Are you iritated by the S5 first gear jerkiness?

Graham's actually referring to the issue encountered when pulling gently away from standstill, or, far more pertinently, when attempting to ease the car along in stop-start traffic.

When we met at the APS day, He actually gave me a graphic demonstration of how the basic problem manifests itself. It's simple, try it when you next get into your S5.

1) With the car in neutral and at idle speed, press the throttle very gently, aiming to gradually feed-in the revs. You'll accomplish this no problem, revs rise in a smooth linear fashion as you would expect to be the case all the time.

2) Now, attempt the same with the clutch depressed fully, car still in neutral.

I tried this first in Graham's car, and then in my own. It was astonishing - with the clutch depressed, the same gentle application of the throttle suddenly brings in the aforementioned surge of revs from approx 550 up to 2000 or so - it's impossible to increase engine speed in a smooth and linear manner with clutch depressed.

It seemed that this demonstration was a far starker illustration of why the car is a frustrating handful in stop-start - and that there is clearly an electronics-related issue here - whether it's anti-stall related or not, it's a fault and no amount of driving around it makes Audi less culpable.

Oh, by the way Graham, that's a yes - I'm p*ssed off too!

May be missing the point?

Guys, this isn't about honing our driving skills or getting used to a new car - most of us have owned a wide variety of different cars over the years and can quickly acclimatise to model-specific characteristics such as biting points, gear ratios, power and torque profiles etc. We also accept that some gearboxes will shift more smoothly than others and that a bit of first-to-second notchiness is not uncommon.

To reiterate - what Graham's highlighting is not a gear-change or transmission mechanics issue - that is how it is and we can all accept it or turn-in our cars (ChasTT!). And this thread isn't a confessional for inept drivers who don't share the elevated skill of some of our fellow forum members!

The issue we're discussing here lies with the electronics concerned with managing the engine speed at take-off - it's likely a function of an anti-stall mechanism but I can't be certain. What I'm clear on though is that the characteristics apparent in my 'experiment' (above), make if difficult or nigh-on impossible to drive the car as intended in first-gear stop-start traffic and is without doubt a flaw which, if resolvd, will be to every owners benefit.