goatfarmer

Sorry for the alphabet soup subject heading, but I am interested in the amount of impact the various ADS setting have on the performance of the DSG transmission / shifting. I was planning to get a 6-speed car and skip ADS in lieu of the sport diff and aftermarket coil-overs. But I am now leaning toward a DSG car, which has in turn made me rethink checking the ADS option box.

I would love the thoughts of drivers and owners with some longer-term experience driving DSG cars with ADS. Thank you.

MalSer

Without ADS (call it ADS Lite) you still have the ability to adjust the transmission shift points (how quickn/smooth/aggressive) and the "tightness" of the steering during acceleration & aggressive driving. The transmission behaves differently depending on the setting and how much gas you give it. In dynamic the beast wants to be fed and the shifts aren't as smooth UNLESS you are letting it sprint. When you do let loose it's seamless, quick, and nasty (in a good way). The shifts are smoother under less acceleration on the other settings. You can also customize the settings but only between 3 options, not like full blown ADS. I have the 7 spd DSG with read diff but without ADS and am pleased with the flexibility. Only had it a week and I love it. Ride is firm yet comfortable IMO, but you are going to notice some road imperfections. My salesman followed up today to see how I liked my S4. My summary: It's like most of the women in our family...good looking, sweet on the inside, and an evil bitch when it wants to be. Suggestions? Test drive one for as long as possible and adjust the settings, observing how they feel at low & high speeds. You should feel the steering tighten up or relax and notice changes in the shifting between settings & different amounts of accelleration. Play with it, it's a surprisingly flexible piece of technology even without ADS.

NWS4Guy

Quick point - as MalSer said you can get "ADS lite" but this comes with the Sport Diff. If you don't get the Sport Diff, or full blown ADS, you get nothing which allows customization.

safelder

I'm hardly long term--I took delivery 10 days ago--but I do have full-blown ADS and S-Tronic. Here's the best I can explain about what the transmission feels like to me in the different settings.

1) Comfort: Feels like my 1998 A4 2.8Q
2) Auto: Feels like my 2007 S4 Tiptronic in "D"
3) Dynamic: Feels like my 2007 S4 Tiptronic in "S"

There's no "S" setting on the shift lever on my car, so the only way to get the sport shift pattern is to select dynamic ADS (or, in my case, I've also set my individual preferences to shift with the sport pattern).

BTW, I can also feel a difference in the steering across the various settings. I haven't detected a difference in either suspension or rear sport differential, but I haven't had the chance to push real hard yet.

goatfarmer

Thanks all. The DSG with sport diff sounds right enough to save me almost $3K, but I will know for sure once I get to test the DSG-equipped car coming in in a couple of weeks.