good point on Tax Disc price.

If you are already being charged as a band D then you can have the upgrade applied without issue.