Drive Select Questions
07-20-2018, 01:55 PM
#31
AudiWorld Senior Member
The DSG, especially mated up to the supercharged engine was really really nice. But in slow speed situations, like rolling stops, the ZF is much smoother. The DSG had a tendency to shutter near the stall speeds and it would occasionally guess the wrong gear which lead to a delay in shifts. So better in some ways, worse in others. The ZF is more consistently good without ever really being great. (those being relative terms of course)
07-20-2018, 04:23 PM
#32
AudiWorld Super User
That was a joke. I am enjoying the discussion.
I have no experience with an S4 with such a transmission but I have read here that many people prefer and miss them. I have spend a good deal of time in A4s with the DSG. I can't say that I specifically notice the difference in transmission. I DEFINTELY notice the difference in the cars, and I much prefer the S4. Whether I would like it better with a DSG, I couldn't say. I probably would find it hard to tell.
I have no experience with an S4 with such a transmission but I have read here that many people prefer and miss them. I have spend a good deal of time in A4s with the DSG. I can't say that I specifically notice the difference in transmission. I DEFINTELY notice the difference in the cars, and I much prefer the S4. Whether I would like it better with a DSG, I couldn't say. I probably would find it hard to tell.
The DSG, especially mated up to the supercharged engine was really really nice. But in slow speed situations, like rolling stops, the ZF is much smoother. The DSG had a tendency to shutter near the stall speeds and it would occasionally guess the wrong gear which lead to a delay in shifts. So better in some ways, worse in others. The ZF is more consistently good without ever really being great. (those being relative terms of course)
07-20-2018, 05:36 PM
#33
Audiworld Junior Member
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After almost a year of driving this car I finally decided I was of the same mind as superswiss. I bought a pair of paddle extensions so it was easier to find the rather small paddles. Now I drive it in manual mode the vast majority of the time. Perhaps because I've owned about a dozen manual transmission cars and don't mind the effort, or maybe living out my F1 fantasy. When I'm cruising on the highway I'll put it into D because S holds too high a gear and burns fuel needlessly, and I can easy tap the paddles a couple of times and get pretty aggressive acceleration to pass. I occasionally put it in S-mode when I don't feel like playing with the paddles and am driving varied speeds. I agree with markcincinnati that trying to accelerate in D mode without using the paddles is very frustrating. Feels like in Infiniti in Eco mode. Just very slow to respond.
All that said, the different driving modes and manual option pretty much satisfies me anytime now. I have no complaints, although admittedly I've never owned a DCT car. Maybe its good that I don't really appreciate what I'm missing.
All that said, the different driving modes and manual option pretty much satisfies me anytime now. I have no complaints, although admittedly I've never owned a DCT car. Maybe its good that I don't really appreciate what I'm missing.
07-21-2018, 06:52 AM
#34
My 2014 B8.5 S4 with the supercharged engine and the DSG 7-speed transmission was a wonderful combination. The current 8-speed Tiptronic is the quickest shifting "normal" automatic I've ever had the pleasure of driving -- just not when driven in "D". Here's the reason (I find this to be true): In "D" the S4 (a 2018) is hell-bent to have you upshift at the earliest possible moment you can, there's even a green light that "urges" you to lift your foot off the accelerator to essentially force an upshift. In "S" the transmission holds the current gear a little bit (200-300 RPMs) longer. In "D" the transmission seems to want to "hunt" for a lower gear even if all you want is a "hair" more acceleration. If you've driven manual transmissions most of your life (as have I), you will be driving along on the interstate and come upon a very slight grade and in D the transmission downshifts -- something you would never do while driving a stick shift. In S, this can still happen, but not as often and not as soon.
Since I don't have canyons to carve (rarely), but I did buy my third S car last year, I still want some vestigial sense that I am behind the wheel of a sporty sedan -- D does not, and I think, can not provide that sense. S can and M will.
Since I don't have canyons to carve (rarely), but I did buy my third S car last year, I still want some vestigial sense that I am behind the wheel of a sporty sedan -- D does not, and I think, can not provide that sense. S can and M will.
