I brought the car in to the dealer yesterday (Friday) and explained the situation. I also referenced the other common cases I came across. The service advisor became very interested and called in the foreman who took this on as a challenge. In his opinion, it was transmission related.
They opened a puma case and where advised to reprogram the DME with a software update which they did.
I got the car back and drove it all day in sports mode without issue. Only time will tell...but the dealership assured me that the software fix was designed to fix this specific issue.
The car definitely downshifts better now when both the adaptive suspension/throttle and transmission are in sports mode.
Time will tell, but today I am very happy with the car and the fix.
