S4 Gear Ratios

[ActionDave]

I have recently picked up my first audi -2012 6mt s4 - I'm wondering if other people are happy with the gear ratios, or also wonder that mine are even the same as other peoples.

If I'm driving easily - the car will recommend that I jump from 4 to 6 @ 38 MPH
If im cruising on the highway @ 80 in 6th - I am at 3k RPM's


Everyone else experience the same things??? Do you like it?

My last few vehicles have been auto's, but i did have a manual subaru WRX that i bought back in 2002. I know there are major engine differences and I understand the audi is in a different league but I don't remember being able to go up a hill @ 25 mph in the highest gear (wrx was a 5 speed)

It seems to me like a 6 speed - you should need to be going 50+ to engage 6th and that in 6th gear going 80-90 should be lighter on the tach.

disclaimer - yes i attempted to search for similar threads with no luck, so apologies to anyone who wants to post "search the forum", instead you could reply with a link!

Thanks
Dave

[snoroller]

Hi Dave,

Yeah the 3K at highway speed bugs me a little, but I see it as a trade-off for having tons of torque available for pretty much the entire 0-highway speed range. Would be nice to be at 1500rpms for the feully but can't have everything.

[s4]

[ActionDave]

Thanks for the reply!
I agree there is torque always being on tap is nice :)
I just felt like 6th could have been more like an overdrive. I would take cavalier acceleration in 6th as a tradeoff for lowers RPMS at highway cruising - but oh well what can ya do!

Definitely love the car so far! Coming off of an SUV so needless to say its uhh more fun to drive [drive]

[apexit1]

I won't use 6th until around 65 or so. I like to keep the rpms around 2.5-3 in case i need the torque for anything.

[snoroller]

Nice. I think I would agree about 6th... What suv did you have? I had a 99 Tahoe that just kinda revved in place when I floored it at hwy speed. Damn transmissions on those...

[ActionDave]

apex - what kind of gas mileage do you get? I'm trying to drive conservatively more often than not and I'm not getting good mileage

snoroller - I had a '10 range rover sport - It was definitely adequately powered (375 hp v8) I really missed the handling of a car more so than the acceleration (dont get me wrong the speed is nice too! :) )

This is probably a stupid question but I'm not very savvy when it comes to cars.... Is it ok to jump gears like from 3rd to 6th? Sometimes i even just start in 2 and go 2>6 - Is this bad? would double clutching be better for the car when skipping gears?

[Hard Driver]

I never drive lower than 2K. My guess is that the shift reccomendation is for some maximum fuel economy test run or something.

[dr bryan]

Yes, it is OK to skip gears. Gear recommendations are for economy and I'd ignore them unless you are going to be cruising at a constant speed. If you follow them, it will be very boring driving your car. You can definitely run the RPMs lower than most MTs due to all the torque like the DSG will in comfort/Auto mode but it sure makes the car feel slower unless you really stomp on it.

I agree with you that 6th gear should have been geared toward fuel economy... closer to the gearing of the DSG 7th gear. You can get to the ECU limited speed of 155mph in 5th gear if I remember correctly so 6th gear being so low is a bit lame if you ask me.

[Tracker_168]

Your RPM/speeds sound right. 3000rpm on the highway irks me too but the trade off is that I assume you save on gas in the city. I cruise at city speeds (50-60kmh) in 6th. Its also nice to be able to pass cars in the left lane without shifting out of 6th.

Skipping gears is safe and I do it all the time. My typical start from a light is 1 -> 2 -> 4 -> 6 with shifts ~2000rpm. Doing that, you shift at 15kmh, 30kmh, 60kmh.
If you're smooth with the clutch, you can actually start in 4th sans gas but I dunno how much clutch wear that causes because you'll be doing ~30kmh before the clutch stops slipping.

Do people really drive > 2k rpm all day? Because there is enough torque at 1000-1500 rpm in any gear to cope with regular traffic.