07-21-2018, 07:03 PM
#35
AudiWorld Senior Member
"... If you've driven manual transmissions most of your life (as have I), you will be driving along on the interstate and come upon a very slight grade and in D the transmission downshifts -- something you would never do while driving a stick shift. In S, this can still happen, but not as often and not as soon."
No manual I've ever owned is geared this low. (Top gear on the A4 6MT is 0.667.)
07-21-2018, 07:30 PM
#36
Fascinating discussion. I’m a throwback. I bought my car with Sport Diff, AUDI Drive Select, but without variable ratio steering and with a 6 Speed manual.
My transmission is always in whatever mode I am in. I drive the car daily in Individual with steering (variable assist only) set to Auto, Suspension set to auto, Sound set to Auto and Engine set to dynamic ( because rev matching is present in dynamic and the quicker throttle response is nice when downshifting and blipping throttle between gears.)
On a long highway trip I sometimes switch to comfort and in the mountains if feeling racy I’ll switch to dynamic to stiffen the car up.
Sometimes I do wonder if I should have bought a DSG car but this one is kind of special and there’s always next time. It looks like there will be no choice by then.
My transmission is always in whatever mode I am in. I drive the car daily in Individual with steering (variable assist only) set to Auto, Suspension set to auto, Sound set to Auto and Engine set to dynamic ( because rev matching is present in dynamic and the quicker throttle response is nice when downshifting and blipping throttle between gears.)
On a long highway trip I sometimes switch to comfort and in the mountains if feeling racy I’ll switch to dynamic to stiffen the car up.
Sometimes I do wonder if I should have bought a DSG car but this one is kind of special and there’s always next time. It looks like there will be no choice by then.
07-21-2018, 08:00 PM
#37
AudiWorld Super User
Yep, that's what I referred to above in my post, too. The 7th and 8th gears are overdrive gears. It used to be that the top gear was geared to achieve the top speed, but this day and age with fuel saving requirements, more and more overdrive gears are being added. Merc now has a 9 speed transmission and Lexus a 10 speed. It's crazy. The DSG had one overdrive gear (7th). When I'm in manual mode I rarely even shift into 7th. Having all these overdrive gears means that the engine is totally out of the powerband, so any time you need some acceleration, it has to downshift. So you have this constant gear hunting. That's gonna be the future unfortunately until ICE cars are gone completely, or we switch to hydrogen.
Last edited by superswiss; 07-22-2018 at 05:37 PM.
11-17-2018, 01:49 AM
#38
Since I have noticed there are some who are posting here who are relatively new (fewer than 100 posts, for instance) to Audiworld, I think it might behoove me to point out that there are folks (like superswiss and me) who have been posting for a decade or more and have posted thousands of times. We (the "super users") probably have had, between us hundreds, more likely thousands of Audis (I've had 33). Even some super users who have only had 10 or so Audis over the years probably have had BMW's, Porsches, Mercedes, and other European (and possibly Japanese and maybe even Korean, when you consider the Stinger) cars. Some of us (well, me) test drive cars (Audis, primarily) as -- I hate to say it -- a hobby. My long-term dealer gets an RS5 in and calls me to say "The new RS5 will be PDI'd by 2 this afternoon, wanna come a try it out for an hour or so?" I've never driven an R8, but our dealer never has more than one or two of them at a time and they always seem to be "ordered" cars and I sure as hell have no intention of ordering one just to be able to drive it.
The point is, I'm telling you that my S4, when driven in D is an "underwhelming" performer IN MY OPINION. I'm sure an S4 driven in D with everything set to full Auto mode is, compared to most cars on the road, hardly a "dog." It's just that I've had so many of these cars and drive even more of them that I don't own that I get jaundiced (not literally of course). By that I mean, there are MANY fine cars to be had once you cross, say, $60,000/MSRP. And, of course, they're not all Audis (but you probably already figured that out.) I dare say if you went with a like priced BMW or Mercedes you'd get a fine car for your bucks. BTW, we've also had -- in addition to the 33 Audis, 3 BMWs and an Acura and an Infiniti. We're somewhat well-rounded in our experience. I've been to Ingostadt 6 times and through the Audi driving school in Austria 4 times and the BMW X-drive school here in the US (SC) once. My wife's been on the full-day Porsche+Audi experience with 49 men (1 women of 50 participants), too.
