Are you iritated by the S5 first gear jerkiness?

How fast are you shifting? The fly wheel in this car is very light, probably a lot lighter than you are used to, which means that the tach may fall a lot faster than your last car. Speeding up your shifts may solve your problem, especially at low rpms. Maybe it is because my last car had a touchy electronic throttle, but on both of my extended test drives around conjested nj "suburbs" I found 1 -> 2 shifts to be glorious and smooth without ever jarring the salesman. I did find a few launches to be touchy because I am not used to the engagement point on the clutch.

I am not saying you don't know how to drive, I am saying you may be still applying your old habits to new technology. Take a look at what RPM = MPH in both 1st and 2nd gear. And make a conscious effort to match them. You will get a sense of the timing, and then you will fall into harmony.

1 -> 2 Shifts are like sleeping with a woman, the first few times are rough, but once you figure out the rhythms, it is bliss, unless you want it to be rough...

The last car I had was a 2003 Nissan Maxima with drive-by-wire. The first 10000 miles I had the car I was terrible. My previous car had a daul friction clutch and super light fly wheel and I used to have shifts smoother than my gf's skin. What I learned over time with the drive by wire was to using the old let clutch out and push gas in didn't work. The S5 is a performance car, and isn't going to control clutch engagement like a 3 or 5 series BMW. You are in control, but sadly the drive-by-wire electronic throttle is not what you are used to. Here is what I learned which went against my normal teachings:

1a. Depress Clutch extremely fast
1b. Let off gas completely when clutch is past engagement point (Engine will rev up if you let off too late, and the car will slow down or jerk a little if you let off too soon)
2. Change the gears
3a. Release Clutch and try to have the engagement point catch the right RPMs as you shift. You may hold it at the engagement point for about half a second or so to let the rpms match perfectly

3b. Now this is the hardest part and is what is the biggest pain:
While releasing the clutch, just as it is ABOUT to reach the engagement point, press in and HOLD the gas pedal maybe 10% of the way (no matter what speed you are going). Key here is to not press it in too much or else the electronic throttle is going to think you are blipping the throttle for a spirited downshift, and therefore will rev the engine like crazy. Also letting off the pedal if you think you pressed it too much is worse than just holding it. If you are holding it in too far the throttle will reduce itself while engaging (unless it is almost on the floor), when you let off the gas the throttle will fall quickly and then you will end up really jerking the car.


4. At the engagement point begin pressing the gas more (smoothness is key here) while Releasing the rest of the Clutch quickly.

Sound close to what you do now? I am sure it is, but learning to press the gas in gently at that engagement point took a long time to become second nature, and will make all the difference.

I don't think people "can't drive" or that I have "better skills", I think that this cars electronics are new and after getting used to the terrible implementation by Nissan for this, I can share the experience. I don't blame you for being irritated, it still irritated me some days when I sold my maxima, but, I did learn how to make it work, and yes I still jerked the car some starts when I wasn't paying attention. Especially in stop/start traffic when I was getting frustrated by people cutting in front of me when I was leaving extra room between the car in front of me so I wouldn't have to come to a complete stop.