Method for operating a motor vehicle comprising a drive unit (1) having at least one
internal combustion engine (2), a transmission (4) connected between the drive unit (1) and an output (5), and a separating element (7), wherein when the separating element (7) is closed the
internal combustion engine (2) is operatively connected to the transmission, and when the separating element (7) is open the
internal combustion engine (2) is not operatively connected to the transmission. wherein, to execute a switching operation, a previously closed switching element (6) of the transmission (4) is opened and a previously opened switching element (6) of the transmission (4) is closed, wherein, in an overlap phase of the switching operation preceding a speed
equalization phase of the switching operation, the torque that can be transmitted by the switching element to be opened is reduced and, overlapping with this, the torque that can be transmitted by the switching element to be closed is increased, where, when an upshift from an actual gear to a target gear is requested and, in parallel, the starting of the stationary
combustion engine (2) and its connection to the transmission (4) is requested, a reaction time for the upshift to be performed and a
start time for the internal
combustion engine (2) are determined, wherein the reaction time is the time available until the end of the overlap phase of the upshift to be performed is reached, and wherein the
start time is the time required until the actual speed of the internal
combustion engine reaches the transmission input speed of the actual gear, then, if the
start time is shorter than the reaction time, the transmission input speed of the current gear is used as the target speed of the internal combustion engine, the internal combustion engine (2) is brought to the target speed of the internal combustion engine with the separating element (7) open, and subsequently the separating element (7) is closed before the end of the load transfer phase, then, if the start time is greater than the reaction time, the transmission input speed of the target gear is used as the combustion engine target speed, the combustion engine (2) is brought to the combustion engine target speed with the separating element (7) open and subsequently the separating element (7) is closed after the end of the speed
equalization phase.