Kali keeps resetting my wifi speed

Hey, I don't know what's going on but something in Kali keeps screwing with my wifi. I never had this problem with older distros including backtrack.

What I used to be able to do was plug in my wifi adapter and enter something like iwconfig wlan0 rate 2M auto essid "some ESSID". Now, with Kali, this doesn't work. Instead, after plugging in my device, I have to run something like ifconfig wlan0 down;iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed;ifconfig wlan0 up, then run iwconfig wlan0 rate 2M auto essid "some ESSID", but then my problems don't end there! Kali will then MYSTERIOUSLY reset the wifi data rate and block me from setting it to what I need it to be. If I try I get the error:

Error for wireless request "Set Bit Rate" (8B20) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.

I have no idea what's going on, but then I come from a pre systemd age where Linux was actually useful and not drying to be a desktop OS. Anyone have a clue what craziness is causing this? Without limiting the data rate, my connection simply doesn't work. Maybe I'm using the wrong distro and would be better off with a pentest that isn't based on Debian? Any suggestions welcome!