I tried to reproduce the down shift problem in either mode and it down shifts fine. I did have a problem yesterday with the battery and I'm not sure if its related. What happened was a slight bump that I heard but didn't feel crossing onto asphalt getting across the highway. The fronts slipped a tiny bit before hitting the pavement and about 1 second later the dash went nuts and it went into reduced performance mode right then.
I turned the ignition off/on and all warnings were gone, suspension healed but the reduced performance and red light was still on on. I start booting SDD to pull codes to see if I could still drive it with the red light and I'm thinking back about having a very similar problem I posted about here
www.landroverworld.org/threads/dash-lit-up-like-a-christmas-tree-out-in-bfe.45561/. So I disconnect the negative battery, chill for a bit and after retrying its like nothing ever happened.
With the first event in the linked thread that was the same Super Start Platinum O'reilly Automotive inc battery. All I had to do to fix the problem out in BFE was replace the battery, but I replaced it with a warranty so its the same battery, it just lasted over a year vs the first one 2 months. I had thought I ruined that first one from a loose bracket but the bracket is not loose now and its still failing.
