I picked up a 2016 Colorado (3.6l, Six-speed AT) on Saturday. Driving around on back roads, it seems like the transmission is in the wrong gear coming off a slow corner at about 35 mph / 1,300 RPM. Seems like it’s in too high a gear (4th?) and the vehicle shudders slightly as it accelerates.

I’m sure if I pushed harder on the gas pedal it would downshift. To be fair, my previous truck was a 5.0l V-8 F-150 (which I loved) that responded well to even a light touch on the throttle. I don’t expect the same from a smaller V-6 but the shift point seems to be a bit off. I consulted a dealer to see if there was a service bulletin on this but apparently there is not. He did say that other people have mentioned the issue and that flushing the transmission and using a different viscosity Mobil transmission fluid seems to fix the issue.

I drove around in Tow Mode today and the issue went away. Given that Tow Mode raises the RPM for upshifts, I’m guessing the engineers pushed the normal shift point as low as possible (or maybe too low) to squeeze out a few more MPH.

Has anyone else had this issue? If so how did you resolve it?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.