Originally Posted by Chris

I think you're making what my point was supposed to be.

I didn't buy an RS5 because I need it. I'd wager that you didn't either. But you wanted it, just as I did.

And like I said before, I love it and have no regrets!

Originally Posted by superswiss

While I'm overall not a fan of the RS5, I don't remember there being a "problem" with D from driving it extensively. This stuff somewhat comes down to setting the right expectations and understanding the objective behind each mode. The Hot-V biturbo design yields some of the most responsive turbo engines that can be very close to a naturally aspirated engine. The RS5's V6TT is no exception there. From a pure turbo engine standpoint it's very good in terms of responsiveness. It's one of the few turbo engines I could live with. It is just a bit to tame for me in the entertainment department. As far as D is concerned, it is meant for normal daily driving. You can always temporarily use manual mode to be in the right gear for a certain maneuver as D in the name of comfort and fuel efficiency prefers higher gears. As someone who has owned manual transmission cars for a very long time, I just instinctively manually downshift when I need power and responsiveness in any car with a modern automated transmission. I mostly keep it in manual mode for example on the highway and control the gears myself, unless I'm just cruising along or stuck in traffic with adaptive cruise engaged.

Originally Posted by superswiss

Still a matter of expectations. The S5 and RS5 have a torque converter so off the line you'll have fluid coupling and the associated slip, whereas the A4 has a clutch that grabs mechanically. The RS5 has a slightly smaller and lighter torque converter and engages the lockup clutch earlier to trade some of that "slush" for reduced comfort, but it's still a torque converter. In S as most current Audis do, it raises the idle rpm slightly, so you are that much closer to the torque converter's stall speed, resulting in a more immediate take off. As I said, understand what's under the hood. If you don't like it, there are alternatives. AMG for example replaces the torque converter with a startup clutch in the 63 series to combine the responsiveness of a mechanical clutch with the benefits of a traditional automatic transmission. The current 9-speed MCT is one of the best automatic transmissions out there. I haven't personally driven it yet, as I'm not taking delivery of my C63 S coupe until May, but there are some videos out there showing how when you stomp on the throttle even in comfort mode it downshifts 4 gears before you can brace yourself and the car takes off. It's been mentioned a few times around here that Audi doesn't have the best implementation of the ZF8. BMW's is better and it has three modes for the transmission and not just two, so you can have it in fully relaxed eco, middle ground sport or full attack sport+. MB's transmissions as well have three modes. While Audi uses three modes for Drive Select, D has the same programming in Comfort and Auto modes.

Originally Posted by belzebutt

No, my A4 has a ZF 6sp with torque converter, and the S5 has the ZF 8sp with torque converter. Same one as used in countless other cars. In the S5 I noticed that it seemed to hunt for gears when I wanted a quick (but not floored) accelerations, like when turning left at an intersection and there's a gap.

Originally Posted by RedKloud

For those of you who had the B8: was the D mode similar in the B8 S4 and S5?

Originally Posted by JD15

I don't have a B8 S4, but I do have a B8 A4, which also uses a ZF8 like the B9 S5. Based on my two test drives of the B9 S5, D mode functions very similarly to the D mode in my A4. In both cases, D mode is predictable, but the overall feel could be described as somewhat unresponsive because of a muted throttle response and transmission shift program that prioritizes fuel economy. After reading the many complaints about D mode on the forums, I frequently switched between D and S modes during my test drive and did not encounter any surprising behavior.

Originally Posted by belzebutt

I drove an earlier 2018 S5 and I ordered a 2019, So I hope it was an early thing and it's fixed or it was some fluke. I know that leaving it in S mode does wonders for the fuel economy. If no one is noticing it lately maybe it was just some earlier cars.

Originally Posted by belzebutt

I drove an earlier 2018 S5 and I ordered a 2019, So I hope it was an early thing and it's fixed or it was some fluke. I know that leaving it in S mode does wonders for the fuel economy. If no one is noticing it lately maybe it was just some earlier cars.