Are you iritated by the S5 first gear jerkiness?

26295 Views 71 Replies 44 Participants Last post by Terminator X, Sep 5, 2014

Graham

Discussion Starter · Feb 21, 2008

I have a meeting with a regional director of Audi re this issue on Friday of next week. There are many compliants about this "antio stall" feature on the forum, but I don't believe many people have actually reported it back to thier dealer. If you are irritated with the difficulty of smooth take off and smooth driving in stop/start traffic, then please let me know before next friday and I will pass this on. I don't know how to set up a proper pole on this site so either let me know by responding to this thread or possibly some other member in the know could set up a pole for me. Ideally I just need to know roughly where you are based in the world and how long you have had the car.

Many thanks

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Graham

Discussion Starter · #33 · Feb 22, 2008

Ianhp1 said:
...Personally I found that my driving style meant I didn't have this problem and I can easily drive to avoid the problem... I have also explained this to guys on the forum... However, they have convinced me that this is not the point... The point is if you want to pull away with lower revs, you can't without balancing the clutch to bring them down and risk stalling. Therefore I support this thread.

Hi Ian,

Don't forget it has the same effect when down shifting too. If you're driving gently ( with your millteks ha ha ) and you try to raise the revs to meet the engine speed the problem occurs that way too. i.e. if you have contol of the revs and then put you foot on the clutch, off it goes and does it's own thing!
The other thing is, that unless you want to always change from 1st to 2nd at revs higher than 2500, as soon as you engage 2nd gear and lift you foot off the clutch you are in the wacky zone again because of the large ratio differnce between first and second gear.

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Graham

Discussion Starter · #40 · Feb 25, 2008

Ianhp1 said:
OK peeps, for those of you who have read this and other threads, you will know that I don't have an issue with the smoothness/anti-stall thingy... although I DO reckognise it as a problem. To cut a long story short, my driving style is such that I use relatively high revs when moving off out of habit from having a car with a lightened flywheel before this one.

NOW HERE'S MY APRAISAL...

I spent some time today in rush-hour traffic and had plenty of opportunity to play with different driving styles and different revs etc... In summary...

I DO NOT THINK A SOFTWARE FIX WILL WORK.

It is true, the anti-stall avoids revs in the range between tickover ~800rpm and about 1,500rpm by lifting the revs automatically to 1,500 when you touch the throttle thus making it impossible to select anything lower (other than tickover) when moving off. UNFORTUNATELY THIS IS NECESSARY... ...I tried carefully dragging the revs down whilst moving off by careful clutch control and as soon as it hits 1,400 the engine bogs down. This is NOT a software function, but a function of having a relatively light flywheel. There is nothing that can be done to change this, other than changing the flywheel spec.

So, the S5 has a revvy sporty engine and puts power to the wheels well helped in part by the light flywheel. To avoid bogging and stalling issues, they have introduced software assistance. The other option is to have a heavier flywheel without the bogging and stall problems, but which is heavier, lower on power, slower to respond and less free-revving. Not a good option!

Good luck Graham with taking this up, and please people register your name as recognising the problem... Audi should listen. However I'm not sure there's a solution.

Thanks Ian, but next time youre out in "The Black Beast" try the same experiment when the car is rolling at different speeds and you'll see that the software anti stall is speed related.i.e. as speed increases two things happen.
1) Above 5mph and the tickover speed increases from 600 to 800rpm
2) Above 20 mph the amount the anti stall feature raises the revs to progressivley reduces with increased speed and the ability to make smooth gear transitions is far greater.

I know you're going to say that the increased inertia of the car reduces the potential for stalling, but just indulge me and try it for yourself and let me know if you agree.

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Graham

Discussion Starter · #46 · Feb 26, 2008

A5inReston said:
Very clever software indeed.

PS I had to Google "Tickover" to find out it meant Idle.

Over here, Idle means teenager!

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Graham

Discussion Starter · #47 · Feb 26, 2008

Ianhp1 said:
Indeed I do agree... I got to try it loads at all different speeds and watched the behaviour... clever software really... just annoying! ... however, most annoying was in traffic rolling at 3mph, just below the speed of the car in 1st at tickover... I had to ride the clutch constantly or stop-start, revving like a chav.

How you must have hated all that revving with your Millteks!

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