ericrebates

Hello, I have a 2017 A4 Quattro 2.0T TFSI DCT. It has the worst throttle response of any vehicle I've ever driven. The throttle is like the shutter on a 15 year old digital camera; you hit it and get a response a second or so later. It was the first thing I noticed when I test drove the car. However since my previous car was a Corvette z06 I thought this was largely due to the contrast of going from essentially a street-legal race car to a sedan. Between that, the very positive Consumer Reports review, and the fact that I didn't have a lot of time to spend test driving cars, I bought the A4. I've been regretting that decision for the past two years and I'm at the point of simply cutting my losses and selling the car. I've brought it to the dealer several times only to be told there's nothing wrong with the car. For comparison, here's a list of a few vehicles I've recently driven with orders-of-magnitude better throttle response:

- My wife's 2005 Honda Civic LX (wtf???)
- A 2015 SEAT Leon Turbodiesel I4 I rented in Spain a couple months ago
- A 2018 Ford F150 pickup with a 2.7 liter turbocharged V6

I want to stress that the throttle response on these vehicles isn't just slightly better. It's literally an order of magnitude better, I'm talking say 100ms latency versus a full second or more for the A4 under certain conditions.

I've tried the throttle body reset procedure and driving in sport (S) mode. The two of these together seem to make it less bad, but the car still feels totally unresponsive. This results in an insane driving style where I'm constantly accelerating in bursts because small throttle adjustments produce absolutely no change in engine response for seconds. I'm pretty much at the end of the line and am counting down the days to get rid of this car. But I figured I'd post here and see if anyone has any suggestions; I'm willing to try just about anything at this point. I have an obdeleven, but haven't been able to find anything that makes an appreciable difference. I've also reviewed other threads regarding this topic but haven't found anything that addresses the issue.

Thank you!

- Eric

Foxx312

Why not try one of the many products out there for just this problem? No experience personally w them but I've seen both mentioned.

Like https://www.pedalbox.com/us/audi/a4-8w2-b9-2015/2-0-tfsi-quattro-252ps-185kw-1984ccm/pedalbox.html

Or
https://www.pedalcommander.com/?v=7516fd43adaa
Most of my throttle lag went away w the apr tune. That's another option but more costly.

waken305

ericrebates

Thanks so much for the helpful responses! I'm aware of various products that purport to improve responsiveness, but I'm really interested in hearing from people about what actually works. And I am looking for a "night and day" improvement. The stock throttle response is so bad that a 10-20% improvement isn't good enough, I really need to see 90+% improvement. I'm perfectly happy with the stock power and torque, it's only the poor throttle response that bothers me in the extreme.

Which specific APR do you have and how much did it cost? Looking at the website I see the "APR Stage I ECU Upgrade" for $630 ($1,100 with powertrain warranty). Assuming it actually works this is a bargain relative to the hit I'll take on depreciation if I have to sell the car.

Does anyone have such positive experiences with the other options such as Pedal Box or Pedal Commander? I've seen these options raised in other posts but not much followup on whether they actually work or not.

Thanks again.

- Eric

tfabrizio623

You are completely correct about this issue! I have the manual transmission and I still get that pedal lag. There is a delay from when I put my foot on the gas to when the RPM's build. It is particularly annoying with the manual transmission since you are letting off the gas to push in the clutch and shift! I don't understand how Audi could release a car to market with this type of lag. They extensively test these things prior to production.... someone had to have noticed!

My car is leased and if I purchase it, I will defiantly go the APR tune route. Too bad I am still 21 months out!

Dan in St. Louis

Eric, could you either outline the steps for that, or send a link to them, so I can try it on my 2017 Allroad?

Thank you!

DaveInSD

There was previously a long thread about this here:
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a4-...e-lag-2938803/

A few posters there have actually tried the PedalBox or Sprint Booster and report their results.

Foxx312

I feel this lag was some sort of intentional passive comfort and safety feature. Why else would they have programmed it in? I wonder if audi was trying to make a car that accelerated more smoothly and more linear especially since it had such a low torque makes me think if their engineers were worried about jerky or excessive acceleration. I agree though the results are a car that feels very sluggish off the line.

Eric I don't know if you are in the Chicago area but if you are you are welcome to drive my car and see if that tune is what you are looking for.

waken305

chemengin

I was the OP that started the longer thread posted above. It's funny, when I first posted this, many folks said that it was basically a non-issue. But as time progressed, the consensus significantly changed to affirm that yes indeed this is an issue.

I did purchase a Pedalbox and use it everyday in the "city" mode. I would estimate it provides ~50% improvement in throttle response. In the highest "race" or "sport mode" setting, the throttle response is significantly quicker, but it almost feels like you're in 1st gear the whole time, aka the car feels aggressively jerky at all times and not particularly pleasant.