I bought my wife the new '07 Outlander XLS last month to replace her '02 Jeep Liberty. Now there's a piece of crap!! Anyway, I finally gotmy chance to take the new Outie for a spin last week. I read so much about the power this thing has, but was really disapointed when I tried to chirp the tires.Don't get me wrong, the engine appears to produce a tremendousamount of power and tourque. However, when I put it to themat,the engine dynamics completely changed. It felt as if the car was pulling a2 tonne trailer!! I found off-the-line acceration was better if I only gently applied the throttle. WOT seems to 'flood' the engine. I recall reading something in the manual about the driving computer adjusting to the habits of the drive. I doubt my wife is flooring it at every light, so I'm wondering if the computerwas'nt limiting the power for whatever reason. Has anyone else experienced this??

 

I noticed the wheels chirped with real ease off the line. I had to get use to taking off from a stop easy. I pretty much got that down. I dont see any reason why you couldnt spin the wheels off the line. I havent stomped it off the line to see if it bogs down but have got it rolling in 4 wheel drive and threw it back in front wheel and got on it.

 

A couple of things could be happening.

The traction control could be kicking in when you mash the throttle, try turning it off as described in the manual.

Also, if it is in 4WD mode you're going to have a hard time doing any kind of burnout with a 3,700lb SUV and a 3 liter V6.

 

Like you said, let the comp adapt to your driving first, then try some off the line WOT. I find my self spinning the front tires really easy when I have it set in 2WD, I have the LS without sunroof or anything, just the AWD so I dunno if being 200lbs lighter than the XLS's has anything to do with it(doubt it), either way its really easy for me to spin them.

 

I think it has a lot to do with how they programmed the drive by wire logic. You get like 75% of throttle for the first 25% of pedal travel and then you have the remaining 75% of travel to get the last 25% of the throttle. Toyota and Honda have used that trick to make their cars seem more powereful compared to american cars for years. American auto manufacturer thinkinghas historically beenalmost the exact opposite. You have to floor it to make it really go.

As for the computer learning that you are referring to, that is for the transmission shift points. If you are in 4wd you won't chirp the tires.Too much traction with too little power. In 2wd it will spin them off the line and chirp them on the 1st to 2nd shift if you do it with the pedal shifters. (at least my XLS will.)

 

In 2WD mode, it took me a lot of time to learn how not to spin the front wheels of my 4WD XLS on a green light. But on 4WD mode, everything is just perfect, no spin. And regarding about flooring it, since it's drive by wire, it gets numb when you floor it on D mode. Put it to manual mode and you might just be able to rev it to the red line.

 

What makes the differance for you usa owners is the fact that the car is front wheel drive not rear like most of all cars in the USA also ASC applies the brakes to the wheel that loses traction. So turn it off. It will auto turn it back on the next time the car is started

Be very careful spinning the front wheels because you can knock out the driveshaft their not that long

puddy

 

Also, if you have a build date of before June 2007, you need the dealer to have the computer reprogrammed for the "throtle hesitation" update.

I just got mine done, deffinetly helped.

 

Mine is May 2007 on the sticker. Do I need toget the hesitation fix?

 

I took the Outie out for a drive again this evening. It is still running the same – really sluggish off-the-line performance. And yes, it is in 2WD, burning regular gas and traction control is disabled. I also noticed the hesitation thing. It needs to go in for its first oil change in about a month. I’ll mention these issues when I take it in. Truth is, I am not too concerned, as the fuel economy is great, the vehicle is really quiet and comfy and my wife really does not care if her Outie can’t ‘lay rubber’