sprior

I've had by B9 A4 with manual transmission for 2 weeks now and I'm getting more familiar with what all the buttons do. I'm surprised to notice that I actually do have the Start/Stop disable button on the center console. I didn't think that a manual transmission car would even have the start/stop feature. I haven't notice the engine stop with the car, except possibly once (not sure, just felt some hesitation when trying to move).

Has anyone with a manual transmission confirmed whether it has start/stop or not?

superswiss

Why would you think it didn't have start/stop? In my experience it works a lot better with a manual transmission actually. The way it usually works with a manual transmission is that it only stops the engine if you put the transmission in neutral and take your foot off the clutch pedal. Essentially what you should be doing when coming to a stop at a light to avoid unnecessary wear of the clutch throw out bearing, and then as soon as you push the clutch back in, the engine restarts. The latter is what makes it smoother. The engine has plenty of time to restart while you push in the clutch, put the transmission in gear and then let out the clutch. With an automatic transmission it gets a bit rough, because the engine needs to restart while you change from the brake pedal to the throttle, which is a much shorter window and if you do it too quickly the car ends up jerking off the line.

sprior

I've never done that coming to a light, I just sit there in first gear with the clutch depressed. Hadn't heard you're supposed to do otherwise. Never had a problem with it wearing things down and I drove my last car 220k miles without replacing the clutch.

I did try it today and it worked as you said, wouldn't have even known about it otherwise. Thanks!

JonDeutsch

Wait! You have a 6MT? Have you provided a review yet here? I've been waiting to hear about the 6MT B9. If you've done it somewhere else on this forum, please let me know!

I'm still trying to find one to test drive. Wish me luck...

minmet

You have a very strong left foot/leg to hold the clutch paddle at lights. lol
I recall I had to put it into neutral to let my left leg rest when I was driving stick. Clutch paddle was way harder to push than brake or gas paddle at that time. That's about 10 years ago though. Are the clutch paddles electronic instead of mechanical now a days?

sprior

Maybe that's why I walk in circles.

I've been doing it that way since my first car which was a '78 Honda Civic 1200cc with manual transmission and manual choke. Never really bothered me much.

sprior

Haven't done a real review, thought about it. Did mention a few things on some other threads. I've got what must be considered a really odd combination - a prestige with driver assist package and a manual transmission. The adaptive cruise control works surprisingly well with that combination. On the highway when you're not shifting as much anyway it basically just works great, except that the car doesn't have the traffic jam assist feature. They also do a great job if you decide to shift while ACC is active, you just press the clutch and the ACC knows to pause the acceleration until you release it, no gunning the engine. Even on moderate speed state roads it works, you can spend a lot of time in 4th gear. What was handled surprisingly well is when the ACC is slowing you down with other cars for a red light - if you get too slow for the gear you're in (or need to press the clutch) you'll get a notification to check the "engine speed" before it would have stalled out the car.

As a general review I'm also starting to notice a few things, like how the lousy navigation routing compared to what Google would do causes the built in nav to be less useful which means the virtual cockpit is a bit less interesting. If you've got the adaptive cruise control active, the use navigation for ACC setting turned on (which was supposed to be a significant feature), and you're navigating, then the lousy route guidance can cause the car to suddenly start slowing down for a turn you have no intention of making - that quite surprised me on my way home from work until I figured out what was going on.

I also think that maybe not all of the voice commands mentioned in the owners manual are actually known by the car. I could be wrong, but the manual says in navigation you can say "calculate alternative routes", but I don't think I saw that listed in the car when I asked for help in the navigation screen and I was planning to try to use that.

superswiss

It's not like it will kill your clutch, but it does put unnecessary wear on it, potentially causing issues down the road depending on your car. Not every clutch is made the same. If you didn't have any problems in your last car, doesn't mean the extra wear won't cause any issues in your new car. Here's a good video that talks about some bad habits to avoid with a manual transmission and why.

johnggold

My 2016 Audi A6 will stop whilst still in in gear, for example if you slow down to a roll when at a roundabout.


My 2013 Audi didn't do this. Can be quite dangerous.

Brett Robbins

It stopped in gear?! That's frustrating.

My A4 turns off all of the time (stoplight in neutral, no foot on the clutch), but it's always on by the time I roll off of the clutch in first gear. I will say, I turn the feature off when I'm driving through downtown because it can be annoying in traffic.