So, when I floor it in "manual" mode . . .

[clochner]

it shifts by itself at like 4k RPMs!! WTF?!?! This makes the paddle shifters absolutely useless. I first experienced this on Thanksgiving when demonstrating the car to some family members. I went WOT and noticed that the car was shifting way too soon (in manual mode). Then tonight, same thing.

Anyone else experiencing this?? Kinda wish I went with that manual trans . . .

[princeofbombay]

its because its a lane shift pedal. just floor it before the click on the pedal. if u are in a higher gear lower rpm in D or S it will down shift. if you do it in higher rpms and lower gears it up shifts when u floor it all the way. just floor it till the click not all the way. kinda hard to explain. but i hope i helped u

[Ryan_T]

Interesting, my tiptronic can hold up to redline in manual mode. In some cases it'll shift up at >6000rpm, which I would've anyway.


Also, there's a button at the bottom of your throttle to downshift.

[L0U]

i think the first post was a downshift..which is normal if you hit the kickdown switch. We would need verification as to if it was an upshift at 4k.

[Seinsmeld13]

I have experienced the auto downshift which I believe is a safety feature. I don't like it but I understand why it is there. However, while in dynamic and manual mine shifts well above 4,000 rpm's. I generally upshifting at 6,000 rpm's.

[clochner]

its because its a lane shift pedal. just floor it before the click on the pedal. if u are in a higher gear lower rpm in D or S it will down shift. if you do it in higher rpms and lower gears it up shifts when u floor it all the way. just floor it till the click not all the way. kinda hard to explain. but i hope i helped u

Got it. This makes sense. And just to clarify, I am talking about the car upshifting. I floored it from a stop and must have depressed the gas too far.

[johnnyb84]

What was was happening to me at Mosport?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NwDb27IO0c

[clochner]

What was was happening to me at Mosport?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NwDb27IO0c

Wow - that's really strange. The DSG software is kind of effed up sometimes.

[81bear]

In manual mode my car has never UP shifted for me...downshifted yes...UP no! Can you give us a little more detail so that we can try to reproduce the event?

[johnnyb84]

As I recall, I was in manual mode, dynamic.
It happened when I was just starting either of the straights from tight corner. I'd floor it, and sometimes it would shift normally, and sometimes it would shift early.
It really bogged down my run in the straights.
Could it be this? If I hit the upshift right at the same time that it is auto upshifting because it is beyond red line, would it shift twice?
Driver error is always a possibility...:)

[NWS4Guy]

Could it be this? If I hit the upshift right at the same time that it is auto upshifting because it is beyond red line, would it shift twice?
Driver error is always a possibility...:)

Yes it would shift twice. There is no need to ever use the paddles to upshift if you are in manual and flooring it.

Why? If you shift yourself, you are short shifting, as the DSG hadn't already shifted and you shifted too early. If you don't and the DSG shifts, then you shift, you end up 2 gears up.

The only real reason to ever upshift with the paddle is if you just want to drive it like a manual and shift it later than the DSG would, but not at redline.

[clochner]

Yes it would shift twice. There is no need to ever use the paddles to upshift if you are in manual and flooring it.

Why? If you shift yourself, you are short shifting, as the DSG hadn't already shifted and you shifted too early. If you don't and the DSG shifts, then you shift, you end up 2 gears up.

The only real reason to ever upshift with the paddle is if you just want to drive it like a manual and shift it later than the DSG would, but not at redline.

But I don't understand why the DSG shifts well below redline (e.g. 4k RPMs) when I'm flooring it in manual mode. I thought the auto upshift in manual only kicked in at redline.

[johnnyb84]

The only real reason to ever upshift with the paddle is if you just want to drive it like a manual and shift it later than the DSG would, but not at redline.

Explain this a little more please.

[81bear]

But I don't understand why the DSG shifts well below redline (e.g. 4k RPMs) when I'm flooring it in manual mode. I thought the auto upshift in manual only kicked in at redline.

It should NOT shift at 4k rpm if in manual mode. It should (or at least based on my experience) only shifts UP at readline.

Explain this a little more please.

As I said above, in manual mode running flat out i.e. doing a 1/4 mile run the stronic system should shift at redline and because your goal is to get down the track as quickly as possible there is no need for you to shift at all as the stronic will do this only to protect the engine from being over rev'd. Now, if you are just driving around town and want to feel more involved you can drive in manual mode a choose at what rpm range (2k, 3k, 6k, whatever) you shift at similar to a manual car.

Hope that helps.

