[s-cars] How failtastic is the B7 S4 automatic? Anyone have a line on a manual avant?

[Theodore Chen]

guess i don't have that much experience with good automatics.  my wife's E46 330i has an automatic that has decent shift speed/quality, but is cursed with stupid programming.  there's a sport mode, but i don't use it because it has a penchant for downshifting at relatively high speeds even with little or no throttle.  this produces
little jerks from engine braking and is annoying.  i prefer to use the manual mode.  however, the torque converter stays active.  the torque converter seems to have fairly high stall speed, so it's hard to get the car moving quickly at a moderate pace without producing a surge.  same issue in cornering.

the B5 S4's transmission is much smarter about gear selection, and locks up the torque converter in manual mode, but shifts too slowly.  i have tried recoding it with VAG-COM, but was not terribly impressed with the sport modes so i changed it back to stock.  they change gear selection strategy, not shift speed, which was my issue.




________________________________
From: Taka Mizutani <t44tqtro at gmail.com>
To: Theodore Chen <tedebearp at yahoo.com>
Cc: Brett Dikeman <brett.dikeman at gmail.com>; "s-car-list at audifans.com" <s-car-list at audifans.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 5:25:21 AM
Subject: Re: [s-cars] How failtastic is the B7 S4 automatic? Anyone have a  line on a manual avant?

I guess it's all relative- I don't have much experience with the tip in the B5- I've been in the car with a tip B5 and that was really terribly slow, but never really driven one. The B7s I drove nearly daily for a year- they're still pretty bad- nothing like the DSG. No worse than my Volvo, but no better.

Taka



On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 3:06 AM, Theodore Chen <tedebearp at yahoo.com> wrote:

i had a B7 A4 2.0T with tiptronic for a week, and thought the transmission was much improved over the B5's.  it shifted much faster and more positively.  



________________________________
From: Taka Mizutani <t44tqtro at gmail.com>
To: Brett Dikeman <brett.dikeman at gmail.com>
Cc: "s-car-list at audifans.com" <s-car-list at audifans.com>
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 1:31:36 PM
Subject: Re: [s-cars] How failtastic is the B7 S4 automatic? Anyone have a line on a manual avant?

Have you tried Riverside Audi? They're the biggest CPO dealer.

No issues with the 6-speed auto that I've heard of, but the drive is nothing
like the manual. Response in tiptronic mode is a joke- slow. No different
than your folks' A6 in that regard.

Taka


On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 4:11 PM, Brett Dikeman <brett.dikeman at gmail.com>wrote:

> Inquiring minds, tired of not finding any 6-speed manual avants
> anywhere, want to know.  What's it like to drive?  Reliability?
> Behavior?  Response to paddle shifters?
>
> Or, if you have a B7 S4 avant manual hiding in your garage you're
> itching to sell, let me know.  2005.5+ ONLY, the look of the B6
> platform makes baby jesus cry.
>
> Brett
> _______________________________________________
> S-CAR-List mailing list
> http://audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/s-car-list
> http://www.audifans.com/kb/List_information
>
_______________________________________________
S-CAR-List mailing list
http://audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/s-car-list
http://www.audifans.com/kb/List_information