[Craig100]

Hi,

I had a 2009 2.7 Diesel A5 for 10 years. It was buttery smooth, loved it. In Jan 2020 I sold it and bought a 6 month old A5 Petrol 40 (1996cc). I bought it because I really enjoyed driving the A5 and I like to go on tours. However, this car is NOT a joy to drive. In important situations like entering a roundabout or at busy junctions, there's a 2 to 5 second delay in the accelerator response, and then it takes off like a rocket. I consider it verging on dangerous.

It's also jerky on normal to hard acceleration from slow speed. It's like a learner driver missing the clutch.

I'm about to put it in the hands of my local Audi dealership who will charge me £120/hr to diagnose the issue. Has anyone else come across this and what are the likely causes? Would it be something covered by warranty? Just trying to get a heads up before I take the plunge with the dealership.

TIA

Craig

 

[Alex1990]

If you have the S-tronic gear box which I also have it’s exactly the way you described it. Word for word to be honest.

You have to re-learn driving with this kind of gearbox Craig.

The biggest weakness to this gearbox and many variants like it is the jerkiness on the 1-2nd gears and also the delay when entering roundabouts. It’s only 1-2 seconds but it feels like forever until the power is delivered once you press the accelerator.

I usually go into roundabouts a lot slower than I used to just because I know(unless I use the paddles) that the power delivery can be a little hit and miss.

Lots of threads and posts on this forum about the S-tronic gear box.

I’ve just accepted it for what it is.

~Alex

 

[Craig100]

Thanks for that Alex. What a crap thing to do from Audi though. I just want rid of it now. My next car will be fully electric and very prob not Audi because of this. Who wants to coast into a roundabout effectively not under control, be late matching the speed of the car in front or all the other things this affects. If a huge company can make such a crap decision then they can't be trusted IMHO.

 

[Alex1990]

It does though get better with time.

the car does learn your driving style as it logs it all in, and the drive in general over long term is better.

but the jerkiness and round about thing doesn’t change. In S mode it is slightly better.

Ive come and gone from Audi but really wanted the tech side of things… but to be honest my next car more probably won’t be Audi again.

~Alex

 

[danjwilson]

Alex is right about the car learning your driving style. And if it’s used, and is already adapted to the previous owner, this can take some time.
Had my last two from new, and they were loads better. And the petrol engine seems much better than the diesel for throttle response (for me at least).
One thing I learned to do, and still do, is flick it into S mode for those r/b’s and junctions where you need to be really nippy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Craig100]

Alex is right about the car learning your driving style. And if it’s used, and is already adapted to the previous owner, this can take some time.
Had my last two from new, and they were loads better. And the petrol engine seems much better than the diesel for throttle response (for me at least).
One thing I learned to do, and still do, is flick it into S mode for those r/b’s and junctions where you need to be really nippy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I'd be curious to know how the gearbox "learns" my driving style. What is it sensing, storing and changing the output of?

I've taken to micro-kickdowns on nearly all accelerator movements where I need to be nippy. It seems to jog the thing into moving.

 

[rackingman]

Purely a personal opinion but driven dsg boxes in all the VAG marques and convinced they are not designed for UK roundabouts
From the UK highway code.

• give priority to traffic approaching from your right, unless directed otherwise by signs, road markings or traffic lights
• check whether road markings allow you to enter the roundabout without giving way. If so, proceed, but still look to the right before joining
• watch out for all other road users already on the roundabout; be aware they may not be signalling correctly or at all
• look forward before moving off to make sure traffic in front has moved off.

It's the second point that confuses them.....they think you are slowing down to come to a stop whereas you are slowing down to filter in. You then try to accelerate to fit in with the traffic flow and the gearbox responds with WTF!!!!

On the other hand I am sure Herr Ingenieur Getriebegehäuse will adamantly point out that the gearbox is not faulty, but the way us brits deal with roundabouts is not approved by audi....or VAG....or the EU, which we are no longer part of, so its our fault for voting brexit.

