We bought this car new but my wife has been driving it as a commuter for years. I just "inherited" it when she got a new car.

First thing is rough shifting. Not horrible, but definitely noticeable. The car didn't used to do this, and it started about 6 months ago. Car now has about 95k. I've done three dump and fills, and while the problem doesn't appear to be getting worse, neither is it getting better. Fluid on the last dump looked clear-ish and didn't smell badly. ["lifetime fluid" my a**] Most annoying is at 32mph on a flat stretch, as the transmission can't seem to decide what to do. And I had some really hard shifts while going uphill on a country highway this weekend.

The other issue which may or may not be related: Horrible throttle response when not in Sport mode. I mean that when I'm pulling into traffic and there's a semi coming, I push on the gas. And push. And then panic and nail it, producing a lot of rpms but not much else until a downshift. At this point the semi is on my bumper and saying mean things about my driving skills. In Sport mode this problem mostly disappears, but sometimes it's a little hard to remember to switch when the semi is coming.

I've done more than a few searches on the hard shifting for this model year, but other than finding multiple people with the issue, no answers.

Any help appreciated.

 

Clean the throttle body, MAP and MAF sensors and report back

 

Good suggestions! Only thing that wasn’t pristine was the map sensor, which was oily. Throttle response might be better after cleaning; kind of hard to tell. Shifting remains ok but definitely not what it was.
I did notice what looked like non metallic grit in the pan during the dump and fills. Not a ton but noticeable. I guess I’ll ride this til something fails or doesn’t.

 

Give it sometime to relearn. If it's a trans issue that would suck. Good luck!