I continue to wonder about my 6AT...

@BenDoyle I am having exactly the same issue and I absolutely regret buying that car. I am absolutely pissed off every time I drive it.

• It sometimes jerks and jumps after shifting to second or third. Like if a person can't drive a manual in driving school and it jerks on first gear.
• Almost all the time it "stops accelerating" and jerks a bit when shifting up.
• When it shifts to 5th gear, a clunk/thud is felt from the engine. Like if you dump a clutch in a manual too fast and the engine moves in the mounts.
• When you accelerate to 80 kmh, let off gas and the car starts to down shift to 4-5-6, it like "flares" or moves the car forward, like if you pressed accelerator a bit.
• Dowshift jerking also, but that's normal for TC transmissions I think.

First visit to a dealer - Yeah we feel it, let's reflash the transmission and run adaptations and see if it's any better. No change.
Second visit to a dealer - Accepting technician nods to everything I say and show to him. Week no change. Then after some urgency, they ran all the checks, scanned for codes and told me that the car doesn't show any signs of bad transmission and that the warranty technician didn't feel anything wrong.

"The symptoms you complained about in order sheet XXXXX / non-standard behavior of the automatic transmission were properly verified by the service background, both by test driving, checking stored error messages and other initialization steps of automatic transmission parameterization. Since the aforementioned interventions did not result in the claimed defect, there are no error messages stored in the event memory in the automatic transmission sector, the claim was evaluated as unjustified."

When I drove the technician after a heated discussion in there, when it jerks, he smiles and tells me that he doesn't feel anything and that everything is normal. ))

I think they know pretty well that the transmission is shit, but its a engine/transmission/software combo I think.

No other car I ever drove did any jerking and it shifted smoothly. Old mercs, 2003 passat tiptronic, BMW F01 transmissions, DSG passat, DSG arteon, new mercedes V, new Supra - ALL of the cars shift smoothly.

Thanks all. To provide another short update:

My Japan-built 2022 is now at about 16,500 moderately hard miles. Whenever I drive other automatic cars, I'm still amazed at their smoothness. My 6AT is much the same as before. The following symptoms may sound familiar:

-Most of the time when cruising (30-50mph), it utterly refuses to downshift, unless you mash the throttle (dangerous and annoying). It likes to sit in 6th and flutter the torque converter instead; this means there is usually zero throttle response unless you force a kickdown. If you DO mash the throttle and let off too quickly, it gets confused and produces a wicked shift flare. Downshifts are sometimes imperceptible under light load, but moderate/heavy load makes them excessively harsh.

-Poor software tuning means that, if you put your foot down while it's starting to upshift, it won't stop -- it will just carry on upshifting, leaving you in the lurch unless you floor it.

-It's often very slow to engage when going from R-D at a dead stop. I've noticed that it most commonly gives me the "whiplash" effect when cold. On occasion, you'll go from R-D, hit the gas, and nothing will happen. The car will get very close to stalling out. Then there's another second or two with no throttle response, before the car slams into first and takes off (again dangerously) like a stabbed rat.

-Has a hard time taking off from stoplights in any kind of hurry. There will be a shudder and a brief pause before it gets up and goes. The torque converter often slips far too much from a dead stop, which makes it feel like a bad CVT. It will feel held back and then it will start to pick up speed after a few seconds. With this car, there's a constant feeling of 'catching up' with itself -- it's held back initially, but then it surges forward unprompted. A very hard car to drive in a smooth / linear fashion.

Some days, the transmission is pretty good. Other days, it sucks. It's not bad enough for me to surrender the $150 diagnostic fee at the dealer (because they'll tell me it's normal), but it can always get worse. With any luck it will grenade under warranty.

I continuously encourage other 6AT drivers to chime in with their own thoughts, opinions, and driving sensations.

Thanks to all for lots of great info and suggestions!