Originally Posted by OmegaQ5

Hi everyone..

I got my Q5 last wednesday (Aug 11, 2010) and I can positively say that I have the same "problem" as john1r.

When starting from a full stop, it looks like the first gear has no power, and as soon as the car shifts into 2nd gear, it jumps forward with all the available power.

My Q5 is a 2011 V6 3.2, received it with approx 100km on the odometer (Canada).

Just wanted to let you know, and for all the new owners like me, I'll update the thread as time goes. I just hope it will go away with time as it (finally) did with john1r's car. I definitely recall the demo not doing that.

I'll keep you updated!

Originally Posted by bits

john1r, I feel exactly the same way about my new Q5. I picked it up last week, and ever since I've felt that it doesn't drive as it should. The transmission just hesitates too much when accelerating normally from stopped. I've read elsewhere that many others have this same concern. Some see it as a big enough issue that they filed reports with the NHTSA.

For me, there is basically just a delay in it getting going. I've also had it actually stutter on me when accelerating after I'd slowed to about 10km/h. It may just be that it's trying to save on gas, doing a slow gear change up to 2nd almost immediately when I begin to accelerate. I figured I'd try switching to sport mode, but that has it's own problems...it's a bit better it seems from a stop, I guess because it doesn't just go to 2nd gear right away, but it also never goes into 6th gear on the highway and revs higher all the time once you are moving at a constant speed. I had expected it to just shift more agressively and/or at higher rpms, but not keep the rpms higher all the time. That just wastes gas, makes more noise, makes it slow down faster when you take your foot off the gas, and just plain feels odd while driving.

I do not have a heavy foot. But I expect the car to go when I tell it too, with a nice even acceleration. The car accelerates and changes gears so nicely once it's moving at about 20km/h. It's just very odd.

Having said that, I've also read others say that it's just normal for Audi's, that their transmissions are not their strong point...and this is from people who continue to buy them.

Anyways, over this past week I've adjusted somewhat to the vehicles characteristics. I put my foot down further for the first second or so and then raise it back up a bit once it actually starts going, and in this way get a fairly even acceleration. But I shouldn't have to do this. My previous cars were nothing special, a Pontiac Grand Prix and a Pontiac G6 GT. The Audi has the worst shifting by far of the three...actually it's probably the worst shifting from a stop of any vehicle I've ever driven. This alone is reason enough for me to feel something is not right with my Q5.

And to be honest, if this is normal for Audi's, I'll certainly never consider buying one again.

I'm going into my Audi dealer on Saturday to drive their demo Q5, and maybe some other Audi's as well. I'm hoping that will determine whether it's truly a problem or just how they all are. I'll probably ask the service people to drive it as well for a comparison...hopefully they'll be honest with me.

My other little gripes with the Q5...
- The key is way too big and heavy. Can you imagine if all your car and house keys were that big and on a single keychain? And I hope the battery doesn't die suddenly in the key, because that's a real nuisance you have to go through to start your car without it.
- The stereo doesn't remember the volume the next time I start the car. It just seems to have it's own default volume. I've never seen another car that didn't remember the volume level.
- There is no way to easily search through your radio presets. How about buttons labelled 1 through 6, and how about up/down buttons on the steering wheel? In 25 years of driving I've never seen a car that I had to work so hard in order to quickly scan through my 6 radio presets.
- No automatic headlights (Canadian model). Come on, the base Chevy Cobalt is $11,000 and it has them. I didn't even check before I bought it...I just assumed every car had them these days.

Other than those albeit minor points, it's a really nice vehicle. If I could just get the transmission to act like every other car/SUV I've ever driven, I'd be quite a happy Audi customer.

Originally Posted by john1r

Mine has a slow progression until the gear changes and then the acceleration picks up.