ShiftyWolf

Yes, but I think that's how the OP wanted to drive the car.

cantara256

I tried this out and it works great, thank you! I had no idea I could do that.

MH62

After manual downshift, if your right hand is on the steering wheel, you can also pull and hold the right paddle to return to auto shifting instead of reaching for the shift lever. After a couple of seconds holding the paddle, it will select the highest suitable gear and return to auto shift mode. You may end up in a higher gear then if you reached and pull the shift lever, I don't know for sure.

cantara256

Holding down the right paddle works to go back to Auto mode, but it definitely upshifts the moment you first press it. Which actually makes sense, because in my scenario (passing another car), you probably want to upshift a couple seconds later anyway, and letting the car take over at that point is desirable.

Dan99

My car does not do this. If you hold the left paddle it will find the lowest appropriate gear for your road speed, and if you hold the right paddle it will find the highest appropriate gear. However, both operations leave you in temporary Manual mode. That temporary mode eventually goes away on its own and reverts back to the earlier setting.

Dan99

I had a little trouble with this in my car. It works sometimes, but does not always return me to the same gear that I was in before using the paddle. For example, I was in S5 and downshifted with the paddle to M4, then pulled the shift lever back. My car went to S3 instead of S5. I did not experiment beyond that so perhaps there is a combination that works and one that doesn't, or perhaps A/S/RS cars or different model years behave differently...?

superswiss

This is definitely a bit of a strange ask. The transmission is either in manual mode or automatic mode, and you can toggle between the two using the ways described. As somebody who has driven MTs for 20 years, though, I understand where OP is coming from. I also don't like the reactive nature of automatic transmissions when I step on the throttle. Audis are particularly bad as they have one of the slowest kickdowns. I do like the convenience of the automatic modes to just tool around, and I have no desire to go back to a fully manual transmission, but ever since my '13 RS5 with the dual clutch transmission and now my '19 C63S Coupe with AMG's multi-clutch transmission, I drive them about 90% in manual mode. This is particularly satisfying as both vehicles have automated clutches instead of a torque converter, so they feel a lot like a manual transmission, but still offer the convenience of an automatic transmission and are superior to a MT when it comes to shift times.

But perhaps I can offer a few nuances that might not be known.

• The S5 technically is never fully in manual mode. It's a semi-manual mode. It will upshift automatically at redline, so you can downshift manually and then go WOT, and it will automatically upshift for you. This is in contrast to the RS models and most high performance variants, which have what's generally referred to as a true manual mode. They don't automatically upshift in manual mode, and instead just like a MT, bounce off the rev limiter. They do still automatically downshift if you let the revs drop too low, but that's to avoid an engine stall.
• The temporary manual mode is more nuanced than people put it. It's sort of what you want. It stays in manual mode as long as you accelerate or keep changing speed. Once you settle back down to a constant cruising speed it will revert back to automatic mode. It does take about 10 secs of steady driving before it goes back to automatic mode, though, but in essence this is exactly what you are looking for. A quick spurt in manual mode for passing or something, and then once you are back to steady driving it goes back to automatic.

There are also some tricks that might not be known.

• I personally actually often like to downshift 2 or 3 gears from these tall cruising gears of today's transmissions. For example my AMG has 9 gears, so to pass I usually drop down to 7th. With my '13 RS5 I went so far as keeping it in manual mode on the highway in order to stay out of the top gear for a better response altogether, and when I wanted to pass I dropped from 6th to 4th. You can accomplish this by rapidly flicking the downshift paddle multiple times to perform an instant multi gear downshift. For example, two rapid flicks downshifts two gears in one blip.
• Another trick is to press and hold the downshift paddle for a second or two, which then drops down to the lowest possible gear for maximum acceleration.

As said, I still drive about 90% in manual mode. My AMG has far more responsive automatic modes and also downshifts more proactively even in normal mode than most Audis, so I do drive it more in the automatic modes than I did my RS5, but it still can't read my mind. So the moment I get on the highway I generally put it in manual mode. Automatic transmissions have a tendency to overreact if you step on the throttle. Downshifting more gears than is really necessary, so that's one reason why I like to just stay in manual mode and downshift one or two gears, or even just stay in the current gear when it's sufficient for the amount of acceleration I'm looking for, and of course I do all my spirited driving in manual mode and short shifting as necessary. The automatic modes are no match to the driver selecting the correct gear ahead of a planned maneuver. Only the driver knows what they are going to do next.

Dan99

This is all about passing?

The ZF transmission downshifts are not as fast as they were with the older DSG transmission, but they're easily fast enough to pass another car. If that downshift delay is too long to pass successfully, maybe you are cutting it too close.

superswiss

I don't think it's about how fast the transmission shifts for OP. To be fair, the ZF8 is actually faster in some regards, because the DSG is very slow when it has to do an out of sequence shift where the next gear isn't already pre-selected, especially if the next gear is on the same shaft as the current gear. This is referred to as gear hunting, and is the Achilles heel of all dual clutch transmissions. They are only fast if the next gear was correctly predicted and already pre-selected. The planetary gearset in the ZF8 can select any gear as fast as a sequential shift as there are no shift forks to be moved or gears to be synchronized. For some reason, though, a kickdown in the ZF8 still takes ages with the engine howling up before the car finally gets a move on. It takes my AMG a fraction of a second to drop from 9th to 4th. I don't know why the ZF8 is so purely tuned. Either way, though, it is distracting if you have to wait for the transmission to downshift first, even if the downshift is fairly fast. I get annoyed by it personally, so I understand the desire to wanting to downshift manually before getting on the throttle for a more instant response.

Dan99

There is certainly room for improvement with Audi's ZF. I passed on your comments to Arin at APR. They are finishing a TCU for the S5 and looking at the RS5 next.

Perhaps my perspective on the DSG is influenced by the APR TCU tune that I installed on my B8.5. Up and downshifts were immediate and rev matching was flawless during those shifts. Stomping on the gas and letting the transmission find the right gear (e.g., to pass) was easily as fast with the tuned DSG as it is with the ZF. Even so, there was still a pause. The ZF in the Audi does not feel special to me. It's just a slushy automatic. The DSG was much more direct and power was more immediate.

The ZF does allow implementations other than a torque converter. Do you know if MB and/or BMW use a torque converter, or have they taken a different approach?