LED shift indicators?
 

From the main RS7 page on the Audi USA website:

"The RS 7 exclusive head up LED shift indicators reveal the precise moment to unleash the next gear."

And the manual mentions this, too -- even says they show up in the HUD. Seems there in the 'Lap Timer' display, but I don't see them anywhere.

Anyone with a US spec car been able to see these? How about a non-US spec RS7?

Thanks,
muski

It’s in the “Lap Timer” mode, if you hit the menu button on your steering wheel, towards the bottom.

When you select that you get more info on your HUD, including your gear if in M mode and the oil temperature. It will also show your boost gauge just right of the tachometer in the mode. You can use a VAG-COM to unlock the Lap Timer on an S7 if you don’t have an RS7. You won’t see the boost meter until you are pushing the boost a bit, and similarly I never noticed the “LED" shift indicators until recently because I’ve been keeping my car below 5K for breaking it in.

Yes, I've tried enabling "Lap Timer" on my RS7 and switched to manual shifting. I've seen the boost indicator, oil temp, etc., but where, according to the manual, I should see the LED indicators, there's a current speed readout instead. And there's no additional information in my HUD, either. I'm wondering if they've disabled it on the US model (probably could be turned back on with VAG-COM)

Anyone else with a US spec RS7 seeing this?

Thanks,
muski

It works on my car. When in manual mode it gives me a segmented horizontal bar on the HUD as I begin to approach redline. The closer I get to redline, the segments on the bar begin to disappear much like they do in NAV when it's time to make a turn.

Thanks, Heelbuff. Just to confirm, you have a US spec RS7?

Do you only see it in the HUD, or do you also see something in the main dash, too? (From the manual, it seems like if you have the HUD, it only shows there.)

It's definitely not working on my car. I can see the speed, oil temp and gear (eg. M3) in the HUD, but no shift indicator. And nothing in the dash. I tried getting revs close to redline with manual shifting and still nothing (and almost took out a Prius in the process!).

Maybe my car was not set up correctly. I got my car last November, so it was one of the early ones. I'm going to ask the dealership...

muski

Affirmative. Have not noticed LED in the instrument cluster, just on the HUD.

And I also have a US spec RS 7, shipped to US in December 2013 or January 2014. I only noticed the colored indicators when I was right near red-line, and in an RS7 that means I only saw it for a fraction of a second :-) It was at night, and I may not have noticed it if it weren't dark out. I haven't taken my car to that high a rev since, so I can't give more info on where the shift indicator showed up, etc.

Also, I do have a VAG-COM, but I had not hooked it up to the car at that point.

The Upshift LEDs are visible only in the HUD and only when Lap Timer is selected. My RS7 has 10,000 miles on it and 90% of the time I drive it in Manual Mode. I like the Lap Timer display because seeing the gear I'm in in the HUD is useful; however, the upshift warning LEDs are cute, but not very useful....It seems like they don't appear until north of 4000 rpm, and, if your on it hard, and concentrating on the road, you'll only get a glimpse of it before you bang into the rev limiter. I'd rather have the tach or the boost gauge in the HUD. You VAG-COM guys, is there a way to do that?

Thanks for everyone's help -- much appreciated. Sounds like they only appear for a brief instant — which makes me wonder how useful they are after all!

Good idea to look for them at night sometime. I'll try that.

thanks, muski

Well, mystery solved! 'Operator error' on my part...

It was actually a combination of two things: you need to move the shifter to the right into manual mode, and you need to get to 5,000rpm before they show up. I know I had previously tried it in manual shift mode, but I never rev'ed the engine high enough to see them. Then I had done some experiments at high revs, but only using paddle shifters...argh.

So, in summary:
1) select lap timer
2) yes, you must be in manual mode (shifter to the right). Just flicking the paddle shifters doesn't turn it on.
3) if the car is fully warmed up, you won't see anything until 5,000 rpm (or if not warmed up, approx redline minus 2000rpms).
4) It's a horizontal display, with, I think five green segments. They flash red as you get close to redline.
5) If you have a HUD, they only appear in the HUD, not the dash.

Thanks again, everyone. Great forum.

muski