I’ve learned to keep it in manual mode, and use the button to downshift quickly. That also helps to keep it from hunting gears so much.
Yes! My first work van with my current company was a 2013 Express 2500 (this was in 2013- new van). During my orientation/training in Indiana, we had to drive a predetermined route to a fill up at a gas station with the safety manager riding shotgun. Already knowing the trans issues, and seeing the hills and city traffic, I instinctively shifted to "M". The power monger safety manager said to leave it in Drive and let the van do the work. Fine. But, he couldn't watch me after I left there to bring it home to LA. He later told me that, within the first year, he had to have the transmissions replaced in 8 of those 15 new vans. Most were from techs that serviced major cities/urban areas. I kept mine in "M" any time I was off the highway. Block to block, I just let that 6.0 sing. I never so much as replaced the fluid in that trans when it finally gave up at around 233K miles. It never indicated it was dying until its literal final hours. Never a problem from the engine or anything else on that van other than a hub bearing somewhere around 200K.
My next van was a 2016 Transit with a V-6. Manually shifted that one cuz all it was programmed to do was get to the highest gear ASAP. That Duratec V-6 was made to zing with a 7,000 RPM redline, so I used every bit of that for over 250K miles. My current one is a 2020 Transit. Now I have 10 speeds to manually shift through.