S mode or not, when I need it to kick down a gear, my foot is most likely to the floor. After driving mine in both for quite a bit, I find the kick down is the same in D as it is in S, but only when you are driving it with a little bit of passion when it is in D. The kick-down is primarilly determined by how much you push the accelerator down, and how quickly you do this given the current load/gear/speed. In D mode if you drive it easy for a little bit, the kick-down is a little slower, but once you give it a brief hard drive, it will soon change just the same as S mode. Like SupaTouring said, in S mode it basically bypasses it's learning ECU and runs off a single set of parameters. You can get this same set of parameters in D mode, it's just a matter of getting it to do that, and stay that way. Drive it hard all the time.... both modes are basically the same.