[NWS4Guy]

But I don't understand why the DSG shifts well below redline (e.g. 4k RPMs) when I'm flooring it in manual mode. I thought the auto upshift in manual only kicked in at redline.

It shouldn't.

I have seen many short shifting in M mode, but they do fine in "D" - not sure why, and I would call it a software bug/issue personally. That said, if you are letting it shift anyway, and know it's an issue in "M", why have it there anyway? It will shift at redline for you in "D", and you can always override while in "D" to downshift a gear or 3 using the paddle without touching the shifter to move it to "M."

Explain this a little more please.

Putting it in "M" means you can trump the shifts in most cases (unless it will put the car over redline or under 1K RPM and risk a stall), so if you don't want the fuel efficiency, you could drive around in "M" and force it to shift at 3K, 4K, whatver you want in every gear - if for some odd reason you just wanted it to drive that way. In most any other instance, you can leave it in D and floor it, it will shift at redline without your interference (unless you for some reason actually wanted to short shift it), and if you want to take over shifting for a little while you grab the paddles and it lets you shift - then after ~45 seconds or so of you not touching to shift it will return to "D" and shift itself with one caveat - it's smart enough to know if you are going down a hill and purposely downshifted to hold a higher gear, it will not return to "D" mode even when you have the gate in "D" and overrode with paddles until you are on flat road and holding speed. This has to do with it holding said gear if you are not touching the gas if I had to guess on the logic built in.

[johnnyb84]

OK, thanks for your replies. So if I'm doing some spirited driving and in manual mode, then and I should just ensure I'm in the right gear in the corner by manually downshifting, but in the straight with the hammer down, don't bother upshifting, let the DSG do it.

[clochner]

This video may help demonstrate. The DSG is in manual mode and upshifts at or near redline every time. I'm not sure if the driver was using the paddles or not, but that really doesn't matter. My point with the original post was that, in manual mode, my car was shifting at around 4k RPM. I still don't think I understand why this happened. The only possible answer is that I depressed the gas too far and engaged some kind of pedal button.

[DigiSage]

All 2011 S4 S-tronics shortshift in manual mode. They will not go to redline (in manual mode). Audi is trying to claim it's supposed to be that way. Mine usually shifts at 6K in 1st - 4K is really, really early - not sure what's happening there.

[clochner]

All 2011 S4 S-tronics shortshift in manual mode. They will not go to redline (in manual mode). Audi is trying to claim it's supposed to be that way. Mine usually shifts at 6K in 1st - 4K is really, really early - not sure what's happening there.

Really?? I'm surprised we haven't heard more about this here on AZ and Audiworld. If this is true, what the hell is the point of having the paddle shifters at all?? This really pisses me off. I'd give up my launch control to be able to shift at redline.

[DigiSage]

Really?? I'm surprised we haven't heard more about this here on AZ and Audiworld. If this is true, what the hell is the point of having the paddle shifters at all?? This really pisses me off. I'd give up my launch control to be able to shift at redline.

It has been discussed a little bit, but for some reason people care much more about "ZOMG my 2010 has no lunch contrl !!!11!1! BOYCOTT".

For the record, I'd gladly swap LC for the ability to go to redline in manual mode. Honestly though, we should be able to have both: this behavior is clearly a software bug.

[jeffc31337]

It has been discussed a little bit, but for some reason people care much more about "ZOMG my 2010 has no lunch contrl !!!11!1! BOYCOTT".

For the record, I'd gladly swap LC for the ability to go to redline in manual mode. Honestly though, we should be able to have both: this behavior is clearly a software bug.

Concurr! I've had my car for just under a week and i definitely short shift in first in manual mode.

To me the solution of "just drive in D" isn't a good one. If you are in D or S you lose your gear indicator. It's also nice being able to hold a gear through a turn while being in M and then hitting the throttle on exit without having to worry about the short shift.

My 6 speed DSG alway sworked flawlessly in this regard. That being said the 7 speed is a huge improvement. It's much smoother to engage from a stop, quieter in operation and feels quicker to shift as well.

[helix139]

One of the reasons I'm glad I ordered a stick. The S-Tronic is a great piece of engineering, but has too many nanny functions in the software that I wouldn't want. If I put it in manual, I would expect it to behave almost exactly like a true manual and let me bang off the rev limiter if I wanted to and only shift down to keep me from lugging the engine and/or stalling out. When DSGs truly give you the best of both worlds in every respect without compromise, then I'll be heavily considering it. Until then, it isn't worth the extra $$$ for me based on my automotive desires.