Dynamic Sport ?
 

My wife drives in Dynamic Mode with auto S/S inactivated......because of the throttle lag she experiences intermittently. She has her profile Dynamic and suppresses the S/S when she starts the vehicle.

The S doesn't show in the gauge cluster. If she flicks the gear shifter down, S comes on and the revs jump; now the car is in Sport mode and acts 'Sporty'. Seems to me the Sport should be activated automatically. What is wrong here?

I also wanted to add that I cannot find a comment/reference in the owner's manual that says that auto S/S is defeated in Sport mode. There are many comments throughout stating that Sport defeats S/S......not true. You must manually defeat yourself. I suspect it kicks in less often because Sport advances timing and is more at the ready to 'go'.

In the A7 Sport absolutely defeats S/S. My guess is its the same in the Q8 which shares the same power train. And no, there is nothing in the manual that states this at all.

And just having the Dynamic Mode on does NOT put the car in Sport mode. You must flick the gear shift down to go to sport. And that one IS in the manual

If you select the Dynamic mode in Audi drive select*, the "S" driving program will be activated. When the ignition is switched off, the driving program may be reset to "D".

Dynamic -gives the driver a sporty driving feel and is suited to a sporty driving style. The ''S" driving program is selected.


The above are from the manual describing 'Dynamic' mode. Certainly reads that Dynamic = Sport. Not sure about the 'reset'. Though the engine and transmission are identical to the A6, A7 and A8, I doubt the engine mapping and transmission mapping would be the same in all 4....just a guess.

Audi always Defaults to "D" when you shut the car off and back on again no matter what mode you have pre-selected. It has always been this way and AFAIK will always be this way. The EPA or whoever mandates fuel economy states that the car must be in the mode the manufacturer whats it to be tested in upon startup. Audi definitely does not want it in "S" when tested. So by default it always goes back to "D" even though your selected mode is "Dynamic". You have to manually drop it to "S" after starting.

Yes, it starts up every time in “D” to maximize EPA ratings. Porsche is the same.

You are correct Sir.

Thank you for the clarification. We are new to Audi, and frankly your explanation is not in the manual. If you don't mind my continued ignorance, I'll ask some further clarification. If Dynamic is chosen in drive mode setting.....are the suspension and steering configured automatically at start up, or only activated pulling down on the shifter to set Sport. Dynamic as I understand it is engine, transmission, steering and suspension changes for a Sporty adjustment for your driving pleasure. Not sure I understand why I can preconfigure in MMI, but not get those settings. BTW, in my Macan, I preset the suspension and height and those settings persist. Sport mode needs to be activated by pressing the sport button. And, pressing the sport button clearly suppresses the auto S/S as the indicator light goes off. The Q8 auto S/S does not change....in the case of active S/S indicator light is off. I realize this is in the weeds....just drive the damn car. But our experience with the throttle lag has been more than annoying and at times dangerous.

I have some views an what I THINK happens to address your direct questions, but there's too much of that around here already. If I get a chance to play around to be sure what I tell you is correct, I will get back to you. Not near the car today.

This car is not in S mode, it is in D mode. That's what the large capital D sitting above "DYNAMIC" signifies. When in S mode, there will be a large "S", and start/stop will not be active.

What some are missing is that the MMI Drive Select modes and the engine/transmission modes (D and S) can be independent of each other.

As already mentioned, the car will always start with the engine/transmission in D mode, because that is the mode in which the car was certified in terms of emissions and fuel consumption. It requires user intervention to shift it out of that mode. It is illegal to otherwise, in any country that has any form of standards, and for every car. Which is why a BMW or Mercedes, by example, always start up in Comfort mode regardless of what drive mode they were in previously. Audi will start up in the last drive mode used, but will switch out the engine/transmission map to the certified mode (D) - REGARDLESS OF WHAT MMI DRIVE MODE THE CAR STARTS UP IN.

But Audi make it very easy to switch the engine/transmission map.

After start up, there are two methods to shift the engine / transmission mode from D to S. In this case, as the car has been started in MMI Drive Select mode "Dynamic", you could cycle out of that MMI mode into another, and then back again to Dynamic. When you do this, you will see the D change to an S. You will also see the tachometer move from the 600rpm it is currently sitting in to around 850rpm, which is where it will idle in S mode.

Or you can simply pull back on the shift lever once you have started the car, and it will change the transmission mode from D to S.

This is a different method than most other manufacturers use, so not intuitive to people new to the brand. An unnecessary complication is that within the MMI Drive Select settings, specifically the Individual setting, the engine / transmission options are described as Comfort / Auto / Dynamic. Comfort = D mode, Dynamic = S mode, and Auto is when the car decides which map to use based on how the car is being driven. A little confusing at the beginning.

When you start up in MMI Drive Select's Dynamic mode, everything will be set to Dynamic with the sole exception of the engine / transmission map. Same in Individual mode - everything other than engine / transmission will be active at start up as per your selections. The only thing you or your wife need to do is nudge the transmission lever back at the time you start the car to move it from D to S. As you already have to move the lever to engage Drive, a momentary twitch is all it takes. About 200 milliseconds or so. It becomes instinctive.

I also constantly switch the car between S and D mode on every drive, and use D mode as a form of overdrive. I regard S mode as what the engineers intended, and D mode as a numbers game taken too far in terms of driving dynamics. But my wife prefers to drive in D mode (switching off auto start/stop) as she doesn't like the higher idle speed and tendency to hold a lower gear before shifting up when in S mode. That's where muscle memory comes into play, because she drives very smoothly in D mode, and knows when and by how much to give it a big boot full when she wants more response. Bit jerky in S mode, because the throttle map has such a different response, and she isn't used to it. Each to their own