B8.5 s5 6mt shifts

[pr1malr8ge]

S5 new owner and new to forums.
So in March and for my birthday I purchased a new to me and first Audi. With that I'm kind of in disgust with the shifting of this car. One would figure when buying a luxury auto the shifting would at least be buttery smooth. While I can handle the tall and long throws but the notchy entry and exit of each throw has me wondering who was asleep or was rushed when designing either the rods or forks/syncros on this transmission. It's sad when my old Chevy s15 had smother shifting. Maybe I was spoiled driving my buddies sti. Is there any option to help with this? Not sure going a short shifter route will help. I'm thinking the issue is either the trans design it self or the linkage. Anyone have any thoughts?

[ians]

Seems like something wrong, Including mine, I have been drove over 10 b8.5 6MT and all are butter smooth! It is 100x better than any bmw and as good as most of the honda! So check out others and see.

[jmaddr]

And I'll say this, a short shift kit like JHM makes an already buttery smooth shift AWESOME!!!!! It does lose some of its butter, but you get positive feedback in return. Such a low cost for such a great upgrade you will appreciate every time you drive.


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[TTALMS]

And I would recommend pairing your short shifter with a JHM solid linkage and cross rod upgrade. Really enhances the feedback of every shift.

[doug97gxe]

S5 new owner and new to forums.
So in March and for my birthday I purchased a new to me and first Audi. With that I'm kind of in disgust with the shifting of this car. One would figure when buying a luxury auto the shifting would at least be buttery smooth. While I can handle the tall and long throws but the notchy entry and exit of each throw has me wondering who was asleep or was rushed when designing either the rods or forks/syncros on this transmission. It's sad when my old Chevy s15 had smother shifting. Maybe I was spoiled driving my buddies sti. Is there any option to help with this? Not sure going a short shifter route will help. I'm thinking the issue is either the trans design it self or the linkage. Anyone have any thoughts?

search the S4 forum for clutch valve.. it will shed some more light

[Hippiekiller]

And I would recommend pairing your short shifter with a JHM solid linkage and cross rod upgrade. Really enhances the feedback of every shift.

How much of a pain was that to install? Been thinking about doing it.

[LordMagnet]

The stock manual is pretty crappy. I have the EuroCode short shifter kit, stainless steel clutch line with delay valve delete, and a bunch of parts to stiffen up the drivetrain and frame, and I'm only now just getting happy with it. You can make it a lot better but it took a bit for me to realize it will never be like my old Honda.

[jpatterson]

After 3000 miles in mine, it is better shifting than my Cayman S was. Mainly the clutch action is better. Similar to my Mk1 TT in that regard. No complaints.

[SixShifter]

S5 new owner and new to forums.
So in March and for my birthday I purchased a new to me and first Audi. With that I'm kind of in disgust with the shifting of this car. One would figure when buying a luxury auto the shifting would at least be buttery smooth. While I can handle the tall and long throws but the notchy entry and exit of each throw has me wondering who was asleep or was rushed when designing either the rods or forks/syncros on this transmission. It's sad when my old Chevy s15 had smother shifting. Maybe I was spoiled driving my buddies sti. Is there any option to help with this? Not sure going a short shifter route will help. I'm thinking the issue is either the trans design it self or the linkage. Anyone have any thoughts?

You are not alone in your observations, although in the minority. Before buying my first ever automatic (owned nothing but sticks for over 40 years), I test drove 6 different cars from as many dealers and each/every one exhibited the exact same properties you've described - especially the notchy entry/exit into/out of each gear. Glad to hear I am not alone ... but again in the minority. Even my wrong hand drive Quattro in my avatar shifter better than the B8.5's I tested.

[pr1malr8ge]

search the S4 forum for clutch valve.. it will shed some more light

While I appreciate your reply, I can tell you this has nothing to do with clutch [dis]engagement. The issue is the actual feel of the shift knob as it selects or deselects a gear. I.e. the first few and last few millimeters of travel. The actual movement in between is fine.

[u2nelson]

I thought the shifter feel was a little spongy when stock. I added a Euro Code short shifter and wow,what an improvement. It now feels better than any car I have driven, it has a very mechanical, yet buttery smooth feel, almost like a notched shifter. Highly recommend.

[pr1malr8ge]

Well, I have not had the pleasure to be able to mainly own a MT. How ever, every car that I have owned has been a Manual. But alas I have not owned a car since the early 2000s. I used to Race Motocross [i'm a professional practice racer now lol] and that has negated any reason to own a car until now. At any rate I think I can compare the shifting of this S5 to that of my dirt bikes. It feels more like a sequential gearbox with Dogs then it does a Synchronized transmission. I'm wondering as someone has pointed out and I made mention in my first post that the control rod might be to blame. Could just be "play" and since the first and last bit of travel would transmit that play. How ever if it is not that and is the syncro system of the trans then that control rod would only exacerbate the feeling.

[doug97gxe]

While I appreciate your reply, I can tell you this has nothing to do with clutch [dis]engagement. The issue is the actual feel of the shift knob as it selects or deselects a gear. I.e. the first few and last few millimeters of travel. The actual movement in between is fine.

Oh sorry too quick on the draw on that one .. Personally mine feels pretty good compared to prior cars .. The clutch delay was the annoying piece

[Slobo7x]

Shifter on this car is almost fragile, so I sympathize. Every time I change into a gear it feels like something is loose or will come off.

I think I will be ordering a JHM shifter along with the stainless steel clutch line, to remove the Delay valve. There has to be a way to make it feel like you are changing gears and not like you are throwing it in there somewhere.

[GSS5]

shifter feels great when the car's new. i've found that on both my s5s, as the cars accumulate miles the shifter feel starts to crap out.