So, although I generally am telling you stuff that I believe to be true and accurate, what I may not be saying is after I say whatever it is that I'm trying to convince you of, "for me." So, the Audi S4 driven in D is a dog, for me, from my perspective, based on my experience, etc., etc. I do (and am) inviting you to drive the car in S for a full week, no switching back and forth, in S then trying D again (or vice versa). I believe you will find the S4 with the Tiptronic will be more responsive, quicker, and all around more fun-to-drive when driven in S than in D -- based on my experience, based on MY, etc, etc, I don't know and don't speak for, for example, superswiss, he may feel the same way, he may not. I don't know, but I read his posts and I would assume he would prefer the feeling of the car when driven in S. But, then again, I think he drives a V8 RS5 for chrissakes. So, perhaps, just perhaps, he hasn't had 15,000+ miles seat time in a 2018 S4. If I'm wrong and he thinks D stands for Dandy, that is probably correct, from his perspective, base on his experience, etc.
So, to repeat, if you're a newer user/participant of this forum, there are a lot of super users and a lot of opinionated people here participating -- fortunately that is just what I've heard, I don't actually know any "opinionated" people here.
You've come to the right place, however, for a tsunami of trivial Audi facts, that much is certain.
I remain, your humble contributor in Cincinnati and am "Often wrong, but NEVER uncertain."
The point is, I'm telling you that my S4, when driven in D is an "underwhelming" performer IN MY OPINION. I'm sure an S4 driven in D with everything set to full Auto mode is, compared to most cars on the road, hardly a "dog." It's just that I've had so many of these cars and drive even more of them that I don't own that I get jaundiced (not literally of course). By that I mean, there are MANY fine cars to be had once you cross, say, $60,000/MSRP. And, of course, they're not all Audis (but you probably already figured that out.) I dare say if you went with a like priced BMW or Mercedes you'd get a fine car for your bucks. BTW, we've also had -- in addition to the 33 Audis, 3 BMWs and an Acura and an Infiniti. We're somewhat well-rounded in our experience. I've been to Ingostadt 6 times and through the Audi driving school in Austria 4 times and the BMW X-drive school here in the US (SC) once. My wife's been on the full-day Porsche+Audi experience with 49 men (1 women of 50 participants), too.
So, although I generally am telling you stuff that I believe to be true and accurate, what I may not be saying is after I say whatever it is that I'm trying to convince you of, "for me." So, the Audi S4 driven in D is a dog, for me, from my perspective, based on my experience, etc., etc. I do (and am) inviting you to drive the car in S for a full week, no switching back and forth, in S then trying D again (or vice versa). I believe you will find the S4 with the Tiptronic will be more responsive, quicker, and all around more fun-to-drive when driven in S than in D -- based on my experience, based on MY, etc, etc, I don't know and don't speak for, for example, superswiss, he may feel the same way, he may not. I don't know, but I read his posts and I would assume he would prefer the feeling of the car when driven in S. But, then again, I think he drives a V8 RS5 for chrissakes. So, perhaps, just perhaps, he hasn't had 15,000+ miles seat time in a 2018 S4. If I'm wrong and he thinks D stands for Dandy, that is probably correct, from his perspective, base on his experience, etc.
So, to repeat, if you're a newer user/participant of this forum, there are a lot of super users and a lot of opinionated people here participating -- fortunately that is just what I've heard, I don't actually know any "opinionated" people here.
You've come to the right place, however, for a tsunami of trivial Audi facts, that much is certain.
I remain, your humble contributor in Cincinnati and am "Often wrong, but NEVER uncertain."
You're gonna be pissed at my post and I apologize, but even you must have realized just how condescending your post was.
On the brighter side, at least you're correct in your determination. 
What is a lowly A4 owner doing posting in the S4 forum? Simple, I just purchased a 2019 S4 and was studying up before it's arrival in March. Already learned something and I don't even have the car yet.
Last edited by acruxksa; 11-17-2018 at 01:53 AM.
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