v8 5 speed

[Eliot Lim <eliot@u.washington.edu>]

On Thu, 16 Nov 1995, Steve Manning wrote:

> According to Audi (through a dealer in my area) 1991 was only year you could
> get V8 5-speed; 54 were brought into U.S.  As for better performance I can
> personally vouch for that since I have a 5-spd (and drove many V8 automatics
> before finding the 5-spd); considerably quicker off the line than auto and
> much more lively through gears.....SLM

i think the 5 speed can do 0-60 in the 6 second range, while the slush is
like 2 to 3 seconds slower!  ugh!  some of this is due to the lower weight
of the 5 speed, but i think most of it is due to the lossiness of the ZF
slushbox and perhaps 1st gear that isn't quite low enough.

there wasn't a 5 speed v8 when i bought mine, so i've had to make the most
of the slush.  brake torqueing does wonders for starting from rest, and
the mercedes style zig zag gate is great for semi-automatic shifts while
on the go.  remember that 2nd gear is good for 85mph, thus at US freeway
speeds you can use second for a serious burst of acceleration.  at
moderate speeds, the torque convertor lockup in 3rd and 4th should be used
as much as possible for maximum performance and economy.  i use 3rd for
anything below 50 and when it locks up, the losses drop to zero. 

the slush does have its good points, and that is that its habits are very
predictable (unlike some of these newer thingies that is continually
trying to outsmart you and you trying to outsmart it with the result being
total chaos), which means that you can adjust your throttle inputs to
control its behavior.  i like to think of it as a right foot operated
shifter.  some implementations you can never do this, but on the v8 you
can. 


eliot