What's wrong with the i-Shift gearbox?

[guest7405]

Hi,

We're just looking to buying our first Jazz. It seems the best and most versatile of the small hatchbacks.
As it's going to be my wife's commuting car primarily and a lot of her journey is in traffic she wants an automatic.
The CVT looks good but if we want a Mk2  that puts it out of our budget.

I've read that the i-shift transmission was so unpopular that Honda brought back the CVT to replace it.
So, my question is what is actually wrong with the i-shift and will I regret it if I buy one?

[geoffchats]

Hi,

We're just looking to buying our first Jazz. It seems the best and most versatile of the small hatchbacks.
As it's going to be my wife's commuting car primarily and a lot of her journey is in traffic she wants an automatic.
The CVT looks good but if we want a Mk2  that puts it out of our budget.

I've read that the i-shift transmission was so unpopular that Honda brought back the CVT to replace it.
So, my question is what is actually wrong with the i-shift and will I regret it if I buy one?

Hi! I have had a 2009 I-shift Jazz for a year now and gave had no problems whatsoever. You can just leave it in 'A' mode and drive it as a fully automatic or use the paddles/lever to change gear yourself, pushing the lever to the left if you want to revert to automatic. There's a small display in the instrument binnacle that tells you which mode/gear you're in. Remember that the car won't start unless 'N' is shown in the display. I get 52mpg on a run and around 46mpg around town.
I suspect that people try to double guess what the gearbox will do...and it's unnecessary. Just drive like an auto and it works fine. Enjoy.

Sent from my F5121 using Tapatalk

[jazzway]

We bought our i-Shift a little more than 2 years ago.
- Is there something wrong with it? No.
- Do we regret we bought it? No.

It is like Geoff says, it is so easy to drive in auto, but also in manual.

[desthemoaner]

We bought our first Jazz in January just gone. Whilst researching the model prior to buying I was told by someone on another forum, a knowledgeable chap who seems to know his motoring onions, that the I-shift is "horrible".
 
Our previous car was a Ford with Powershift, which is an over-complex autobox with a reputation for catastrophic failure. After that experience I was determined to avoid any automatic which has had even a sniff of bad Press, so we tried a Jazz with CVT, and found that gearbox seamless but uninspiring.

Hence going for the manual which as said elsewhere, progresses adequately but definitely needs a sixth gear.

[coffeecup]

I have a 2010 i-shift, a gift from the mother-in-law, and hated it until i played with the paddles for a while, now a year down the road i just love the paddles and hate the auto mode. In auto you never know when it's going to change and it always feels like someone is pulling you back as it changes(especially on a hill) change with the paddles and its fantastic.
Can not get the wife to use anything but auto, so i usually drive !!!!

[123Drive!]

I have a 2009 ES. Brought it in 2012 with 22k miles on the clock. Having had bad previous experience with semi auto Toyota MMT, my mechanic thought I was crazy going for the i-Shift but it was within my budget. The gear change from 1st to 2nd from a cold engine is very jerky, but apart from that I can live it. It creeps better than the Toyota but can be unpredictable. The manual paddles are quite fun too except the engine is a bit weak for that. Unfortunately, three weeks ago, it suffered a breakdown with the actuator! It now has 80k miles. Honda wanted £2k to fix it but luckily with the help from this forum, I found a mechanic to repair it for £320! I would say get a low mileage one if you can. Many Civic i-Shift have also suffer from breakdowns. (Please read my tread-i-shift failure.) The breakdown came with no warning-my car has been well maintained and serviced. The above mechanic said to avoid this problem, have the car relearned the gearbox every 20k miles.

[coffeecup]

Let the engine tell you when to change gear.

[Kenneve]

I am now on my 4th Jazz, the first one was an I-shift and it nearly put me off Jazz  cars for life. You never knew when it was going to change, particularly when starting off, where it had the unhappy knack of changing gear half way across a road junction!! very agricultural and jerky.
 Fortunately a friend had a CVT version and it was like chalk and cheese, so smooooth! So after a couple of months I cut my losses and changed to CVT and have never looked back.
I just can't believe that anyone who runs a CVT would go back to or prefer an I-shift, which really is a manual gearbox with just an automated clutch.

[coffeecup]

Rubbish !! use the paddles, far far better than auto mode.

[Kenneve]

Using the paddles is just the same as using a manual box and if I wanted a manual, the I would brought one.
However each to his own!

[guest7281]

I bought mine a few months ago and really don't understand what the fuss is about. It does seem to make odd gear choices at times compared to my other car, a B Class Merc, but previously we had a Micra cvt which was all over the place.... 

The only gripe I have with the paddles is that when you use them you have to manually switch back to automatic mode- the B class does this for you ( although to be fair it cost 4 times as much as the Honda )

[coffeecup]

'Using the paddles is just like a manual gearbox'

Lol, bet you have never tried them, just like the other old duffers.   

[coffeecup]

sithering

not with the i-shift

[guest5079]

"2010 EX with Ishift. Had it since October 2014. First few months a learning curve but it is NOT the horror it's made out to be. !st gear to 2nd gear is a jump but then so is the manual box. The paddles enable considerable control and pushing the gear lever to the left to engage auto really is no hardship
Whether it's my driving ability but after the first couple of months I do not find the gearbox jerky. The one criticism is the fondness of it changing from 2nd to 1st on a steep hill after you have turned into it. ie leaving one road into the junction that has a steep incline then the beggar will change into 1st and stays there, so it needs the paddles. I really do not know where the so called jerkiness comes from and I don't think the delay is as bad as some would have you believe, after all there is a delay when changing gear in a manual. Gear box oil change is the same as a manual box.
It is however horses for courses and after driving the Ishift in heavy congested town traffic I am more than happy with it. One thing you must never do and that is try and balance it on the clutch and throttle on a slope. Yes I know there is not a clutch pedal but using the throttle enough to engage the clutch against the hill is expensive. Foot off throttle and on brake and with the hill assist it helps.

[desthemoaner]

I am now on my 4th Jazz, the first one was an I-shift and it nearly put me off Jazz  cars for life. You never knew when it was going to change, particularly when starting off, where it had the unhappy knack of changing gear half way across a road junction!! very agricultural and jerky.
 Fortunately a friend had a CVT version and it was like chalk and cheese, so smooooth! So after a couple of months I cut my losses and changed to CVT and have never looked back.
I just can't believe that anyone who runs a CVT would go back to or prefer an I-shift, which really is a manual gearbox with just an automated clutch.

Very similar to the Ford Powershift, by the sound of it. Its a great idea to reduce emissions and improve the driver experience by designing a gearbox which is designed to "learn" your style of driving so that it anticipates your next gear, but in practice an over-complex and capricious enigma.