jjaudi11

My Q7 does not seem to remember the Sport setting whenever I restart vehicle. Has anybody experienced the same?

SYMAWD

It is normal. The transmission will always start in D and not S.

jjaudi11

That's what the dealership told me as well. If this is by design, I am not sure I get what the purpose of Drive Select is. Isn't the idea that you store your personal settings. Even if I program my Individual Setting with sport mode for the engine, the car starts with D. This doesn't make any sense.

snagitseven

It's due to the EPA mpg claimed ratings. D mode uses less fuel than S and is what is used by Audi to achieve their EPA numbers. A simple flick of the gear selector will restore to S mode.

superswiss

^ this, but also it allows the engine to warm up to proper operating temperature before going into Sport mode where the revs stay higher and the engine gets more stressed. It makes a lot of sense for the transmission to start off in D. Everything else that was selected in Drive Select is still there in the mode that it was left in. I don't think it makes much sense to go immediately into S when you are just navigating out of a parking lot for example or out of your drive way and neighborhood. Once you are rolling and the engine has reached proper operating temperature, then it's just a matter of a flick on the shift lever to go back into Sport mode.

jjaudi11

As opposed to other vehicles, Sport mode does not increase revs in the Q7 significantly, so this cannot be the reason. The key difference is that the throttle response is much more immediate. When things switch back to D, this is gone. I am not aware of anything that stays in Sport. What would it be?

superswiss

It still has a tendency to rev higher. Sport is synonym with Dynamic. All other components such as steering and suspension do stay in Dynamic mode. It's just the transmission and engine that revert to D/Auto mode.

jjaudi11

Yes, in certain conditions, it revs marginally higher (at most 200 rpm vs other vehicles where it can be more than a 1000 rpm), but certainly not a reason to 'forget' about the Sport setting. I don't have air suspension, so there is no impact of setting on suspension. Also, I have not noticed any impact of setting on steering. So all there really remains is impact on engine (throttle response) and transmission (shift points). However, those two revert back to D while Drive Select still pretends it is in Sport or Individual. Makes absolutely no sense to me. What is the value of having Drive Select when I need to select the drive mode every time I start the vehicle?

superswiss

The value of Drive Select diminishes the fewer components your car is equipped with that it can control. Furthermore, the spread between the different modes is rather small on non-performance models in my experience. I'm used to the spread in my RS5 where Drive Select not only controls the steering, engine and transmission, but also the sport differential, which completely changes the driving dynamics of the car going from Comfort to Auto to Dynamic. It also controls how the adaptive cruise control operates. Comfort is noticeably relaxed for long distance driving and Auto keeps up with every day traffic. My steering is also significantly different between Comfort, Auto and Dynamic modes. I have a hard time telling the difference in how the steering feels between the different modes on non-performance Audis, so I understand that you don't feel a difference. I personally feel Audi Drive Select is a bit of a gimmick until you step into S, RS and R models, where Dynamic mode is meant more for the track or sport driving in the canyons, and the other modes turn the cars into livable daily drivers. Audi Drive Select also makes a whole lot more sense if you have adaptive suspension.

snagitseven

I still believe that in order for Audi to qualify for the EPA mpg statement and emissions requirements, the car must default to the mode as tested. Even if it was 1 mpg difference and a negligible amount of nox, Audi wants to be able to be competitive (dieselgate notwithstanding). I'm pretty sure the EPA requires the manf. to use the start up mode that was EPA tested and qualified.

Silly as it seems to us, the EPA figures that if a less efficient mode was allowed to be the default at start up, the average driver would not realize it and continue driving with the (albeit small) hit on mpg and "extra" emissions. It's just more of the over-regulation we put up with every day and the lengths the manf. go to meet them.

Other brands or models that would remember a sport mode default, likely tested and qualified for their EPA figures using that less efficient mode. In the end, it's a manf. decision due to mpg marketing, emissions qualification and meeting gov't. regs.