[OmaHahn]

Hope you don't mind my 2-cents and it might help, might not, but I have just the 3.2 V6 automatic and have the same experiences. My car actually will start in 2nd gear a lot of the time! When I come to a stop sign I'm barley moving, if a cop wanted to be a complete an utter jerk he could possibly get me for a "rolling stop," but I'm creeping and when I accelerate it's in 2nd gear. I like to move the shifter into manual a lot and when I'm in fourth I will slide the shifter back to auto and it will jump right into 6th gear. I do mostly city driving and my cr will hit 4 gear in my neighborhood, 25-30mph! I'm in 6th by 40mph easily and if I hit the gas there's plenty of pick up in 6th gear. If not, mash the pedal and off I go.
Maybe you'll have to trade in for the next gen 8-speed tranny!

[apexit1]

apex - what kind of gas mileage do you get? I'm trying to drive conservatively more often than not and I'm not getting good mileage

snoroller - I had a '10 range rover sport - It was definitely adequately powered (375 hp v8) I really missed the handling of a car more so than the acceleration (dont get me wrong the speed is nice too! :) )

This is probably a stupid question but I'm not very savvy when it comes to cars.... Is it ok to jump gears like from 3rd to 6th? Sometimes i even just start in 2 and go 2>6 - Is this bad? would double clutching be better for the car when skipping gears?

I'm averaging 18.8 according to the car computer. I drive semi aggressively day to day (I'm usually ahead of the pack after a light) and floor it at least 2x a day.

[MRxPresident]

1st and 2nd gears are extremely short... but 3rd and 4th are the fun gears on the track

[RavinJetta]

I go 1-2-4-6 all the time as it has plenty of power to do that when cruising around.

[396ci]

With the S-tronic, 7th gear @ 65MPH is 2K-RPM on the nose with 255/30/20s all around.

[ENV²]

I shut off that shift recommender... It was quite the annoyance

[Deckdout2]

Ahhhh, DSG.

[joneze93tsi]

DSG FTW

[Ravenroy]

Dave, I recently purchased a 2013 S4 6MT as a replacement for a 2008 335i 6MT sedan. The S4 is definitely geared lower, but it is a heavier car. By my measurements the mph/1000 rpm are 1) 5.5, 2) 9.3, 3) 14.0, 4) 18.3, 5) 23.0, and 6) 27.0 . The numbers are slightly off from published numbers in Car and Driver (November 2009 for a 2010 S4). First and second are really low; I tend to use them just to get the car rolling (starting in 2nd is doable as well). Third is a good working gear for a leisurely shift at ~ 30 mph to 5th and 5th to 6th as early as 35 mph. The best highway milage I have gotten so far was 27.6 mpg, and I think the engine has plenty of torque to have a taller (overdrive) 6th gear like my 2007 Z06 has (it can get 28-29 mpg in spite of 505 hp). Once I get more familiar with the car, I look forward to tracking it at VIR.


I have recently picked up my first audi -2012 6mt s4 - I'm wondering if other people are happy with the gear ratios, or also wonder that mine are even the same as other peoples.

If I'm driving easily - the car will recommend that I jump from 4 to 6 @ 38 MPH
If im cruising on the highway @ 80 in 6th - I am at 3k RPM's


Everyone else experience the same things??? Do you like it?

My last few vehicles have been auto's, but i did have a manual subaru WRX that i bought back in 2002. I know there are major engine differences and I understand the audi is in a different league but I don't remember being able to go up a hill @ 25 mph in the highest gear (wrx was a 5 speed)

It seems to me like a 6 speed - you should need to be going 50+ to engage 6th and that in 6th gear going 80-90 should be lighter on the tach.

disclaimer - yes i attempted to search for similar threads with no luck, so apologies to anyone who wants to post "search the forum", instead you could reply with a link!

Thanks
Dave

[skeelo]

Most MTs I've driven have a shorter final gear compared to their auto counterparts. I too am surprised the 6MT doesn't have a longer gear for lower RPM's given most would be in 3-5 for around town driving...