Auto box holding high revs... Is this normal?

[DarrenH]

Okay, so I did a search and couldn't find anything relevant.... When I drive my 2.2l 2001 year auto reasonably hard, it changes around 6500 rpm. If, on the second run up to 6000 rpm I release the throttle (as I near my desired speed), it holds the revs up high rather than change to a higher gear. Is this normal?

 

[NZ00Z3]

1. The auto changing up a gear at 6,500 rpm in normal. It's the DME/EGS protecting the engine from over rev'ing as 6,500 rpm is red line.
2. When rev'ing up to 6,000 rpm then backing off a little, it will maintain the current gear, this is normal. You've floored the accelerator, the kickdown switch has kicked in, so you've told the DME/EGS that you're in a hurry and want to rev the car up the scale. It takes some time for the DME/EGS to to think "Hey we've backed off a little, lets forget about the kickdown switch activation a while ago and change gear".

 

[DarrenH]

Thank you, I was just surprised at how long it takes to think about it.