 

[heylinTTnz]

Possibly just the Whinging Pom effect in play nothing wrong with Dsg, I've driven all sorts of Audi here in NZ wet and dry clutch, 6 and 7 speed DQ and DL everything. Being a colony of your mighty nation here in NZ we have roundabouts a plenty, as well as London style congestion and streets in many places. I recently acquired an RS5 and must say a throttle controller does improve things a little, but seriously don't rag on the Dsg, the alternatives from others (CVT, Auto and Manuals are just inferior) unless we are talking a ZF 8 speed auto... Man what a transmission, best of both worlds.

 

[wedgepilot]

I do love a dual-clutch box, best of both worlds IMO. I've even got one in my motorbike, Honda's DCT. It's interesting comparing it to the S-tronic.

Both have the "roundabout issue" where it thinks you're coming to a stop and disengages the clutch, then suddenly has to bang it back into gear when you hit the gas. You can drive around this with a bit of practice, just gently press the go pedal a second before you actually want to go, this 'wakes up' the transmission.

The 'throttle delay' S-tronic issue is weird though, and the Honda box doesn't have that problem - you twist the throttle, it goes instantly. Maybe it's something Audi have engineered into the software? I read somewhere that German drivers prefer it that way, but can't find the article.

My guess is that it's a throttle drive-by-wire issue rather than something inherently wrong with the gearbox design. That's just my opinion and could be utter cobblers of course 🙂

 

[smurkenstein]

Purely a personal opinion but driven dsg boxes in all the VAG marques and convinced they are not designed for UK roundabouts

imho, (many) British roundabouts aren't designed for modern cars which break hard and accelerate quickly. A lot of the time you have to give way to the cars to the right long before they even enter the roundabout as they join at speed knowing they can stop on a dime if need be. Shouldn't be like that, really.

Craig you said there's a 2-5 second delay - 5 seconds doesn't sound right to me. Surely something wrong there.

 

[wedgepilot]

The delay in mine is maybe half a second, but it does feel like an eternity when you're trying to pull out into a small gap in traffic!

 

[SimonRoma]

Blimey sounds horrible......bring on a good old fashioned manual gearbox or a good auto.

 

[rackingman]

Hey Heylin.....Confused whingeing pom here........you say nothing wrong with Dsg, but a throttle controller does improve things a little,

How does that help, if there's nothing wrong with it?

To be clear, the only issue I have with dsg is the roundabout thingy and it seems from other comments I am not alone. There's probably a knack to get round it that I never discovered.....

 

[Craig100]

So, put the car into my local Independent Audi/VW shop and they thought it drove ok but found a logged fault: "Intake Manifold Flap Position Sensor (Bank 1) P2015 00 (096) - Implausible Signal Intermittent". They didn't clear it on purpose. Put the car into my local Audi dealer and they sent me a lovely video of their safety inspection! They also applied a firmware update to the EMS. This has tightened the response at the low speed end. But it still does some weird shit on motorways. At 60 MPH, a gentle accel can result in 6K RPM scream for a couple of seconds, (with attendant loss of accel) then it drops itself into a lowish gear before it settles back to D6 or 7. Not nice when filtering onto an MWay. Most of the time a gentle accel does nothing for a several seconds then give an instant kick up the backside. If Audi think this is a good driving experience, I'm off Audi's for good. I'm going to have to go back to Audi again I think.

 

[heylinTTnz]

Hey Heylin.....Confused whingeing pom here........you say nothing wrong with Dsg, but a throttle controller does improve things a little,

How does that help, if there's nothing wrong with it?

To be clear, the only issue I have with dsg is the roundabout thingy and it seems from other comments I am not alone. There's probably a knack to get round it that I never discovered.....

The throttle delay to built in deliberately by factory, there quite a few articles online explainong why (basically a safety feature for dumb average drivers) the throttle controller removes this delay... Although what happens at throttle is one thing and the Dsg engage / disengage thing at stop and go driving that's another thing. That said both my TT (Dq250) and my A8 (ZF8 auto) have at times had strange and confused shifts. Funny enough the RS5 (Dl501) with throttle controller is sharp as, and had no issues with weird shifting. Mabey a Dsg readapt + updated TCU tune + a throttle controller will make yours perfect?