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revs are pulsing when held on the clutch.

What do you mean "held on the clutch"? That you have the clutch partially engaged (or disengaged) in order to keep the car from rolling back?

 

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That's exactly what I mean. In effect when you have engaged the clutch but not come off of it completely.(

Maybe I'm a bit thick, but why on earth would you be holding (or "riding") the clutch? There are two places where there is no wear on your clutch - fully engaged or fully disengaged. Every other position is not one you want to be "holding" at any time.

 

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Let's say for instance you are stopped on a hill in traffic, you pull away as the traffic in front of you moves slightly, you actually never get fully off the clutch as you are in effect only crawling forward so you engage the clutch only slightly with very low revs , if you come fully off the clutch you end up in the boot (trunk) of the car in front, if you don't engage the clutch at all then you go nowhere.

Right then - I did raise the possibility that I was a bit thick! I drive in rush hour traffic every day here in Toronto, and I do hit a couple of quite steep inclines where I'm inching along. I have not had any issues with my rpm pulsing at all, but I'll test it today on the way home.

Blade - I do get a few "lumpy" moments while idling in traffic. Haven't had the car in for its first service yet though.

TonnyG - I don't know anything about anti-stall. You can definitely stall the S5. Just ask my girlfriend!

Booster - I agree. I like the automatic release of the parking brake - very nice feature. I haven't used it on a steep hill, but when I was learning to drive standard I used to use the hand brake as part of my "good god don't roll back" technique.

 

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I finally understand

It's the same old problem. Please see this ( and many other ) posts.
http://www.a5oc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1511

Thanks Graham. I read that thread and "tested" it last night.

1. Car in neutral with clutch fully disengaged (parking brake on!) and light pressure on gas. Smooth, easy revs that you can hold at 900 or 1000 rpm quite easily.

2. Car in any gear (or in neutral for that matter) with clutch fully engaged (parking brake on again) and light pressure on gas. MUCH more sensitive, unable to hold at lower rpms, car jumps from idle (500 rpm) to approx 1400 or so.

I had never tried revving the engine without the clutch engaged and just thought the car was very sensitive to gas pedal inputs. Interesting. I guess I just adapted to the different style of driving (and was happy that the clutch was so damn light compared to my 2004 G35). Should make for some interesting downshifting on the track.

My guess is that this is not as much an "anti-stall" as it is an "anti-lug" given that the rpms drop so dramatically the second you engage the clutch. If you short shift and / or are really slow finding the next gear you could find yourself shifting from 3rd to 4th but having the rpms fall below 1000, therefore lugging the engine and falling well out of the power band.

This is causing people to get rid of their cars??

 

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Before the ECU update I had the well documented surge of revs as you pull away. Following the update the straight forward surge has gone and has been replaced with the pulsing of the revs as you pull off - exactly as if you were blipping the throttle with your right foot just as the clutch bites.

Looks like I have something to look forward to, as my first service is in about 900 km!

While sitting in traffic today I tried a few new things:

1. Held the throttle very lightly at 900rpm while in neutral and then engaged the clutch (ie. the car is motionless and is going to remain motionless). Was amazed to see the rpm jump to around 1800rpm without my giving any more throttle.

2. Exactly the same as above but held the throttle at around 1100rpm. Rpm jumped but not nearly as much - to about 1300 rpm.

I'm not sure who programmed this thing, but....

 

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No ECU Upgrade

Took my S5 in for its first service and to have a number of things looked at. I specifically asked about any upgrades to the ECU and was told there was one software upgrade being applied. The service person wasn't sure what the upgrade was, so when I went to pick up the car I wouldn't leave until they told me what was done. I was told that this was simply an upgrade for the MMI etc, and did not have anything to do with the ECU.

Having driven the car yesterday and today, I am sure that there has been nothing done to change the programming of the ECU.

 

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What version MMI do you have now? That will tell you if the update was done on the MMI or not as the latest for you is 5150.

That's a good question. I would answer it if I had any idea how to check the version #!